SAT Vocab P-R
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- rondo
- n. A musical composition during which the first part or subject is repeated several times.
- picayune
- adj. Of small value.
- remunerate
- v. To pay or pay for.
- postgraduate
- adj. Pertaining to studies that are pursued after receiving a degree.
- regress
- v. To return to a former place or condition.
- regicide
- n. The killing of a king or sovereign.
- readjust
- v. To put in order after disarrangement.
- predominate
- v. To be chief in importance, quantity, or degree.
- playful
- adj. Frolicsome.
- reducible
- adj. That may be reduced.
- percipient
- n. One who or that which perceives.
- relent
- v. To yield.
- purveyor
- n. one who supplies
- pretension
- n. A bold or presumptuous assertion.
- pervious
- adj. Admitting the entrance or passage of another substance.
- Renaissance
- n. The revival of letters, and then of art, which marks the transition from medieval to modern time.
- penance
- n. Punishment to which one voluntarily submits or subjects himself as an expression of penitence.
- retort
- n. A retaliatory speech.
- remonstrance
- n. Reproof.
- prolific
- adj. Producing offspring or fruit.
- position
- n. The manner in which a thing is placed.
- poise
- n. Equilibrium.
- presumptuous
- adj. Assuming too much.
- payee
- n. A person to whom money has been or is to be paid.
- peccadillo
- n. A small breach of propriety or principle.
- palate
- n. The roof of the mouth.
- putrescent
- adj. Undergoing decomposition of animal or vegetable matter accompanied by fetid odors.
- rapacious
- adj. Disposed to seize by violence or by unlawful or greedy methods.
- parable
- n. A brief narrative founded on real scenes or events usually with a moral.
- phenomenon
- n. Any unusual occurrence.
- revert
- v. To return, or turn or look back, as toward a former position or the like.
- presumption
- n. That which may be logically assumed to be true until disproved.
- procrastinate
- v. To put off till tomorrow or till a future time.
- potential
- n. Anything that may be possible.
- pedigree
- n. One's line of ancestors.
- rote
- n. Repetition of words or sounds as a means of learning them, with slight attention.
- plenary
- adj. Entire.
- percussion
- n. The sharp striking of one body against another.
- revisal
- n. Revision.
- pittance
- n. Any small portion or meager allowance.
- requisite
- adj. Necessary.
- recourse
- n. Resort to or application for help in exigency or trouble.
- papacy
- n. The official head of the Roman Catholic Church.
- perpendicular
- adj. Straight up and down.
- perspicuous
- adj. Lucid.
- Quixotic
- adj. Chivalrous or romantic to a ridiculous or extravagant degree.
- profession
- n. Any calling or occupation involving special mental or other special disciplines.
- perfectible
- adj. Capable of being made perfect.
- pare
- v. To cut, shave, or remove (the outside) from anything.
- requiem
- n. A solemn mass sung for the repose of the souls of the dead.
- recover
- v. To regain.
- protuberant
- adj. Bulging.
- perspective
- n. The relative importance of facts or matters from any special point of view.
- resonance
- adj. Able to reinforce sound by sympathetic vibrations.
- physicist
- n. A specialist in the science that treats of the phenomena associated with matter and energy.
- polysyllable
- adj. Having several syllables, especially more than three syllables.
- preferential
- adj. Possessing, giving, or constituting preference or priority.
- revoke
- v. To rescind.
- pleasurable
- adj. Affording gratification.
- prophesy
- v. To predict or foretell, especially under divine inspiration and guidance.
- rife
- adj. Abundant.
- rhetorician
- n. A showy writer or speaker.
- ration
- v. To provide with a fixed allowance or portion, especially of food.
- recreate
- v. To refresh after labor.
- polytheism
- n. The doctrine or belief that there are more gods than one.
- pseudonym
- n. A fictitious name, especially when assumed by a writer.
- regent
- n. One who is lawfully deputized to administer the government for the time being in the name of the ruler.
- proceed
- v. To renew motion or action, as after rest or interruption.
- proxy
- n. A person who is empowered by another to represent him or her in a given matter.
- punctual
- adj. Observant and exact in points of time.
- petrify
- v. To convert into a substance of stony hardness and character.
