Words

ameliorate (french)

verb: (formal)

1. make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better.

   "the reform did much to ameliorate living standards"

   • improve, better, enhance

febrile (latin)

adjective

1. having or showing the symptoms of a fever.

   "a febrile illness"

2. having or showing a great deal of nervous excitement or energy.

   "a febrile imagination"

   • fevered, feverish, hot, burning, fiery, flushed

refectory (latin)

noun

1. a room used for communal meals in an educational or religious institution.

exhortation (latin)

noun

1. an address or communication emphatically urging someone to do something.

   "no amount of exhortation had any effect"

   • urging, encouragement, persuasion, pressure

excoriate

verb: (formal)

1. censure or criticize severely.

   "the papers that had been excoriating him were now lauding him"

medicine

1. damage or remove part of the surface of (the skin).

   • abrade, rub off, scrape, scratch

ken

noun

1. one's range of knowledge or sight.

   "such determination is beyond my ken"

   • knowledge, awareness, perception, understanding, grasp

exigent

adjective: (formal)

1. pressing; demanding.

   "the exigent demands of the music took a toll on her voice"

educe

verb: (formal)

1. bring out or develop (something latent or potential).

   "out of love obedience is to be educed"

2. infer (something) from data.

   "more information can be educed from these statistics"

occlude

verb: (formal•technical)

1. stop, close up, or obstruct (an opening, orifice, or passage).

   "thick makeup can occlude the pores"

   • block, stop, obstruct, clog

2. hide or obscure from prominence or view.

   "voices are completely occluded from participating in the debate"

dentistry

1. (of a tooth) close on or come into contact with another tooth in the opposite jaw.

   "in monkeys and apes, the upper canine occludes with the lower first premolar"

chemistry

1. (of a solid) absorb and retain (a gas or impurity).

   "occluded within these crystals are other molecules"

irascible

adjective

1. having or showing a tendency to be easily angered.

   "an irascible man"

   • irritable, quick-tempered, short-tempered

miscegenation

noun: (derogatory)

1. sexual relationships or reproduction between people of different ethnic groups, especially when one of them is white.

   "the great fear was miscegenation, a mixing of bloodlines"

epistemic

adjective: (philosophy)

1. relating to knowledge or to the degree of its validation.

austere

adjective

1. severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance.

   "an austere man, with a rigidly puritanical outlook"

   • severe, stern, strict, harsh, unfeeling, stony

2. (of living conditions or a way of life) having no comforts or luxuries; harsh or ascetic.

   "conditions in the prison could hardly be more austere"

   • strict, self-denying, moderate

3. having an extremely plain and simple style or appearance; unadorned.

   "the cathedral is impressive in its austere simplicity"

   • plain, simple, basic, functional, modest,

4. (of an economic policy or measure) designed to reduce a budget deficit, especially by cutting public expenditure.

dialectic

noun: (philosophy)

1. the art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions.

   • reasoning, argumentation, contention, logic

2. inquiry into metaphysical contradictions and their solutions.

adjective: (philosophy)

1. relating to dialectic or dialectics; dialectical.

   • rational, logical, analytical, disputatious

disputatious

adjective

1. fond of or causing heated arguments.

   "a congenial hangout for disputatious academics"

malfeasance

noun: (law)

1. wrongdoing, especially by a public official.

totemic

adjective

1. relating to or resembling a totem or totems.

   "the approach to the house and museum is flanked by wide-eyed, totemic figures"

2. regarded as being symbolic or representative of a particular quality or concept.

   "the totemic image of Bogart represents an immutably powerful mystique"

congenial

adjective

1. (of a person) pleasant because of a personality, qualities, or interests that are similar to one's own.

   "his need for some congenial company"

   • like-minded, compatible, kindred

2. (of a thing) pleasant or agreeable because suited to one's taste or inclination.

   "he went back to a climate more congenial to his cold stony soul"

   • pleasant, pleasing, agreeable, enjoyable

discursive

adjective

1. digressing from subject to subject.

   "students often write dull, secondhand, discursive prose"

   • rambling, digressive, meandering, wandering

2. (of a style of speech or writing) fluent and expansive rather than formulaic or abbreviated.

