Abeyance
A state of temporary disuse or suspension
Adamant
Refusing to be persuaded or to change one's mind
Aficionado
A person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime
Aggrandize
Increase the power, status, or wealth of; Enhance someone's reputation beyond what is justified by facts
Aggregate (N or V)
A structure formed from elements, fragments, or particles; To form or group into a class or cluster
Angst
A feeling of deep anxiety or dread, usually subconsciously; A feeling of persistent worry about something trivial
Appropriate (v)
Take something for one's own use without owners permission; Devote money or assets to a special purpose
Aspersion
An attack on the reputation or integrity of someone or something
Assiduous
Showing great care and perseverance
Assuage
Make an unpleasant feeling less intense; Satisfy and appetite or desire
Behemoth
A huge or monstrous creature; A big and powerful organization
Bête noire
A person or thing that one particularly dislikes
Bilk
To get money from someone by deceit or without justification, cheat or defraud; Obtain money fraudulently; Evade, elude
Canard
An unfounded rumor or story; A small winglike projection attached to an aircraft forward of the main wing to provide extra stability
Capitulate
Cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand; Surrender
Carouse
To drink a lot of alcohol and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way; A noisy, lively drinking party
Carp
A fish found in large ponds, which are farmed for food; Complain or find fault continually about trivial matters
Circuitous
A route or journey longer than the most direct way
Cognizant
Having knowledge or being aware of
Compunction
A feeling of guilt or moral scruple that prevents or follows the doing of something bad
Coup d'état
Another word for coup; A sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power by the government; A notable or successful stroke or move, usually in card play; To touch an armed enemy as a deed of bravery, or the act to first touch the item to claim it; A contusion cause by the brain being touched by the skull to the point of trauma
Coup de grâce
A final blow or shot needed to kill a human or animal; An action or event that serves as the culmination of a bad or deteriorating situation
Cupidity
Greed for money or possessions
Debauch
Destroy or debase the moral purity of/corrupt, usually to a woman; The habit or practice of excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, such as eating eating and drinking, debauchery
Debunk
Expose the falseness of a myth, idea, or belief; To reduce ones inflated reputation through ridicule
Denigrate
Criticize unfairly; Disparage
Desiccated
Having had all moisture removed, dried out, typically of food for preservation; Lacking vitality or interest
Diaphanous
Light, delicate, and translucent, usually referring to fabric
Discursive
Digressing from subject to subject; Relating to discourse; Proceeding by argument or reasoning instead of intuition
Disparate
Essentially different, unable to compare; Completely unalike
Dissonance
Lack of harmony among musical notes; A tension or class resulting disharmony or unsuitable elements
Draconian
Relating to law, excessively harsh and severe
Effrontery
Insolent or impertinent behavior
Effulgent
Shining brightly, radiant
Effusive
Expressing gratitude, pleasure, or approval without any limits
Éminence grise
A person who exercises power or influence within a certain sphere without holding any official position
Enmity
To feel or to be actively opposed or hostile towards someone or something
Ennui
boredom; A weariness resulting from a lack of interest
Erudite
Having or showing great knowledge or learning
Eschew
Deliberately avoid using; Abstain from
Evnice
Reveal the presence of a quality or feeling; Be evidence of, indicate
Exacerbate
To make something of negative connotation (problem, situation, feeling) worse
Expunge
Erase or remove completely of something unwanted or unpleasant
Extraneous
Irrelevant or unrelated to a subject or object
Feckless
Lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible
Florid
Blushing/having a red expression on the face; Elaborately complicated; Use of unusual words or complicated rhetorical constructions; Relating to diseases, occurring in a fully developed form
Foray
A surprise attack, usually to get something, a raid; Make or go on a foray
Fraught
A situation with a high probability of something undesirable to happen as its outcome; Causing or affected by anxiety or stress
Garner
Gather or collect, usually information or approval; To store, deposit; A storehouse or granary
Garrulous
Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters
Harangue
A lengthy and aggressive speech; To lecture someone at length in an aggressive and critical manner
Harrowing
Acutely distressing
Hegemony
Leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others
Iconoclast
A person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions; A destroyer of images used in religious worship
Incendiary
A device or attack intended to cause fires; Tending to stir up conflict; Very exciting; A person who starts fires, in a military context; a person who stirs up conflict
Incorrigible
Someone or their tendencies that can't be corrected, improved, or reformed
Inure
Accustom someone to something unpleasant; Come into operation, take affect
Inveigle
Persuade someone to do something through deception or flattery; Gain entrance to a place through deception or flattery
Jejune
Naive, simplistic, and superficial; Relating to ideas or writing, dry and uninteresting
Juggernaut
A huge, powerful, and overwhelming force or institution
Largesse
Generosity in bestowing money or gifts upon others; Money or gifts given generously
Maudlin
Self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness
Mercurial
A person subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind, sprightly, lively; Relating to the planet mercury; Relating to drugs, contains mercury
Mores
The essential or characteristic customs and conventions of a community
Obstreperous
Noisy and difficult to control; Aidan Valdez
Palliate
Make a disease less severe or unpleasant without removing the cause; allay or moderate fears or suspicions; Disguise the seriousness of an offense
Parochial
Relating to a church parish; Having a limited or narrow outlook or scope
Pastiche
A work of art that imitates a previous work, artist, or period;
Probity
The quality of having strong moral principles, honesty and decency
Prolix
Relating to speech or writing, using or containing too many words, tediously lengthy
Quixotic
Exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic and impractical
Quotidian
Daily; Everyday, ordinary
Raison d'être
The most important reason for someone or something's existence
Rankle
Cause annoyance or persistent resentment through a comment, event, or fact; Annoy or irritate someone; Relating to a wound or sore, continue to be painful, fester
Remand
Place a defendant on bail or custody, usually once trial is adjourned; A committal to custody
Ribald
Referring to sexual matters in an amusingly coarse or irreverent way
Sacrosanct
Relating to principle or routine, regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with
Saturnine
Relating to a person, slow and gloomy; Relating to a person, dark in coloring and moody or mysterious
Schadenfreude
Pleasure from another persons misfortune
Slake
Satisfy thirst
Sophomoric
Relating to the characteristics of a sophomore, pretentious or juvenile
Stigmatize
To describe worthy of disgrace or great disapproval
Stymie
Prevent or hinder the progress of, block
Tantamount
Equivalent in seriousness to, virtually the same as
Terse
Sparing in the use of words, abrupt
Zeitgeist
The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time