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) Icon to get a pronunciation of the word.) Icon to get a pronunciation of the word.| eager to gain possessions or ideas | acquisitive |
| to take or claim without right | arrogate |
| lacking originality and freshness | banal |
| explain or discuss more than necessary | belabor |
| complaining; fault finding | carping |
| meaningful, logical | coherent |
| harden, thicken | congeal |
| to imitate, with hopes to equal or to outdo | emulate |
| expression of praise | encomium |
| avoid | eschew |
| relevant | germane |
| impossible to satisfy | insatiable |
| stubborn | intransigent |
| hateful | invidious |
| generous gift or donation | largesse |
| inspection of an area, mostly to gather military information | reconnaissance |
| support with evidence | substantiate |
| not talkative | taciturn |
| delay, stall | temporize |
| able to be defended | tenable |
| to approach and speak to someone with a demand or a request | accost |
| harsh criticism | animadversion |
| enthusiastic | avid |
| slightly salty water; unpleasant to drink; mixture of sea water and fresh water | brackish |
| speed | celerity |
| misleading, tricky; not honest | devious |
| an opening move or remark where one gives up something small with the hopes of gaining an upper hand | gambit |
| calm and peaceful | halcyon |
| excessively dramatic or emotional | histrionic |
| causing fires or conflict | incendiary |
| 1. large and violent whirlpool; 2. any violent or disorderly situation; chaos | maelstrom |
| shortsighted | myopic |
| not secret | overt |
| insulting | pejorative |
| correct or appropriate behavior | propriety |
| disrespectful treatment of something regarded as sacred | sacrilege |
| immediately | summarily |
| beggar | supplicant |
| any object thought to have magical or protective powers | talisman |
| make something move in a wavelike motion | undulate |
| speak clearly | articulate |
| move about carelessly and playfully | cavort |
| believability; belief | credence |
| to speak out against | decry |
| to disguise or hide the truth | dissemble |
| extremely sad or worried | distraught |
| a speech to honor a dead person | eulogy |
| to show clearly | evince |
| remove from a grave | exhume |
| useless; weak | feckless |
| dark, gloomy; foggy | murky |
| extremely evil; wicked | nefarious |
| pleasantly spicy; attractive | piquant |
| having existed from the beginning; original; earliest | primordial |
| nearness, similarity | propinquity |
| unusual | unwonted |
| impossible wish for things to be perfect | utopian |
| wordiness | verbiage |
| green; fresh | verdant |
| thick and sticky | viscous |
| wasting away (especially of a body part) | atrophy |
| place that provides safety and protection | bastion |
| agreement; harmony | concord |
| complete | consummate |
| disorder; confusion | disarray |
| urgency; emergency | exigency |
| 1. floating debris; 2. useless or unimportant items | flotsam |
| wildly excited or active | frenetic |
| to learn or discover little by little | glean |
| complain | grouse |
| put into jail | incarcerate |
| 1. required; 2. official who holds an office | incumbent |
| humorous, joking | jocular |
| ridiculous; idiotic; absurd | ludicrous |
| sarcastic; biting; bitterly harsh | mordant |
| 1. stinging plant; 2. irritate | nettle |
| relating to money | pecuniary |
| cowardly | pusillanimous |
| reclining | recumbent |
| trick or plan for deceiving | stratagem |
| sharpness, clearness (esp. of mind or vision) | acuity |
| to describe or outline | delineate |
| wicked; morally corrupt | depraved |
| weaken | enervate |
| understood only by a chosen few | esoteric |
| extremely productive; fertile | fecund |
| command; order | fiat |
| something made up; fictitious | figment |
| to get; gather; collect | garner |
| to make holy; to bless | hallow |
| unique behavior or characteristic | idiosyncrasy |
| great shame, disgrace, humiliation | ignominy |
| ordinary, commonplace, banal | mundane |
| barely noticeable difference; shade; hard-to-grasp detail | nuance |
| overconfident; arrogant | overweening |
| strong liking; taste | penchant |
| widely believed; reported | reputed |
| reasoning that seems believable but is actually misleading | sophistry |
| expensive; magnficent | sumptuous |
| existing everywhere | ubiquitous |
| miserable and hopeless | abject |
| doubter, especially about the existence of a god | agnostic |
| involvement in wrongdoing | complicity |
| deserted, neglected | derelict |
| a long, abusive verbal attack | diatribe |
| image or representation of a person | effigy |
| 1. money value of a property; 2. fairness | equity |
| senseless, silly | inane |
| accusing or charging with a crime | indictment |
| unquestionable; cannot be doubted | indubitable |
| stopping and starting again; periodic | intermittent |
| having no real importance; pointless to continue to discuss | moot |
| repeated central idea or theme | motif |
| beginner | neophyte |
| ability to understand clearly; insight | perspicacity |
| full; complete | plenary |
| close observation of a person or group, especially one under suspicion | surveillance |
| characteristics of woods; forest-like | sylvan |
| easily annoyed | testy |
| false or exaggerated representation of something; mockery | travesty |
| relieve, calm | allay |
| beastlike, brutal | bestial |
| sociable, festive | convivial |
| exclusive circle of people with a common purpose | coterie |
| one that closely resembles another | counterpart |
| object; oppose | demur |
| shameless boldness; nerve | effrontery |
| add details to, exaggerate | embellish |
| lasting a very short time, short-lived | ephemeral |
| having happiness or good luck; appropriate | felicitous |
| secretive, sneaky, done to escape notice | furtive |
| tastelessly showy; so colorful as to be in bad taste | garish |
| misleading; deceptive; causing illusion | illusory |
| extremely poor | indigent |
| excessive; too much | inordinate |
| get rid of something unwanted; throw away | jettison |
| people-hater | misanthrope |
| unwilling to give up; stubborn | pertinacious |
| of small value or importance; trivial | picayune |
| clothing | raiment |
| claim without proof | allege |
| complete, utter, downright | arrant |
| playful conversation; discussion with a lot of jokes | badinage |
| make calm; win over | conciliate |
| command to cancel a previous order or command | countermand |
| level or rank | echelon |
| to make worse | exacerbate |
| very stupid; unreal | fatuous |
| impossible to deny or prove wrong | irrefutable |
| large, unstoppable force or power that crushes whatever is in its way | juggernaut |
| showing no interest or enthusiasm | lackadaisical |
| long list of things that someone talks about | litany |
| gruesome or frightening, usually involving death | macabre |
| lack; few in number | paucity |
| predict or foreshadow; give warning of | portend |
| demolish; destroy to the ground | raze |
| take back a statement made earlier | recant |
| soak, fill, or load to capacity | saturate |
| to shed, get rid of (esp. skin) | slough |
| gloomy, bitter, and overly serious | saturnine |
| shout of enthusiastic approval by many people | acclamation |
| relating to rural life | bucolic |
| slander; make hurtful untrue comments | calumniate |
| careful; afraid of risks | chary |
| conspiracy; secret agreement for illegal purpose | collusion |
| amateur; someone who is interested in something but doesn't know very much | dilettante |
| not easily upset | imperturbable |
| amount of increase | increment |
| an order; command | mandate |
| ridiculously small | paltry |
| sudden outburst | paroxysm |
| overly ambitious display of knowledge; excessive attention to details or rules | pedantry |
| traveling, esp. by foot | peregrination |
| 1. smelling; 2. reminding you of something | redolent |
| shining brightly | refulgent |
| a word used to test to membership to a certain group; slogan | shibboleth |
| beginner | tyro |
| never stopping | unremitting |
| waver; sway back and forth (often in decision) | vacillate |
| containing harsh, angry, abusive criticism | vituperative |