   "the short story is concentrated, whereas the novel is discursive"

3. relating to discourse or modes of discourse.

   "the attempt to transform utterances from one discursive context to another"

adjective: (archaic•philosophy)

1. proceeding by argument or reasoning rather than by intuition.

profligate

adjective

1. recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources.

   "profligate consumers of energy"

   • wasteful, extravagant, spendthrift, improvident, prodigal

2. licentious; dissolute.

   "he succumbed to drink and a profligate lifestyle"

   • dissolute, degenerate, dissipated, debauched

noun

1. a licentious, dissolute person.

   "he is a drunkard and a profligate"

   • libertine, debauchee, degenerate, reprobate

improvident

adjective

1. not having or showing foresight; spendthrift or thoughtless.

   "improvident and undisciplined behavior"

   • spendthrift, thriftless, wasteful, prodigal

prevaricate

verb

1. speak or act in an evasive way.

   "he seemed to prevaricate when journalists asked pointed questions"

garrulous

adjective

1. excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters.

   "Polonius is portrayed as a foolish, garrulous old man"

   • loquacious, talkative, voluble, verbose, long-winded

voluble

adjective

1. (of a person) talking fluently, readily, or incessantly.

   "a voluble game-show host"

   • talkative, loquacious, garrulous, verbose

2. (of speech) characterized by fluency and readiness of utterance.

   "an excited and voluble discussion"

antipathy

noun

1. a deep-seated feeling of dislike; aversion.

   "his fundamental antipathy to capitalism"

   • hostility, antagonism, animosity, aversion

animus

noun

1. hostility or ill feeling.

   "the author's animus toward her"

2. motivation to do something.

   "the reformist animus came from within the Party"

Psychoanalysis

1. Jung's term for the masculine part of a woman's personality.

Historical•Philosophy

1. the rational mind.

laconic

adjective

1. (of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words.

   "his laconic reply suggested a lack of interest in the topic"

   • brief, concise, terse, succinct, short

loquacious

adjective

1. tending to talk a great deal; talkative.

   "never loquacious, Sarah was now totally lost for words"

   • talkative, garrulous, voluble

pedant

noun

1. a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules or with displaying academic learning.

   "the royal palace (some pedants would say the ex-royal palace)"

   • purist, formalist, doctrinaire, perfectionist

desiccate

verb

1. remove the moisture from (something); cause to become completely dry.

   "both the older growth and the new vegetation were desiccated by months of relentless sun"

   • dry, dried, dehydrated, powdered

aloof

adjective

1. not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant.

   "they were courteous but faintly aloof"

   • distant, detached, unresponsive, remote

2. conspicuously uninvolved and uninterested, typically through distaste.

   "he stayed aloof from the bickering"

precipitate

verb

1. cause (an event or situation, typically one that is bad or undesirable) to happen suddenly, unexpectedly, or prematurely.

   "the incident precipitated a political crisis"

   • bring about, bring on, cause, occasion

chemistry: verb

1. cause (a substance) to be deposited in solid form from a solution.

   "cell proteins were then precipitated and washed in 10% trichloroacetic acid"

chemistry:

choleric

adjective

1. bad-tempered or irritable.

   "he was a choleric, self-important little man"

   • bad-tempered, irascible, irritable, grumpy, grouchy, crotchety

2. influenced by or predominating in the humor called choler.

   "a choleric disposition"

venal

adjective

1. showing or motivated by susceptibility to bribery.

   "their generosity had been at least partly venal"

   • corrupt, fraudulent, unprincipled, unscrupulous, grafting

transient

adjective

1. lasting only for a short time; impermanent.

   "a transient cold spell"

noun

1. a person who is staying or working in a place for only a short time.

2. a momentary variation in current, voltage, or frequency.

tractable

adjective

1. (of a person) easy to control or influence.

   "tractable dogs that have had some obedience training"

   • controllable, manageable, malleable, yielding, servile, biddable, complaisant

2. (of a situation or problem) easy to deal with.

