Vocabulary

• Aberration - a departure from what is normal, negative connotation

• Abhor - feel hatred or disgust towards

• Abjure : solemnly renounce (a belief, cause, or claim)

• Abstruse - difficult to understand

• Accosted - approach and address someone boldly or aggressively

• Acquiesce - accept something reluctantly yet without protest

• Acrimony : bitterness or ill feeling

• Ad-libbing - to improvise and deliver without preparation

• Admonish : warn or reprimand someone firmly

• Adroit : clever or skilful

• Alacrity - brisk and cheerful readiness

• Amalgamation - combination/mixture

• Ameliorate : make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better

• Amiable - diffusing warmth and friendliness

• Amicably - in a friendly or peaceful manner

• Amorous - showing or feeling sexual desire

• Analogous : comparab

• Anarchy : a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority

• Antithetical - directly opposed

• Arable : (of land) used or suitable for growing crops

• Arcane - understood by only a few

• Archaic - very old fashioned

• Assiduous : showing great care and perseverance

• Astute - ability to accurately assess people and situations and use it to their advantage

• Avant garde - new

• Avarice - an insatiable greed for wealth

• Bastion - an institution strongly maintaining a set of values

• Beleaguered - in a very difficult position

• Bellicose : demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight

• Belligerent - aggressive or warlike behaviours

• Benevolent - well meaning/kindly

• Benign - gentle and kindly/not harmful in effect

• Bequeath - leave someone to a will

• Bona fide - genuine

• Brevity : concise and exact use of words in writing or speech

• Brine : salty water that has been used to preserve a specified food

• Cacophony -loud noises

• Cadaver - corpse

• Cadence : a fall in pitch of the voice at the end of a phrase or sentence

• Cajole - flatter

• Camaraderie - mutual trust and friendship shown between people who spend a lot of time together

• Capitulate : cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand; yield

• Capricious : given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behaviour.

• Carte Blanche - complete freedom

• Castigated - reprimand severely

• Catharsis : the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions

• Chalice - large cup or goblet

• Chipper : cheerful and lively

• Coalesce : come together to form one mass or whole.

• Cocytus

• Concur - be of the same opinion/happen at the same time

• Concurrent : existing, happening, or done at the same time

• Conformity - matching on pre- set rules or beliefs

• Congenial : (of a person) pleasing or liked on account of having qualities or interests that are similar to one's own

• Connive - get involved or conspire to do something immoral or illegal

• Contingent : 1. occurring or existing only if (certain circumstances) are the case; dependent on 2. subject to chance 3. a group of people sharing a common feature, forming part of a larger group

• Conundrum - big problem

• Convene : come or bring together for a meeting or activity; assemble

• Convoluted : (especially of an argument, story, or sentence) extremely complex and difficult to follow

• Decadent 1) reflecting on a state of moral or cultural decline 2) someone who shamelessly indulges in luxury

• Deferential : showing deference or respect

• Delineate : describe or portray (something) precisely

• Demarche : a political step or initiative

• Demure : shy, quiet and polite

• Denunciation - publicly condemn

• Deplore : feel or express strong disapproval of (something)

• Derelict : in a very poor condition as a result of disuse and neglect

• Deride : to say or laugh at something or someone in a cruel way

• Desiccated : remove the moisture from (something); cause to become completely dry

• Despot : ruler with great power, especially one who uses it in a cruel way

• Devout - deep commitment

• Diabolical - so evil, suggesting they are like the devil

• Diametrically - directly different

• Didactic : intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive

• Digress - leave the main subject temporarily

• Diminutive - extremely small

• Discombobulated : confused and disconcerte

• Disingenuous - not candid or sincere

• Disparaging - derogatory

• Disseminate : spread (something, especially information) widely

• Docile : ready to accept control or instruction; submissive

• Dogmatic - inclined to lay down principles as undeniably true

• Doleful : expressing sorrow; mournful

• Duress - using force to get someone to do something

• Dynamic - characterised by constant change or activity

• Eclectic - deriving ideas or style from a broad and diverse range of sources

• Effervescent - vivacious

• Effrontery : insolent or impertinent behaviour

• Egalitarian : believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities

• Egregious : outstandingly bad; shocking

• Elucidate - explain

• Elude : 1. escape from or avoid (a danger, enemy, or pursuer), typically in a skilful or cunning way 2. (of an achievement or something desired) fail to be attained by (someone)

• Emaciated : abnormally thin or weak, especially because of illness or a lack of food

