David's Vocabulary List III
Terms
undefined, object
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- Mettle
- high quality of character; courage; spirit; ardor
- Minute
- very short; small
- Misanthrope
- one who hates or distrusts mankind; cynic; egotist
- Miser
- one who saves greedily
- Misnomer
- a wrong name (as in mislabeling)
- Momentum
- the impetus behind a moving object
- Monolithic
- of a single, large block of stone
- Monotonous
- without variety; tiresomely uniform
- Morbid
- gruesome; horrible
- Moribund
- approaching death; dying; having little vitality
- Mosaic
- a surface decoration of small pieces of variously colored material
- Motley
- composed of different elements; heterogeneous; ill-sorted
- Nadir
- the lowest point
- Naïve
- unaffectedly simple; unsophisticated; innocent
- Nebulous
- indistinct; vague; unclear
- Nefarious
- flagrantly wicked or impious; evil; vicious; villainous; iniquitous
- Negligible
- trifling; unimportant
- Notable
- remarkable; worthy of notice; outstanding
- Novel
- new; unusual
- Nurture
- to feed or nourish; to train or educate
- Oblique
- not straight to the point, indirect; inclined; evasive
- Oblivion
- the condition of being forgotten; the state of being unaware
- Obscure
- not well known; not clear (opp. Lucid); hidden; remote
- Obsession
- a very persistent idea; desire or emotion
- Obstinacy
- stubbornness
- Obstinate
- stubborn; pertinacious
- Obviate
- circumvent; to make unnecessary
- Odometer
- an instrument for measuring the distance traveled by a vehicle
- Offense
- a transgression, breaking a law; resentful; something that causes anger
- Olfactory
- relating to or connected with the sense of smell
- Ominous
- threatening; menacing
- Omniscience
- the quality or state of knowing all
- Oppressive
- burdensome; difficult to bear; exercising power unjustly or severely
- Opprobrious
- disgraceful; infamous; slanderous
- Organic
- characteristic of or derived from living organisms [salubrious]
- Orient
- to adjust or adapt to a particular situation
- Ostentatious
- showy; pretentious; making an ambitious display to invite flattery
- Overt
- open and observable; not hidden; evident
- Pacific
- conciliatory; tending to lessen conflict; peaceable
- Pacify
- to make peaceful; appease; tranquilize
- Palatable
- tasteful; appetizing
- Palpable
- tangible; noticeable; evident
- Paramount
- chief; supreme
- Pariah
- outcast
- Parody
- satirical imitation; a literary or musical composition imitating someone else
- Partisan
- one who strongly supports a side, party, or another person
- Pastiche
- hodgepodge; a jumbled mixture; a collage
- Patronizing
- supporting; sponsoring; treating in a condescending manner
- Paucity
- dearth; insufficiency
- Peevish
- hard to please; irritable; fretful
- Pellucid
- transparent; clear; lucid; perspicuous
- Perception
- ability to perceive or understand
- Perfunctory
- done without care or interest, as if routine; superficial; indifferent
- Periphery
- edge; a boundary line; perimeter (opp. Hub)
- Perpetrate
- to do or perform; commit
- Perplexed
- puzzled; confused
- Perquisite
- something additional resulting from one's position or employment, privilege
- Perseverance
- persistence; steadfastness; resolution
- Persnickety
- fussy about small details; choosy; fastidious; fussy; picky
- Personify
- to represent; to think of or represent as having personality or living qualities
- Perspicuous
- clear in expression; easily understood; lucid; pellucid
- Pertinent
- appropriate; relevant; related to the point
- Peruse
- to read with attention; to study
- Pervade
- permeate; to pass through; to spread out or be diffused
- Perverse
- improper; wicked
- Pessimist
- one who emphasizes adverse aspects or conditions and expects the worst
- Pessimistic
- expecting the worst; gloomy
- Petulant
- impatient or irritable; bad-tempered
- Philistine
- barbarian; smugly conventional; lacking in culture
- Phlegmatic
- sluggish; dull; apathetic; unemotional
- Pillage
- a plundering; looting; (verb: to loot)
- Pious
- deeply religious [Piety (n)]
- Placate
- to appease; to pacify
- Plebeian
- common; coarse; vulgar; uncouth; working class
- Plethora
- excess; over-abundance; superfluity
- Pliable
- easily bent or molded; flexible
- Plunder
- to rob by force; to take (property) by force or fraud
- Plunderous
- the tendency in an individual to rob
- Poignant
- sharply painful to the feelings; piercing
- Portentous
- suggesting an undesirable or serious outcome; ominous
- Pragmatism
- having a practical point of view
- Precocious
- matured to a point beyond that which is normal for the age
- Predator