   "trying to make the mathematics tractable"

tortuous

adjective

1. full of twists and turns.

   "the route is remote and tortuous"

   • twisting, winding, curving, bending, sinuous

2. excessively lengthy and complex.

   "a tortuous argument"

   • convoluted, roundabout, circuitous, indirect

tegular

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling a tile

torpor

noun

1. a state of physical or mental inactivity; lethargy.

   "they veered between apathetic torpor and hysterical fanaticism"

   • lethargy, inertia, inactivity, inaction, dormancy, slowness

timorous

adjective

1. showing or suffering from nervousness, fear, or a lack of confidence.

   "a timorous voice"

   • fearful, apprehensive, trembling, quaking, cowering, weak kneed

tenuous

adjective

1. very weak or slight.

   "the tenuous link between interest rates and investment"

   • slight, insubstantial, flimsy, negligible, weak

2. very slender or fine; insubstantial.

   "a tenuous cloud"

   • fine, thin, slender, attenuated, delicate, gossamer

temperance

noun

1. abstinence from alcoholic drink.

   "Davies was a strict advocate of temperance"

   • abstinence, abstention, sobriety, prohibition

2. the quality of moderation or self-restraint.

   "the whole multitude of men lack temperance in their lives, either from ignorance or from want of self-control"

   • self-restraint, restraint, moderation, self-control, self-discipline

abstention

noun

1. an instance of declining to vote for or against a proposal or motion.

   "a resolution passed by 126 votes to none, with six abstentions"

   • abstaining, nonvoting, sitting on the fence

2. the fact or practice of restraining oneself from indulging in something; abstinence.

   "alcohol consumption versus abstention"

   • temperance, sobriety, abstinence, celibacy, chastity

taciturn

adjective

1. (of a person) reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little.

   "after such gatherings she would be taciturn and morose"

   • untalkative, uncommunicative, reticent, forthcoming

tacit

adjective

1. understood or implied without being stated.

   "your silence may be taken to mean tacit agreement"

   • implicit, understood, implied, inferred, hinted, mute

propriety

noun

1. the state or quality of conforming to conventionally accepted standards of behavior or morals.

   "he always behaved with the utmost propriety"

   • decorum, rectitude, respectability, decency, correctness

2. the details or rules of behavior conventionally considered to be correct.

   "she's a great one for the proprieties"

3. the condition of being right, appropriate, or fitting.

   "they questioned the propriety of certain investments made by the council"

   • correctness, rightness, fitness, suitability, appropriateness

sycophant

noun

1. a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage.

   "because he is high-ranking, he's surrounded by sycophants"

   • toady, creep, crawler, fawner, flatterer

prone

adjective

1. likely to or liable to suffer from, do, or experience something, typically something regrettable or unwelcome.

   "years of logging had left the mountains prone to mudslides"

   • susceptible, vulnerable, liable, inclined, given

2. lying flat, especially face downward.

   "I was lying prone on a foam mattress"

   • flat, horizontal, prostrate, procumbent

technical: adjective

1. denoting the position of the forearm with the palm of the hand facing downward.

archaic: adjective

1. with a downward slope or direction.

medicine: verb

1. turn (a patient) so as to lie face down for a period of time in order to improve the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the lungs during mechanical ventilation.

   "twice a day he was proned to try and get as much oxygen into his body as possible"

us: verb

1. drop into a prone position; lie face down.

   "they searched him and told him to prone out on the ground next to his car"

supine

adjective

1. (of a person) lying face upward.

   • Flat on one’s back, recumbent, prostrate

2. failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence.

   "they remained supine in the face of terrible wrongdoing"

   • weak, spineless, yielding, enervated, effete

supinate and pronate

Supinate:

anatomy: verb

1. turn or hold (a hand, foot, or limb) so that the palm or sole is facing upward or outward.

   "the clinician notes the magnitude of force that is required to supinate the foot from its resting position"

2. walk or run with most of the weight on the outside of the feet.

Pronate:

anatomy: verb

1. turn or hold (a hand, foot, or limb) so that the palm or sole is facing downward or inward.