- practicable
- adj. Feasible.
- pedagogue
- n. A schoolmaster.
- pervasive
- adj. Thoroughly penetrating or permeating.
- reservoir
- n. A receptacle where a quantity of some material, especially of a liquid or gas, may be kept.
- persistence
- n. A fixed adherence to a resolve, course of conduct, or the like.
- preferable
- adj. More desirable than others.
- pentavalent
- adj. Quinqeuvalent.
- privateer
- n. A vessel owned and officered by private persons, but carrying on maritime war.
- proficiency
- n. An advanced state of acquirement, as in some knowledge, art, or science.
- polygamy
- n. the fact or condition of having more than one wife or husband at once.
- refractory
- adj. Not amenable to control.
- plurality
- n. A majority.
- relevant
- adj. Bearing upon the matter in hand.
- rabid
- adj. Affected with rabies or hydrophobia.
- perturbation
- n. Mental excitement or confusion.
- pageant
- n. A dramatic representation, especially a spectacular one.
- pediatrics
- n. The department of medical science that relates to the treatment of diseases of childhood.
- premier
- adj. First in rank or position.
- perform
- v. To accomplish.
- personage
- n. A man or woman as an individual, especially one of rank or high station.
- parse
- v. To describe, as a sentence, by separating it into its elements and describing each word.
- repudiate
- v. To refuse to have anything to do with.
- rejuvenate
- v. To restore to youth.
- pentameter
- n. In prosody, a line of verse containing five units or feet.
- paucity
- n. Fewness.
- persecution
- n. Harsh or malignant oppression.
- predominance
- n. Ascendancy or preponderance.
- quackery
- n. Charlatanry
- peaceable
- adj. Tranquil.
- permanence
- n. A continuance in the same state, or without any change that destroys the essential form or nature.
- peerage
- n. The nobility.
- philology
- n. The study of language in connection with history and literature.
- pitiable
- adj. Contemptible.
- reparable
- adj. Capable of repair.
- recapitulate
- v. To repeat again the principal points of.
- parish
- n. The ecclesiastical district in charge of a pastor.
- photometer
- n. Any instrument for measuring the intensity of light or comparing the intensity of two lights.
- quarantine
- n. The enforced isolation of any person or place infected with contagious disease.
- resilient
- adj. Having the quality of springing back to a former position.
- presentiment
- n. Foreboding.
- rectitude
- n. The quality of being upright in principles and conduct.
- privity
- n. Knowledge shared with another or others regarding a private matter.
- pertinacity
- n. Unyielding adherence.
- panoply
- n. A full set of armor.
- papyrus
- n. The writing-paper of the ancient Egyptians, and later of the Romans.
- recognize
- v. To recall the identity of (a person or thing).
- rendition
- n. Interpretation.
- reprehend
- v. To find fault with.
- remission
- n. Temporary diminution of a disease.
- planisphere
- n. A polar projection of the heavens on a chart.
- patronize
- v. To exercise an arrogant condescension toward.
- recollect
- v. To recall the knowledge of.
- perspire
- v. To excrete through the pores of the skin.
- ruffian
- adj. A lawless or recklessly brutal fellow.
- rebuff
- n. A peremptory or unexpected rejection of advances or approaches.
- parallel
- v. To cause to correspond or lie in the same direction and equidistant in all parts.
- penetration
- n. Discernment.
- redoubtable
- adj. Formidable.
- ripplet
- n. A small ripple, as of water.
- ruth
- n. Sorrow for another's misery.
- pretext
- n. A fictitious reason or motive.
- reproduction
- n. The process by which an animal or plant gives rise to another of its kind.
- reimburse
- v. To pay back as an equivalent of what has been expended.
- proviso
- n. A clause in a contract, will, etc., by which its operation is rendered conditional.
- pavilion
- n. An open structure for temporary shelter.
- relish
- v. To like the taste or savor of.
- psychopathic
- adj. Morally irresponsible.
- rampant
- adj. Growing, climbing, or running without check or restraint.
- resent
- v. To be indignant at, as an injury or insult.
- pact
- n. A covenant.
- perusal
- n. The act of reading carefully or thoughtfully.