- one that preys, destroys, or devours
- Predilection
- a preconceived liking; preference; partiality
- Preposterous
- absurd, ridiculous
- Prescience
- foresight; knowledge of events before they take place
- Presumptive
- assuming
- Pretentious
- ambitious; showy; making unjustified demands
- Prig
- a pedantic person; a person who is excessively precise
- Primeval
- primitive; belonging to the first or earliest period
- Pristine
- pure; uncorrupted; unspoiled
- Procrastinate
- to put off doing something until a future time; defer
- Procure
- to obtain, as by effort, labor, or purchase; to get
- Prodigal
- extravagant; wasteful
- Prodigious
- wonderful; amazing; enormous; huge
- Profound
- extending far below the surface; deep; having intellectual depth
- Progeny
- offspring, children or descendants collectively
- Proletarian
- of the lowest class
- Prologue
- an introduction
- Promulgation
- publishing or making known; making widespread
- Propensity
- tendency; natural inclination
- Proponent
- a person who makes a proposal or supports a cause
- Propound
- propose; to offer for consideration
- Proscribe
- to denounce; to forbid; to prohibit
- Prostration
- exhaustion; great depression
- Protean
- very changeable (like the Greek sea god Proteus); mercurial
- Provincial
- Narrow-minded; unsophisticated; backwards; countrified; rustic
- Provocative
- exciting; attracting attention; stimulating [Provoke (v)]
- Provoke
- to excite; to anger or irritate; to evoke
- Prudent
- careful; wise; cautious or discreet in conduct; circumspect
- Pugnacious
- disposed to fight; quarrelsome
- Punctilious
- very exact; scrupulous
- Purblind
- stupid; slow in perceiving or understanding
- Purge
- to purify; rid of the undesirable
- Quandary
- a state of perplexity or uncertainty; a dilemma
- Quell
- to suppress; to quiet; to crush, subdue; to allay
- Querulous
- given to complaining or whining
- Quintessence
- apex; peak; most perfect manifestation of a quality; epitome
- Rancor
- antagonism; deep spite or malice; malevolence
- Rapture
- ecstasy; great joy; passion
- Rash
- too hasty; reckless
- Raucous
- harsh sounding; hoarse
- Ravenous
- voracious; greedily hungry
- Raze
- to tear down completely; to demolish
- Rebuke
- an expression of strong disapproval; reprimand
- Recalcitrant
- stubborn; difficult to manage or operate
- Recant
- withdraw; renounce; abjure
- Recapitulate
- repeat; summarize; reiterate; recount; sum up (like a recap)
- Reconcile
- to make friendly again; to settle (a quarrel); to bring into harmony
- Reconciliation
- to make friendly again; to bring into harmony
- Reconnaissance
- a survey of a region
- Redundant
- excess; superfluous; wordy
- Refute
- to disprove; show to be false or erroneous
- Relegate
- to assign to an inferior position
- Remission
- forgiveness; cancellation from debt; a lessening of heat, cold, or pain
- Remuneration
- reward; recompense; pay
- Repertoire
- the stock of plays, songs, etc. that actors can perform by memory
- Replicate
- duplicate; repeat
- Reprehensible
- deserving to be censured, criticized
- Repress
- to keep down or hold back; to subdue; to control strictly
- Reprimand
- a severe or formal reproof or rebuke, admonishment, reproach
- Reprisal
- retaliation (esp. in war)
- Repugnance
- strong distaste, dislike, or antagonism
- Requisite
- required; necessary
- Resolute
- marked by a firm determination; resolved; bold or steady
- Reticent
- habitually silent or uncommunicative; taciturn; hesitant to speak
- Retract
- to draw back or in (like with claws); to withdraw or disavow
- Retribution
- deserved punishment or reward
- Retrograde
- moving, directed backward; going back to a worse condition
- Retrospect
- contemplation or a survey of the past; to look back upon in thought
- Revere
- to worship; to honor
- Revile
- to reproach; to use abusive language in speaking to or about; to scold
- Rhetoric
- language skillfully used
- Ruddy
- red or reddish; having a fresh, healthy red color
- Rudimentary
- elementary; vestigial
- Rue
- to feel remorse or repentance for; to wish (something) undone
- Rural
- of or relating to the country or country life; rustic
- Sacrilegious
- injurious or disrespectful to sacred things; irreligious
- Salient
- prominent; standing out from the rest; noticeable, sharp, important, germane
- Sally
- to rush out suddenly; set out; depart
- Salubrious
- favorable to health; healthful
- Sanction
- authorized approval or permission; support; encouragement; approval
- Sanguine
- ruddy; sturdy; cheerful; consisting of or relating to blood
- Sarcasm
- a sharp utterance designed to cut or give pain
- Sate