   "the patient is asked to maintain this position while the examiner attempts to pronate the foot"

2. walk or run with most of the weight on the inside edge of the feet.

solicitous

adjective

1. characterized by or showing interest or concern.

   "she was always solicitous about the welfare of her students"

   • concerned, caring, attentive, mindful, interested, considerate

archaic: adjective

1. eager or anxious to do something.

   "he was solicitous to cultivate her mamma's good opinion"

sedulous

adjective

1. (of a person or action) showing dedication and diligence.

   "he watched himself with the most sedulous care"

   • diligent, careful, meticulous, thorough, assiduous

salubrious

adjective

1. health-giving; healthy.

   "salubrious weather"

   • healthy, health-giving, healthful, beneficial

2. (of a place) pleasant; not run-down.

   • pleasant, agreeable, nice, select, upmarket

repudiate

verb

1. refuse to accept or be associated with.

   "she has repudiated policies associated with previous party leaders"

   • reject, renounce, abandon, forswear

2. deny the truth or validity of.

   "the minister repudiated allegations of human rights abuses"

   • deny, refute, contradict, dispute, rebut

law: verb

1. refuse to fulfill or discharge (an agreement, obligation, or debt)

   "breach of a condition gives the other party the right to repudiate a contract"

   • cancel, set aside, revoke, rescind, reverse

recondite

adjective

1. refuse to fulfill or discharge (an agreement, obligation, or debt)

   "the book is full of recondite information"

   • obscure, abstruse, arcane, esoteric

abstruse

adjective

1. difficult to understand; obscure.

   "an abstruse philosophical inquiry"

   • obscure, abstruse, arcane, esoteric, rarefied

esoteric

adjective

1. intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.

   "esoteric philosophical debates"

   • obscure, abstruse, arcane, esoteric, rarefied

quotidian

adjective

1. of or occurring every day; daily.

   "the car sped noisily off through the quotidian traffic"

2. ordinary or everyday, especially when mundane.

   "his story is an achingly human one, mired in quotidian details"

   • daily, everyday, day-to-day, diurnal

medicine

1. denoting the malignant form of malaria.

propriety

noun

1. the state or quality of conforming to conventionally accepted standards of behavior or morals.

   "he always behaved with the utmost propriety"

   • decorum, respectability, decency, correctness

2. the details or rules of behavior conventionally considered to be correct.

   "she's a great one for the proprieties"

3. the condition of being right, appropriate, or fitting.

   "they questioned the propriety of certain investments made by the council"

   • correctness, rightness, fitness, suitability

propitiate

verb

1. win or regain the favor of (a god, spirit, or person) by doing something that pleases them.

   "the pagans thought it was important to propitiate the gods with sacrifices"

   • appease, placate, mollify, pacify, make peace with, conciliate

profilgate

adjective

1. recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources.

   "profligate consumers of energy"

   • wasteful, extravagant, spendthrift, improvident, prodigal

2. licentious; dissolute.

   "he succumbed to drink and a profligate lifestyle"

   • dissolute, degenerate, dissipated, debauched, corrupt

noun

1. a licentious, dissolute person.

   "he is a drunkard and a profligate"

   • libertine, debauchee, degenerate, reprobate, roué, lecher

philistine

noun

1. a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them.

   "I am a complete philistine when it comes to paintings"

   • lowbrow, anti-intellectual, materialist, bourgeois, boor

2. a member of a non-Semitic people of ancient southern Palestine, who came into conflict with the Israelites during the 12th and 11th centuries BC.

adjective

1. hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts.

   "there were displays to inspire even the most philistine of visitors"

   • crass, tasteless, uncultured, uncultivated, uneducated

prodigious

adjective

1. remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree.

   "the stove consumed a prodigious amount of fuel"

   • enormous, huge, colossal, immense, vast, gift

adjective: archaic

1. unnatural or abnormal.

   "rumors of prodigious happenings, such as monstrous births"

   • unnatural, monstrous, grotesque, abnormal

prodigal

adjective

1. spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.

   "prodigal habits die hard"

   • wasteful, extravagant, spendthrift, improvident, imprudent

2. having or giving something on a lavish scale.

