Hard Words 1

Aberrant

Deviating from what is normal.

Adjudicate

To hear and decide judicially; to judge.

Appease

To calm; to make satisfied (often only temporarily).

Bamboozle

Fool or cheat (someone).

Beguile

To deceive; to charm; to enchant.

Bicker

To fight or quarrel over something silly.

Blather

To talk foolishly.

Blunder

A stupid or careless mistake.

Bluster

To talk or act in a noisy and threatening way.

Circumstantial

Suggesting that something is true without proving it.

Clamoring

Crying out; demanding.

Commiserate

To sympathize with, have pity or sorrow for.

Concede

Conceive

To come up with, imagine.

Conducive

Making a certain situation or outcome likely or possible.

Confide

Tell someone about a secret or private matter while trusting them not to repeat it to others.

Conjecture

A guess, often one based on inadequate or faulty evidence.

Consort

To keep company.

Conspicuous

Easily seen or noticed.

Conspiratorial

Relating to or suggestive of a secret plan made by a group of people to do something unlawful or harmful.

Contrived

Artificial or overly planned.

Convene

To assemble, especially for a meeting.

Defer

To postpone, to delay.

Depose

To remove from office or power.

Deprecate

Discouraged from use because it is old, outdated, or replaced by a better alternative.

Derelict

Abandoned, run-down.

Desiccated

Dried up, dehydrated.

Dissident

Someone who disagrees.

Divulge

To tell; to reveal.

Duress

Compulsion by threat; forcible confinement.

Eclectic

Made up of a variety of sources or styles.

Effectuate

Put into force or operation.

Effusive

Expressing feelings of gratitude, pleasure, or approval in an unrestrained or heartfelt manner.

Eloquent

Fluent or persuasive speaking or writing.

Equitable

Fair, just.

Eviscerate

To remove the inner organs of a body.

Exalt

To glorify, to praise.

Extrapolate

Conjecture about an unknown by projecting information about something known; predict by projecting past experience.

Extricate

To free from a difficult or tangled situation.

Gratify

To please or satisfy.

Gripe

To complain constantly or naggingly

Immutable

Not subject to change, constant.

Imposing

Impressive by virtue of size, power, or manner.

Imprudent

Not showing care for the consequences of an action.

Incisive

Sharply cutting; direct and powerful.

Induce

Cause to happen.

Ingrate

An ungrateful person.

Insolence

Rude and disrespectful behavior.

Intercede

To plead on behalf of someone else; to serve as a third party or go-between in a disagreement.

Invoke

To call on for support.

Misconstrue

To interpret wrongly, mistake the meaning of.

Mortify

To embarrass or humiliate.

Negate

To nullify, deny, bring to nothing.

Nimble

Quick and skillful in movement, agile; clever.

Oblique

Slanting or sloping; not straightforward or direct.

Obstinacy

Stubbornness.

Perceptive

Having keen understanding; discerning.

Perdition

Eternal damnation.

Pervasive

Widespread.

Perverse

Stubbornly doing something other than what is reasonable or required.

Precede

To come before.

Preponderance

A great amount.

Presumptive

Based on inference or assumption; providing reasonable grounds for belief.

Pretense

An appearance or action intended to deceive.

Proponent

One who argues in favor of; supporter.

Proposition

An idea put forth; a suggestion.

Quandary

A puzzling situation; a dilemma.

Redundant

Extra, excess, more than is needed.

Relegate

Assign to a lower position.

Reproach

Address (someone) in such a way as to express disapproval or disappointment.

Revelation

An enlightening or astonishing disclosure.

Rue

(v.) To regret, be sorry for; (n.) A feeling of regret.

Salient

Most noticeable or important.

Schmooze

To converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.

Scram

To leave in a hurry.

Sedition

Conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.

Shrived

Forgiven, pardoned.

Spite

A feeling of wanting to hurt or upset someone, malice.

Startling

Very surprising, astonishing, or remarkable

Stipulate

To specify as an essential condition.

Stupendous

Extremely impressive.

Supplemental

Extra, additional.

Supplicate

To pray humbly; ask, beg, or seek in a humble way.

Surmise

Suppose that something is true without having evidence to confirm it.

Tribulation

An affliction, trouble, or difficult experience.

Truculent

Fierce and cruel; eager to fight.

Tumble

A sudden drop from an upright position.

Vehemently

With intense emotion.