- to appease by indulging to the full; satiate; satisfy
- Sated
- feeling satisfied, content, or full; gratified completely; surfeit; glutted; satiated
- Satirize
- to ridicule, attack or criticize with humor, sarcasm, or irony
- Saturate
- to soak thoroughly
- Saturnine
- morose; grave; gloomy
- Savory
- pleasing to the taste or smell; appetizing; pleasant; attractive; respectable
- Scamp
- a rascal, a mischievous fellow; scoundrel
- Scathe
- to do harm to; scorch; sear; to denounce fiercely
- Scathing
- hurtful; damaging; burning
- Scud
- to pass or skim rapidly over
- Scurrilous
- vulgar; indecent; obscene
- Sear
- to dry up; to cause to wither; dehydrate; to scorch the surface
- Seismograph
- an instrument that records the intensity and duration of earthquakes
- Self-assertion
- a declaration (as insisting to be recognized)
- Serene
- calm; peaceful
- Serenity
- being serene, calm, or tranquil; tranquility
- Servile
- overly submissive; cringing (like a servant)
- Shrewd
- keen-witted or sharp in practical affairs; clever (opp. fatuous)
- Shrewdness
- cleverness
- Sinecure
- an office or position that requires little or no work
- Sluggard
- a habitually lazy, or idle person
- Smelt
- refine
- Smugness
- contentedly confident; complacent
- Soar
- to fly aloft or about; to increase dramatically
- Solicit
- to ask or seek earnestly or pleadingly
- Specious
- false; seeming to be genuine without really being so
- Speculate
- to wonder
- Spur
- anything that urges, impels, or incites; stimulus to action
- Staid
- sedate; settled and steady; demure; sober
- Steadfast
- steady; unchanging; static; invariable
- Stealthy
- done or acting in a secret, furtive manner; sneaky; crafty
- Stupefaction
- overwhelming amazement; astonishment; stupor
- Suave
- urbane; polished; smoothly gracious or polite
- Subdue
- to suppress; to keep back; to restrain
- Subjugate
- to conquer
- Subterfuge
- stratagem; artifice; any plan used to hide one's time objective; deception
- Subtle
- not obvious; not open or direct; thin (not dense or heavy); hard to spot;
- Succumb
- to give way to superior force; yield
- Suffrage
- the right to vote
- Sulk
- to show resentment and ill humor
- Supercilious
- haughty; arrogant; characterized by pride or scorn
- Superficial
- on the surface; shallow
- Supplicate
- beg; implore; solicit; beseech; adjure
- Supplication
- a humble request; a petition; a prayer
- Suppress
- to put down by force; subdue, quell, crush, restrain
- Suture
- a stitch made with a fiber to unite parts of a living body
- Syllabus
- a summary or outline containing the main parts, esp. or a course of study
- Symbiosis
- a relationship of mutual interdependence between persons or groups
- Symbiotic
- between two organisms
- Tabulate
- to figure or calculate in a table; to put (facts, statistics, etc.) in a table
- Tabulation
- figures in a table
- Taciturn
- reserved; reticent; reluctant to talk
- Tactile
- of or relating to a sense of touch; perceptible by touch; tangible; palpable
- Tangible
- perceptible; that which can be touched; definite
- Taut
- tightly stretched; tense (a taut smile)
- Tediously
- tiresome because of length or dullness
- Temerity
- audacity; foolish boldness; daring; effrontery
- Temper
- moderate; mitigate; to soften or tone down
- Temporal
- worldly; pertaining to this world or life
- Thermal
- of, relating to, or caused by heat
- Threshold
- the place or point of entering or beginning
- Tinder
- any dry, easily flammable material, esp. used to start a fire
- Tractable
- easily lead, taught, controlled, or managed; docile; compliant; obedient
- Tranquil
- peaceful
- Transient
- temporary
- Traverse
- to cross; to pass over, across, or through
- Treatise
- essay; discussion of facts; systematic, extensive written discourse on a subject
- Tremor
- a trembling, shaking, or shivering
- Trepidation
- tremor; fearful anxiety; apprehension
- Trivial
- unimportant; insignificant; trifling
- Truce
- armistice; suspension of fighting; cease-fire
- Truculent
- fierce; cruel; savage
- Tyro
- neophyte; beginner
- Ubiquitous
- omnipresent; widespread; found everywhere
- Unanimous
- based on complete agreement; unchallenged
- Undermine
- to dig beneath; to wear away; to weaken, injure or impair, esp. stealthily
- Uniform
- unvarying in form; having a single form or pattern
- Untenable
- indefensible; insupportable; illogical
- Urbane
- sophisticated; polite, elegant or refined
- Usurp
- to seize by force without legal right; employ wrongfully
- Utilitarian
- stressing usefulness over beauty
- Utopian
- idealistic; visionary
- Uxorious
- doting; excessively fond of (esp. one's wife)