   "the dessert was crunchy with brown sugar and prodigal with whipped cream"

   • generous, lavish, liberal, unstinting, unsparing, bountiful

noun

1. a person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way.

   "he hated rich prodigals who lived useless, imprudent lives"

2. a person who leaves home and behaves recklessly, but later makes a repentant return.

probity

noun

1. the quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency.

   "financial probity"

   • integrity, honesty, uprightness, decency, morality, rectitude

polemical

adjective

1. expressing or constituting a strongly critical attack on or controversial opinion about someone or something.

   "a polemical essay"

   • critical, hostile, bitter, polemic, virulent, vitriolic

platitude

noun

1. a remark or statement, especially one with a moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful.

   "he masks his disdain for her with platitudes about how she should believe in herself more"

   • cliché, truism, commonplace, banality, old chestnut, bromide

phlegmatic

adjective

1. (of a person) having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition.

   "the phlegmatic British character"

   • self-controlled, calm, cool, composed, serene, placid, stolid

pervasive

adjective

1. (especially of an unwelcome influence or physical effect) spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people.

   "ageism is pervasive and entrenched in our society"

   • prevalent, penetrating, pervading, permeating, extensive, ubiquitous, omnipresent

perfunctory (latin)

adjective

1. (of an action or gesture) carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection.

   "he gave a perfunctory nod"

   • cursory, desultory, quick, brief, hasty, hurried, rapid

perfidy

paucity

patent

ostentation

opprobrium

onerous

olfactory

obviate

obstinate

obdurate

nonplussed

notoriety

nascent

munificent

mollify

mercurial

mendacity

noun

1. untruthfulness; lying.

   "people publicly castigated for past mendacity"

   • lying, dishonesty, deceit

maverick

noun

1. an unorthodox or independent-minded person.

   "he's the maverick of the fashion scene"

   • individualist, nonconformist, free-spirit

North American

1. an unbranded calf or yearling.

adjective

1. unorthodox.

   "a maverick detective"

mid 19th century: from the name of Samuel A. Maverick (1803–70), a Texas rancher who did not brand his cattle.

maladroit

adjective

1. ineffective or bungling; clumsy.

   "both men are unhappy about the maladroit way the matter has been handled"

   • bungling, awkward, inept, clumsy, bumbling

magnanimous

adjective

1. generous or forgiving, especially toward a rival or less powerful person.

   "she should be magnanimous in victory"

   • generous, charitable, benevolent, beneficent

inveterate

adjective

1. having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change.

   "he was an inveterate gambler"

   • ingrained, deep-seated, deep-rooted, entrenched

2. (of a feeling or habit) long-established and unlikely to change.

   "the inveterate hostility between the two countries was not easily eradicated"

   • confirmed, hardened, chronic, hardcore

intransigent

adjective

1. unwilling or refusing to change one's views or to agree about something.

   "her father had tried persuasion, but she was intransigent"

   • uncompromising, inflexible, unbending

noun

1. an intransigent person

intractable

adjective

1. hard to control or deal with.

   "intractable economic problems"

   • unmanageable, uncontrollable, ungovernable

2. (of a person) difficult or stubborn.

   • stubborn, obstinate, obdurate

loge

noun

1. a private box or enclosure in a theater.

   • the front section of the first balcony in a theater.

US

1. a tier of seating in an arena or stadium, typically between the upper and lower decks.

taupe

noun

1. gray with a tinge of brown.

   "a taupe overcoat"

vociferous

adjective

1. (especially of a person or speech) vehement or clamorous.

   "he was a vociferous opponent of the takeover"

   • vehement, outspoken, vocal, forthright, plainspoken

beneficent

adjective

1. (of a person) generous or doing good.

   "a beneficent landowner"

   • benevolent, charitable, altruistic, humane

2. resulting in good.

   "a beneficent democracy"

prognosticator

noun

1. a person who foretells or prophesies a future event.

   "there are many prognosticators predicting the worst"

castigate

susurrus

noun

literary

1. whispering, murmuring, or rustling.

   "the susurration of the river"