English Vocabulary

acrimonious

acrimonious

angry, bitter

adroit

skillful

affable

friendly

alimentary

nourishment, sustenance

amalgam

mixture, blend

ambivalent

mixed feelings

ameliorate

make better

amicable

agreeable

anachronism

from another time

aplomb

assurance, self-confidence

arid

very dry

ascetic

abstinent, non-indulgent

assuage

to ease

autocrat

a ruler with absolute power

avarice

extremely greedy

axiom

accepted truth

beatitude

state of bliss

beleaguer

to cause problems for

belie

give false impression

belligerent

hostile

benediction

blessing

bowdlerize

censor, expurgate

brazen

bold

brusque

abrupt in one’s mannerisms

bungler

amateur, incompetent

cacophony

harsh mixture of sounds

capacious

spacious

castigate

punish

caustic

corrosive; sarcastic

cerebral

intellectual

chaff

worthless thing; husk of corn

chicanery

the use of deception

chimerical

illusory, imagination

compunction

feeling remorse

coniferous

needle-like or scale-like

conjecture

guess, speculation

consternation

anxious, dismayed

contentious

likely to cause argument

concomitant

naturally accompanying

contiguous

next, together

contingent

subject to change

convival

friendly, lively

corpulent

fat

corroborate

confirm, verify

craven

cowardly

credulity

readiness to believe

credulous

gullible, naive

culpable

deserving blame

curtail

to deprive, to reduce

dearth

scarcity

decant

to pour

decrepit

elderly, worn out from age

deference

respect, submission

deleterious

harmful

demagogue

agitator

desecrate

to disrepect

desiccate

to dry out

desist

stop, cease, or abstain

despot

a ruler with absolute power(1)

diatribe

bitter verbal attack

didactic

to instruct

diffident

shy, lacks self-confidence

dilatory

slow, unhurried, tardy

dilettante

amateur

dirge

funeral hymn, mournful music

discomfit

to embarrass

disconsolate

unhappy, doleful

disparage

to belittle

disingenuous

insincere

dissembler

hypocrite

dissolute

unprincipled, pomiscuous

diurnal

daily

dolorous

doleful, distressed

draconian

strict rules

dregs

remnant, leftovers

ductile

pliable

duplicitous

deceitful

eclectic

extensive

edify

to instruct(1)

effigy

sculture or model of a person

effusive

to express gratitude

elucidate

to clarify

emaciated

think or weak

empirical

observed, seen

enervating

tiring

entomology

the study of insects

entrench

firmly establish

epitaph

elegy, commemoration

euphony

pleasing sound

evanescent

not lasting long

evocation

imaginative research

exacerbate

to worsen

excoriate

to criticize

extemporize

to improvise

fastidious

hard to please

fecund

producing many new ideas

fickle

changing frequently

flippant

treating things lightly

florid

excessively intricate, red faced

flummox

perplexed