abject, of the most contemptible kind aberration, a state or condition markedly different from the norm abjure, formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief abnegation, the denial and rejection of a doctrine or belief abrogate, revoke formally abscond, run away, often taking something or somebody along abstruse, difficult to understand accede, yield to another's wish or opinion accost, approach and speak to someone aggressively or insistently accretion, an increase by natural growth or addition acumen, shrewdness shown by keen insight adamant, insistent; unwilling to change one's mind or opinion admonish, scold or reprimand; take to task adumbrate, describe roughly or give the main points or summary of adverse, in an opposing direction advocate, a person who pleads for a person, cause, or idea affluent, having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value aggrandize, embellish; increase the scope, power, or importance of alacrity, liveliness and eagerness alias, a name that has been assumed temporarily ambivalent, uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow amenable, disposed or willing to comply amorphous, having no definite form or distinct shape anachronistic, chronologically misplaced anathema, a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication annex, attach to antediluvian, of or relating to the period before the biblical flood antiseptic, thoroughly clean and free of disease-causing organisms apathetic, showing little or no emotion or animation antithesis, exact opposite apocryphal, being of questionable authenticity approbation, official acceptance or agreement arbitrary, based on or subject to individual discretion or preference arboreal, of or relating to or formed by trees arcane, requiring secret or mysterious knowledge archetypal, of an original pattern on which other things are modeled arrogate, seize and take control without authority ascetic, someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline aspersion, a disparaging remark assiduous, marked by care and persistent effort atrophy, a decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse bane, something causing misery or death bashful, self-consciously timid beguile, influence by slyness bereft, lacking or deprived of something blandishment, flattery intended to persuade bilk, cheat somebody out of what is due, especially money bombastic, ostentatiously lofty in style cajole, influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering callous, emotionally hardened calumny, a false accusation of an offense camaraderie, the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability candor, the quality of being honest and straightforward capitulate, surrender under agreed conditions carouse, engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking carp, any of various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae caucus, meet to select a candidate or promote a policy caulk, a sealant cavort, play boisterously circumlocution, an indirect way of expressing something circumscribe, draw a geometric figure around another figure circumvent, surround so as to force to give up clamor, utter or proclaim insistently and noisily cleave, separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument cobbler, a person who makes or repairs shoes cogent, powerfully persuasive cognizant, having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization commensurate, corresponding in size or degree or extent complement, something added to embellish or make perfect compunction, a feeling of deep regret, usually for some misdeed concomitant, following or accompanying as a consequence conduit, a passage through which water or electric wires can pass conflagration, a very intense and uncontrolled fire congruity, the quality of agreeing; being suitable and appropriate connive, form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner consign, give over to another for care or safekeeping constituent, one of the individual parts making up a composite entity construe, make sense of; assign a meaning to contusion, an injury in which the skin is not broken contrite, feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses contentious, showing an inclination to disagree contravene, go against, as of rules and laws convivial, occupied with or fond of the pleasures of good company corpulence, the property of excessive fatness covet, wish, long, or crave for cupidity, extreme greed for material wealth dearth, an insufficient quantity or number debacle, a sudden and complete disaster debauch, a wild gathering involving excessive drinking debunk, expose while ridiculing defunct, no longer in force or use; inactive demagogue, a leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions denigrate, attack the good name and reputation of someone derivative, a compound obtained from another compound despot, a cruel and oppressive dictator diaphanous, so thin as to transmit light didactic, instructive, especially excessively dirge, a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person disaffected, discontented as toward authority discomfit, cause to lose one's composure disparate, fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind dispel, cause to separate and go in different directions disrepute, the state of being held in low esteem divisive, causing or characterized by disagreement or disunity dogmatic, pertaining to a code of beliefs accepted as authoritative dour, showing a brooding ill humor duplicity, the act of deceiving or acting in bad faith duress, compulsory force or threat eclectic, selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas edict, a formal or authoritative proclamation ebullient, joyously unrestrained egregious, conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible elegy, a mournful poem; a lament for the dead elicit, call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response embezzlement, the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property emend, make corrections to emollient, a substance with a soothing effect when applied to the skin empirical, derived from experiment and observation rather than theory emulate, strive to equal or match, especially by imitating enervate, weaken physically, mentally, or morally enfranchise, grant freedom to, as from slavery or servitude engender, call forth ephemeral, anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day epistolary, written in the form of letters or correspondence equanimity, steadiness of mind under stress equivocal, open to two or more interpretations espouse, choose and follow a theory, idea, policy, etc. evanescent, short-lived; tending to vanish or disappear evince, give expression to exacerbate, make worse exhort, spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts execrable, unequivocally detestable exigent, demanding immediate attention expedient, appropriate to a purpose expiate, make amends for expunge, remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line extraneous, not belonging to that in which it is contained extol, praise, glorify, or honor extant, still in existence; not extinct or destroyed or lost expurgate, edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate fallacious, containing or based on incorrect reasoning fatuous, devoid of intelligence fetter, a shackle for the ankles or feet flagrant, conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible foil, hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire forbearance, good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence fortuitous, lucky; occurring by happy chance fractious, easily