- regimen
- n. A systematized order or course of living with reference to food, clothing and personal habits.
- reaction
- n. Tendency towards a former, or opposite state of things, as after reform, revolution, or inflation.
- pedant
- n. A scholar who makes needless and inopportune display of his learning.
- revelation
- n. A disclosing, discovering, or making known of what was before secret, private, or unknown.
- prudential
- adj. Proceeding or marked by caution.
- pledgee
- n. The person to whom anything is pledged.
- preestablish
- v. To settle or arrange beforehand.
- retouch
- v. To modify the details of.
- paronymous
- adj. Derived from the same root or primitive word.
- photometry
- n. The art of measuring the intensity of light.
- reprisal
- n. Any infliction or act by way of retaliation on an enemy.
- procedure
- n. A manner or method of acting.
- prelate
- n. One of a higher order of clergy having direct authority over other clergy.
- protege
- n. One specially cared for and favored by another usually older person.
- pentagon
- n. A figure, especially, with five angles and five sides.
- preparatory
- adj. Having to do with what is preliminary.
- predicate
- v. To state as belonging to something.
- referable
- adj. Ascribable.
- parricide
- n. The murder of a parent.
- recrudescent
- adj. Becoming raw or sore again.
- retrograde
- v. To cause to deteriorate or to move backward.
- pernicious
- adj. Tending to kill or hurt.
- penitence
- n. Sorrow for sin with desire to amend and to atone.
- reticence
- n. The quality of habitually keeping silent or being reserved in utterance.
- rapt
- adj. Enraptured.
- permeate
- v. To pervade.
- reparation
- n. The act of making amends, as for an injury, loss, or wrong.
- refringent
- adj. Having the power to refract.
- repugnant
- adj. Offensive to taste and feeling.
- pacify
- v. To bring into a peaceful state.
- repulsive
- adj. Grossly offensive.
- persist
- v. To continue steadfast against opposition.
- petulance
- n. The character or condition of being impatient, capricious or petulant.
- prepossession
- n. A preconceived liking.
- premise
- n. A judgment as a conclusion.
- propeller
- n. One who or that which propels.
- reestablish
- v. To restore.
- protrusion
- n. The act of protruding.
- penetrate
- v. To enter or force a way into the interior parts of.
- rhetoric
- n. The art of discourse.
- pulmonary
- adj. Pertaining to the lungs.
- phonetic
- adj. Representing articulate sounds or speech.
- pinchers
- n. An instrument having two jaws working on a pivot.
- resistive
- adj. Having or exercising the power of resistance.
- permissible
- adj. That may be allowed.
- pioneer
- n. One among the first to explore a country.
- pompous
- adj. Marked by an assumed stateliness and impressiveness of manner.
- resurrection
- n. A return from death to life
- prescript
- adj. Prescribed as a rule or model.
- propitious
- adj. Kindly disposed.
- readily
- adv. Without objection or reluctance.
- pertinacious
- adj. Persistent or unyielding.
- pyromania
- n. An insane propensity to set things on fire.
- pitiless
- adj. Hard-hearted.
- paroxysm
- n. A sudden outburst of any kind of activity.
- philately
- n. The study and collection of stamps.
- pupilage
- n. The state or period of being a student.
- prosody
- n. The science of poetical forms.
- perpetrator
- n. The doer of a wrong or a criminal act.
- pollute
- v. To contaminate.
- plenteous
- adj. Abundant.
- reflector
- n. A mirror, as of metal, for reflecting light, heat, or sound in a particular direction.
- pinnacle
- n. A high or topmost point, as a mountain-peak.
- pedal
- n. A lever for the foot usually applied only to musical instruments, cycles, and other machines.
- rancor
- n. Malice.
- prohibitionist
- n. One who favors the prohibition by law of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.
- reluctance
- n. Unwillingness.
- powerless
- adj. Impotent.
- reclusory
- n. A hermitage.
- paradox
- n. A statement or doctrine seemingly in contradiction to the received belief.
- perjury
- n. A solemn assertion of a falsity.
- rampart
- n. A bulwark or construction to oppose assault or hostile entry.
- precision
- n. Accuracy of limitation, definition, or adjustment.