• Emulate - match or surpass, typically by imitation

• Enigmatic - mysterious

• Ennui : a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement

• Ensureint - very greedy or desirous

• Ephemeral : lasting for a very short time

• Equivocation - ambiguous

• Erudite : having or showing great knowledge that is based on careful study

• Eschew : deliberately avoid using; abstain from

• Euphemism : a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing

• Eviscerate : deprive (something) of its essential content

• Excoriate : criticise (someone) severely

• Expository : intended to explain or describe something

• Extol : praise enthusiastically

• Extricate - free someone or something from a constraint or difficulty

• Fastidious - very attentive and concerned about accuracy and detail

• Faux pas - tactless remark

• Fecund

• Feudalism

• Flection

• Flummoxed - confused or perplexed

• Fortuitous - happening by chance

• Furtive : secret, as if you're guilty

• Gaiety : the state or quality of being light-hearted or cheerful

• Granular - resembling or containing small particles

• Gregarious - sociable

• Gripe - complain in an irritating way about something small

• Iconoclast

• Impasse - situations where no progress/solution is possible

• Impertinent : rude to a person who should be respected

• Impetuous

impish

• Impiety - lack of piety or reverence

• Impudent : VERY rude

• Impunity - exemption from punishment

• Inane

• Incertitude : a state of uncertainty or hesitation

• Incessantly - continuing without a pause or interruption

• Incorrigible

• Incredulity : the state of being unwilling or unable to believe something

• Incredulous - unwilling or unable to understand/grasp something

• Indelible

• Indict

• Indignant - anger at what is perceived to be injustice

• Indolent : not wanting to work, lazy

• Infamy : the state of being well known for some bad quality or deed

• Ingenious - clever, original, creative

• Innate : inborn; natural

• Innocuous - not harmful or offensive

• Insidious

• Insular : ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one's own experience

• Insurgent

• Intrepid : earless; adventurous (often used for rhetorical or humorous effect)

• Invective : insulting, abusive, or highly critical language

• Levity

• Limial

• Litigant - person involved in a lawsuit

• Litigation - the process of taking legal action

• Loquacious : tending to talk a great deal; talkative

• Lucrid

• Macédoine : 1. a mixture of vegetables or fruit cut into small pieces 2. A medley or mixture of unrelated details

Macabre

• Malaise

• Malapropism

• Melange - varied mixture

• Mendacity - untruthfulness

• Meritocracy

• Ministration - the provision of assistance or care

• Misanthropist

• Mitigate - make something less painful or severe

• Mordant

• Nascent - just coming into existence and beginning to show potential

• Nebulous

• Non sequitur

• Novice - someone who is new or inexperienced

• Obfuscate - unclear

• Obsequious - obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree

• Obsolescence/Obsolete - out of dats

• Obstinate : stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or chosen course of action, despite attempts to persuade one to do so

• Obviate - easily understood

• Opine : hold and state as one's opinion

• Ordained - ordered officially

• Ostentatious : characterised by pretentious or showy display; designed to impress

• Panache : flamboyant confidence of style or manner

• Parable

• Paradigm - typical example or pattern

• Pariah

• Partisan - a strong supporter of a party/cause/person

• Pedantic - excessively concerned with minor details (overscrupulous)

• Peevish

• Perfidy

• Perfunctory

• Perfunctory - carried without intent

• Pernicious

• Pertinent - relevant to a certain matter

• Petulant - childishly sulky

• Pirouette - act of spinning on one foot

• Poignant

• Posterity - all future generations of people

• Precarious

• Precinct - restricted area

• Preclude

• Prerogative - right only given a certain class

• Profligate - extravagant or wasteful

• Prognosis

• Proliferation - rapid increase in something

• Propensity

• Propriety - conformity to conventional Standards

• Purantical - a very censoring or strict view of drugs etc.

• Quagmire

• Querulous

• Quibble - agree unnecessarily

• Rapacious : aggressively greedy or grasping

• Recalcitrant

• Recondite - little known or ABSTRUSE

• Relinquished - voluntarily cease to keep up/give up possession of something

• Reticent - not revealing one's thought very readily

• Sagacious

• Salient

• Sanguinary

• Sanguine

• Schadenfreude : pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune

• Schism

• Seminal

• Slovenly - untidy/dirty/excessively casual

• Sordid : 1. involving immoral or dishonourable actions and motives; arousing moral distaste and contempt 2. dirty or squalid

• Spectral

• Stalemate - no longer fresh or 'in'

Stymy : prevent or hinder the progress of

• Succinct - briefly and clearly expressed

• Sumptuous

• Sundry - of various kinds, several

• Surmise

• Tacit - reserved or uncommunicative

• Taciturn - see Tacit

• Tagine

• Tantamount

• Tectonic - on a large scale

• Telegraphing - convey a message especially with body language

• Temperament - a person's nature

• Tenacity - being determined

• Tenuous

• Touché - exactly!

• Trenchant

• Ubiquitous - present everywhere

• Uncouth

• Unequivocally - in a way that leaves no doubt

• Unilateral : (of an action or decision) performed by or affecting only one person, group, or country involved in a situation, without the agreement of another or the others

• Vacillating- switching between two opinions

• Veneer - a superficially nice valuable or pleasing appearance

• Verbatim

• Verbose

• Verdant

• Vindicate

• Vindictive - strong or unreasoning desire for revenge

• Virtuoso

• Visceral : relating to deep inward feelings rather than to the intellect

• Vitriol - bitter criticism or malice

• Zealot : a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals

• Zeitgeist - defining spirit of a particular period in history