irritated or annoyed garrulous, full of trivial conversation gourmand, a person who is devoted to eating and drinking to excess grandiloquent, lofty in style gratuitous, unnecessary and unwarranted hapless, unfortunate and deserving pity hegemony, the dominance or leadership of one social group over others heterogenous, consisting of elements that are not of the same kind iconoclast, someone who attacks cherished ideas or institutions idiosyncratic, peculiar to the individual impecunious, not having enough money to pay for necessities impetuous, characterized by undue haste and lack of thought impinge, infringe upon impute, attribute or credit to inane, devoid of intelligence inchoate, only partly in existence; imperfectly formed incontrovertible, impossible to deny or disprove incumbent, necessary as a duty or responsibility; morally binding inexorable, impossible to prevent, resist, or stop inimical, tending to obstruct or cause harm injunction, a judicial remedy to prohibit a party from doing something inoculate, inject or treat with the germ of a disease to render immune insidious, working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way instigate, provoke or stir up insurgent, in opposition to a civil authority or government interlocutor, a person who takes part in a conversation intimation, a slight suggestion or vague understanding inure, cause to accept or become hardened to invective, abusive language used to express blame or censure intransigent, impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason inveterate, habitual irreverence, a mental attitude showing lack of due respect knell, the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death knoll, a small hill or mound of earth laconic, brief and to the point largesse, liberality in bestowing gifts legerdemain, an illusory feat libertarian, an advocate of freedom of thought and speech licentious, lacking moral discipline linchpin, a central cohesive source of support and stability litigant, a party to a lawsuit maelstrom, a powerful circular current of water maudlin, effusively or insincerely emotional maverick, someone who exhibits independence in thought and action mawkish, effusively or insincerely emotional maxim, a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits mendacious, given to lying modicum, a small or moderate or token amount morass, a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot mores, the conventions embodying the fundamental values of a group munificent, very generous multifarious, having many aspects nadir, the lowest point of anything negligent, characterized by undue lack of attention or concern neophyte, any new participant in some activity noisome, offensively malodorous noxious, injurious to physical or mental health obdurate, stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing obfuscate, make obscure or unclear obstreperous, noisily and stubbornly defiant officious, intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner onerous, burdensome or difficult to endure ostensible, appearing as such but not necessarily so ostracism, the act of excluding someone from society by general consent palliate, lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of panacea, hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases paradigm, a standard or typical example pariah, a person who is rejected from society or home partisan, a fervent and even militant proponent of something paucity, an insufficient quantity or number pejorative, expressing disapproval pellucid, transparently clear; easily understandable penchant, a strong liking or preference penurious, excessively unwilling to spend pert, characterized by a lightly saucy or impudent quality pernicious, exceedingly harmful pertinacious, stubbornly unyielding phlegmatic, showing little emotion philanthropic, of or relating to charitable giving pithy, concise and full of meaning platitude, a trite or obvious remark plaudit, enthusiastic approval plenitude, a full supply pleat, creased fold in fabric plethora, extreme excess portent, a sign of something about to happen potentate, a powerful ruler, especially one who is unconstrained by law preclude, make impossible, especially beforehand predilection, a predisposition in favor of something preponderance, exceeding in heaviness; having greater weight presage, a foreboding about what is about to happen probity, complete and confirmed integrity proclivity, a natural inclination profligate, unrestrained by convention or morality promulgate, state or announce proscribe, command against protean, taking on different forms prurient, characterized by lust puerile, displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity pugnacious, ready and able to resort to force or violence pulchritude, physical beauty, especially of a woman punctilious, marked by precise accordance with details quaint, attractively old-fashioned quixotic, not sensible about practical matters quandary, state of uncertainty in a choice between unfavorable options recalcitrant, stubbornly resistant to authority or control redoubtable, inspiring fear relegate, assign to a lower position remiss, failing in what duty requires reprieve, postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal reprobate, a person without moral scruples rescind, cancel officially requisition, an authoritative demand rife, excessively abundant sanctimonious, excessively or hypocritically pious sanguine, confidently optimistic and cheerful scurrilous, expressing offensive, insulting, or scandalous criticism semaphore, an apparatus for visual signaling serendipity, good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries sobriety, the state of being unaffected or not intoxicated by alcohol solicitous, full of anxiety and concern solipsism, the philosophical theory that the self is all that exists spurious, plausible but false staid, characterized by dignity and propriety stolid, having or revealing little emotion or sensibility subjugate, make subservient; force to submit or subdue surfeit, indulge (one's appetite) to satiety surreptitious, marked by quiet and caution and secrecy swarthy, naturally having skin of a dark color tangential, of superficial relevance if any tome, a large and scholarly book toady, a person who tries to please someone to gain an advantage torpid, in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation travesty, a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style trenchant, having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought trite, repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse truculent, defiantly aggressive turpitude, a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice ubiquitous, being present everywhere at once umbrage, a feeling of anger caused by being offended upbraid, express criticism towards utilitarian, having a useful function veracity, unwillingness to tell lies vestige, an indication that something has been present vicissitude, a variation in circumstances or fortune vilify, spread negative information about virtuoso, someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field vitriolic, harsh, bitter, or malicious in tone vituperate, spread negative information about vociferous, conspicuously and offensively loud wanton, a lewd or immoral person winsome, charming in a childlike or naive way yoke, join with stable gear, as two draft animals zephyr, a slight wind wily, marked by skill in deception tacit, implied or understood without question tirade, a speech of violent denunciation trove, a valuable collection of something truss, a framework that supports something