- pervasion
- n. The state of spreading through every part.
- progression
- n. A moving forward or proceeding in course.
- peaceful
- adj. Tranquil.
- protoplasm
- n. The substance that forms the principal portion of an animal or vegetable cell.
- quintet
- n. Musical composition arranged for five voices or instruments.
- refract
- v. To bend or turn from a direct course.
- parity
- n. Equality, as of condition or rank.
- personal
- adj. Not general or public.
- possessor
- n. One who owns, enjoys, or controls anything, as property.
- pantomime
- n. Sign-language.
- physics
- n. The science that treats of the phenomena associated with matter and energy.
- reinstate
- v. To restore to a former state, station, or authority.
- retention
- n. The keeping of a thing within one's power or possession.
- primeval
- adj. Belonging to the first ages.
- panic
- n. A sudden, unreasonable, overpowering fear.
- peddler
- n. One who travels from house to house with an assortment of goods for retail.
- righteousness
- n. Rectitude.
- poignancy
- n. Severity or acuteness, especially of pain or grief.
- permanent
- adj. Durable.
- replete
- adj. Full to the uttermost.
- propulsion
- n. A driving onward or forward.
- prelude
- n. An introductory or opening performance.
- prophecy
- n. Any prediction or foretelling.
- reverent
- adj. Humble.
- pugnacious
- adj. Quarrelsome.
- quietus
- n. A silencing, suppressing, or ending.
- priggish
- adj. Conceited.
- prelacy
- n. A system of church government.
- pellucid
- adj. Translucent.
- pallid
- adj. Of a pale or wan appearance.
- personality
- n. The attributes, taken collectively, that make up the character and nature of an individual.
- providential
- adj. Effected by divine guidance.
- redolent
- adj. Smelling sweet and agreeable.
- radiate
- v. To extend in all directions, as from a source or focus.
- revile
- v. To heap approach or abuse upon.
- pique
- v. To excite a slight degree of anger in.
- predecessor
- n. An incumbent of a given office previous to another.
- rotund
- adj. Round from fullness or plumpness.
- prologue
- n. A prefatory statement or explanation to a poem, discourse, or performance.
- refringency
- n. Power to refract.
- persevere
- v. To continue striving in spite of discouragements.
- prostrate
- adj. Lying prone, or with the head to the ground.
- reconcilable
- adj. Capable of being adjusted or harmonized.
- prescient
- adj. Foreknowing.
- palinode
- n. A retraction.
- precede
- v. To happen first.
- plausible
- adj. Seeming likely to be true, though open to doubt.
- ramify
- v. To divide or subdivide into branches or subdivisions.
- Pariah
- n. A member of a degraded class; a social outcast.
- residue
- n. A remainder or surplus after a part has been separated or otherwise treated.
- reactionary
- adj. Pertaining to, of the nature of, causing, or favoring reaction.
- retrospective
- adj. Looking back on the past.
- pusillanimous
- adj. Without spirit or bravery.
- patrimony
- n. An inheritance from an ancestor, especially from one's father.
- retaliate
- v. To repay evil with a similar evil.
- pestilential
- adj. having the nature of or breeding pestilence.
- pedagogy
- n. The science and art of teaching
- pentahedron
- n. A solid bounded by five plane faces.
- paraphernalia
- n. Miscellaneous articles of equipment or adornment.
- predominant
- adj. Superior in power, influence, effectiveness, number, or degree.
- peripatetic
- adj. Walking about.
- probity
- n. Virtue or integrity tested and confirmed.
- repulse
- n. The act of beating or driving back, as an attacking or advancing enemy.
- precedent
- n. An instance that may serve as a guide or basis for a rule.
- reunite
- v. To unite or join again, as after separation.
- portent
- n. Anything that indicates what is to happen.
- radical
- n. One who holds extreme views or advocates extreme measures.
- prate
- v. To talk about vainly or foolishly.
- patriarch
- n. The chief of a tribe or race who rules by paternal right.
- peccant
- adj. Guilty.
- protagonist
- n. A leader in any enterprise or contest.
- rehabilitate
- v. To restore to a former status, capacity, right rank, or privilege.
