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abjure
|
renounce or reject solemnly, to recant
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abrogate
|
abolish or annul by authority
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abscission
|
act of cutting off or removing
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acarpous
|
no longer fertile; worn out
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accretion
|
growth; building up
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admonish
|
to reprove, to express warning or disapproval
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adroit
|
dextrous; adept
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adumbrate
|
to suggest sketchily; to obscure, to foreshadow
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anathema
|
a religious curse; thoroughly loathed person/thing
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anodyne
|
soothing; something that assuages pain or comforts
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antipathy
|
aversion; dislike
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antithetical
|
diametrically opposed; antithesis
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apocryphal
|
of dubious authenticity or origin; spurious
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apogee
|
highest point; zenith; culmination
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apostate
|
one who abandons long-held religious or political beliefs
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apotheosis
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deification; glorification to godliness
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apposite
|
appropriate; relevant, pertinent, apropos
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apprise
|
give notice to, to inform
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arabesque
|
a complex, ornate design;
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arcane
|
mysterious; esoteric; knowable only to initiates
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arrant
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impudent; utter (What arrant nonsense!)
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artless
|
completely without guile, without artificiality
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ascetic
|
someone practicing self-denial,
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asperity
|
severity; harshness
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aspersion
|
act of defamation or maligning;
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assay
|
an analysis; examination
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asseverate
|
to allege, to aver
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assiduous
|
diligent; sedulous
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attenuate
|
to weaker; to make thinner
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augury
|
omen; portent
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auspice
|
patronage; protection or support
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auspicious
|
favorable, propitious; prosperous
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aver
|
to assert, to prove, to justify
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baleful
|
sinister, pernicious,
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bane
|
poison, cause of injury
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beatify
|
to bless; to regard as saintly, to ascribe a virtue to
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bedizen
|
to adorn, esp. in a cheap showy manner, to festoon
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belie
|
to misrepresent, give false impression of
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bellicose
|
warlike, pugnacious
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bilge
|
bulge; the protuberance of a cask
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blandish
|
to toady or fawn
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blithe
|
merry; carefree; casual,
a blithe, smiling face
or: a blithe disregard
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boisterous
|
loud, noisy
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boor
|
rude or insensitive person, lout
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burnish
|
to polish, to rub to a shine
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byzantine
|
labyrithine; complex
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cabal
|
a scheme or plot, group of plotters, cell
eg. a cabal of dissidents
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cachinnate
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to laugh loudly
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cadge
|
to sponge or mooch
eg. he eats whenever he can cadge a meal
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calumniate
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to slander, make a false accusation
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