- puerile
- adj. Childish.
- perspicacious
- adj. Astute.
- regalia
- n. pl. The emblems of royalty.
- presentient
- adj. Perceiving or feeling beforehand.
- rapid
- adj. Having great speed.
- populace
- n. The common people.
- repentance
- n. Sorrow for something done or left undone, with desire to make things right by undoing the wrong.
- predict
- v. To foretell.
- projection
- n. A prominence.
- rightful
- adj. Conformed to a just claim according to established laws or usage.
- reflectible
- adj. Capable of being turned back.
- polar
- adj. Pertaining to the poles of a sphere, especially of the earth.
- purl
- v. To cause to whirl, as in an eddy.
- regale
- v. To give unusual pleasure.
- recognizance
- n. An acknowledgment entered into before a court with condition to do some particular act.
- Parisian
- adj. Of or pertaining to the city of Paris.
- paly
- adj. Lacking color or brilliancy.
- prehensile
- adj. Adapted for grasping or holding.
- redress
- v. To set right, as a wrong by compensation or the punishment of the wrong-doer.
- raptorial
- adj. Seizing and devouring living prey.
- relegate
- v. To send off or consign, as to an obscure position or remote destination.
- protocol
- n. A declaration or memorandum of agreement less solemn and formal than a treaty.
- postdate
- v. To make the date of any writing later than the real date.
- plummet
- n. A piece of lead for making soundings, adjusting walls to the vertical.
- raucous
- adj. Harsh.
- relinquish
- v. To give up using or having.
- prosaic
- adj. Unimaginative.
- primer
- n. An elementary reading-book for children.
- prospectus
- n. A paper or pamphlet containing information of a proposed undertaking.
- quite
- adv. Fully.
- peninsular
- adj. Pertaining to a piece of land almost surrounded by water.
- precarious
- adj. Perilous.
- reprobate
- n. One abandoned to depravity and sin.
- preponderant
- adj. Prevalent.
- pollen
- n. The fine dust-like grains or powder formed within the anther of a flowering plant.
- recure
- v. To cure again.
- perfumery
- n. The preparation of perfumes.
- rejuvenescence
- n. A renewal of youth.
- protuberance
- n. Something that swells out from a surrounding surface.
- propagate
- v. To spread abroad or from person to person.
- pharmacopoeia
- n. A book containing the formulas and methods of preparation of medicines for the use of druggists.
- plutocracy
- n. A wealthy class in a political community who control the government by means of their money.
- paralysis
- n. Loss of the power of contractility in the voluntary or involuntary muscles.
- prefatory
- adj. Pertaining to a brief explanation to the reader at the beginning of a book.
- preternatural
- adj. Extraordinary.
- regime
- n. Particular conduct or administration of affairs.
- reticent
- adj. Habitually keeping silent or being reserved in utterance.
- parlor
- n. A room for reception of callers or entertainment of guests.
- punitive
- adj. Pertaining to punishment.
- proverb
- n. A brief, pithy saying, condensing in witty or striking form the wisdom of experience.
- repel
- v. To force or keep back in a manner, physically or mentally.
- pathos
- n. The quality in any form of representation that rouses emotion or sympathy.
- pincers
- n. An instrument having two lever-handles and two jaws working on a pivot.
- phlegmatic
- adj. Not easily roused to feeling or action.
- reseat
- v. To place in position of office again.
- portend
- v. To indicate as being about to happen, especially by previous signs.
- priory
- n. A monastic house.
- privy
- adj. Participating with another or others in the knowledge of a secret transaction.
- petulant
- adj. Displaying impatience.
- pall
- v. To make dull by satiety.
- prominent
- adj. Conspicuous in position, character, or importance.
- reconsider
- v. To review with care, especially with a view to a reversal of previous action.
- pertinent
- adj. Relevant.
- precipitant
- adj. Moving onward quickly and heedlessly.
- pyx
- n. A vessel or casket, usually of precious metal, in which the host is preserved.
- personnel
- n. The force of persons collectively employed in some service.
- puissant
- adj. Possessing strength.
- piece
- n. A loose or separated part, as distinguished from the whole or the mass.
- palette
- n. A thin tablet, with a hole for the thumb, upon which artists lay their colors for painting.
- portfolio
- n. A portable case for holding writing-materials, drawings, etc.
- probate
- adj. Relating to making proof, as of a will.
- principal
- adj. Most important.
- quibble
- n. An utterly trivial distinction or objection.
- qualify
- v. To endow or furnish with requisite ability, character, knowledge, skill, or possessions.
- quay
- n. A wharf or artificial landing-place on the shore of a harbor or projecting into it.
- preparation
- n. An act or proceeding designed to bring about some event.
- percipience
- n. The act of perceiving.
- parley
- v. To converse in.
- recrudescence
- n. The state of becoming raw or sore again.
- perigee
- n. The point in the orbit of the moon when it is nearest the earth.
- preference
- n. An object of favor or choice.
- plebeian
- adj. Common.
- premonition
- n. Foreboding.
- quarrelsome
- adj. Irascible.
- qualification
- n. A requisite for an employment, position, right, or privilege.
- retrogression
- n. A going or moving backward or in a reverse direction.
- psychic
- adj. Pertaining to the mind or soul.
- precaution
- n. A provision made in advance for some possible emergency or danger.
- respite
- n. Interval of rest.
- perseverance
- n. A persistence in purpose and effort.
- prodigal
- n. One wasteful or extravagant, especially in the use of money or property.
- posse
- n. A force of men.
- resonate
- v. To have or produce resonance.
- ravenous
- adj. Furiously voracious or hungry.
- respondent
- adj. Answering.
- recruit
- v. To enlist men for military or naval service.
- promissory
- adj. Expressing an engagement to pay.
- poetaster
- n. An inferior poet.
- perspiration
- n. Sweat.
- preeminence
- n. Special eminence.
- palsy
- n. Paralysis.
- reckless
- adj. Foolishly headless of danger.
- punctilious
- adj. Strictly observant of the rules or forms prescribed by law or custom.
- perennial
- adj. Continuing though the year or through many years.
- perceive
- v. To have knowledge of, or receive impressions concerning, through the medium of the body senses.
- polyhedron
- n. A solid bounded by plane faces, especially by more than four.
- queue
- n. A file of persons waiting in order of their arrival, as for admittance.
- pervert
- n. One who has forsaken a doctrine regarded as true for one esteemed false.
- reprehensible
- adj. Censurable.
- peremptory
- adj. Precluding question or appeal.
- rigorous
- adj. Uncompromising.
- purloin
- v. To steal.
- restitution
- n. Restoration of anything to the one to whom it properly belongs.
- phonic
- adj. Pertaining to the nature of sound.
- refragable
- adj. Capable of being refuted.
- precocious
- adj. Having the mental faculties prematurely developed.
- quandary
- n. A puzzling predicament.
- preengage
- v. To preoccupy.
- preface
- n. A brief explanation or address to the reader, at the beginning of a book.
- paragon
- n. A model of excellence.
- prolong
- v. To extend in time or duration.
- pamphlet
- n. A brief treatise or essay, usually on a subject of current interest.
- quarto
- n. An eight-page newspaper of any size.
- pendulous
- adj. Hanging, especially so as to swing by an attached end or part.
- precise
- adj. Exact.
- promenade
- v. To walk for amusement or exercise.
- prohibition
- n. A decree or an order forbidding something.
- passible
- adj. Capable of feeling of suffering.
- renunciation
- n. An explicit disclaimer of a right or privilege.
- prevalence
- n. Frequency.
- philosophize
- v. To seek ultimate causes and principles.
- referrer
- n. One who refers.
- prediction
- n. A prophecy.
- perturb
- v. To disturb greatly.
- reluctant
- adj. Unwilling.
- possessive
- adj. Pertaining to the having, holding, or detention of property in one's power or command.
- prowess
- n. Strength, skill, and intrepidity in battle.
- reciprocity
- n. Equal mutual rights and benefits granted and enjoyed.
- peddle
- v. To go about with a small stock of goods to sell.
- repugnance
- n. Thorough dislike.
- protrude
- v. To push out or thrust forth.
- prevaricate
- v. To use ambiguous or evasive language for the purpose of deceiving or diverting attention.
- ravage
- v. To lay waste by pillage, rapine, devouring, or other destructive methods.
- promoter
- n. A furtherer, forwarder, or encourager.
- prerogative
- adj. Having superior rank or precedence.
- recessive
- adj. Having a tendency to go back.
- paleontology
- n. The branch of biology that treats of ancient life and fossil organisms.
- quarter
- n. One of four equal parts into which anything is or may be divided.
- protection
- n. Preservation from harm, danger, annoyance, or any other evil.
- prefix
- v. To attach at the beginning.
- paternity
- n. Fatherhood.
- philosophy
- n. The general principles, laws, or causes that furnish the rational explanation of anything.
- pentagram
- n. A figure having five points or lobes.
- prurient
- adj. Inclined to lascivious thoughts and desires.
- peevish
- adj. Petulant. (irritable)
- plural
- adj. Containing or consisting of more than one.
- resurgent
- adj. Surging back or again.
- pyrotechnic
- adj. Pertaining to fireworks or their manufacture.
- reformer
- n. One who carries out a reform.
- ready
- adj. In a state of preparedness for any given purpose or occasion.
- redemption
- n. The recovery of what is mortgaged or pledged, by paying the debt.
- query
- v. To make inquiry.
- probe
- v. To search through and through.
- privilege
- n. A right or immunity not enjoyed by all, or that may be enjoyed only under special conditions.
- protector
- n. A defender.
- retrench
- v. To cut down or reduce in extent or quantity.
- packet
- n. A bundle, as of letters.
- pendant
- n. Anything that hangs from something else, either for ornament or for use.
- resistant
- adj. Offering or tending to produce resistance.
- pillage
- n. Open robbery, as in war.
- rigor
- n. Inflexibility.
- platitude
- n. A written or spoken statement that is flat, dull, or commonplace.
- resistless
- adj. Powerless.
- qualm
- n. A fit of nausea.
- possess
- v. To own.
- recline
- v. To cause to assume a leaning or recumbent attitude or position.
- protomartyr
- n. The earliest victim in any cause.
- repository
- n. A place in which goods are stored.
- reminiscent
- adj. Pertaining to the recollection of matters of personal interest.
- purgatory
- n. An intermediate state where souls are made fit for paradise or heaven by expiatory suffering.
- persiflage
- n. Banter.
- resistance
- n. The exertion of opposite effort or effect.
- patronymic
- adj. Formed after one's father's name.
- rookery
- n. A place where crows congregate to breed.
- reliance
- n. Dependence.
- reminiscence
- n. The calling to mind of incidents within the range of personal knowledge or experience.
- remiss
- adj. Negligent.
- radiance
- n. Brilliant or sparkling luster.
- redolence
- n. Smelling sweet and agreeable.
- prejudice
- n. A judgment or opinion formed without due examination of the facts.
- penalty
- n. The consequences that follow the transgression of natural or divine law.
- pungency
- n. The quality of affecting the sense of smell.
- palliate
- v. To cause to appear less guilty.
- psychotherapy
- n. The treatment of mental disease.
- perjure
- v. To swear falsely to.
- retinue
- n. The body of persons who attend a person of importance in travel or public appearance.
- proscenium
- n. That part of the stage between the curtain and the orchestra.
- rejoin
- v. To reunite after separation.
- reciprocal
- adj. Mutually interchangeable or convertible.
- positive
- adj. Free from doubt or hesitation.
- redundant
- adj. Constituting an excess.
- penitential
- adj. Pertaining to sorrow for sin with desire to amend and to atone.
- parody
- v. To render ludicrous by imitating the language of.
- prodigy
- n. A person or thing of very remarkable gifts or qualities.
- preexist
- v. To exist at a period or in a state earlier than something else.
- robust
- adj. Characterized by great strength or power of endurance.
- plaudit
- n. An expression of applause.
- provincial
- adj. Uncultured in thought and manner.
- pentathlon
- n. The contest of five associated exercises in the great games and the same contestants.
- prototype
- n. A work, original in character, afterward imitated in form or spirit.
- pedestrian
- n. One who journeys on foot.
- rhapsody
- n. Rapt or rapturous utterance.
- possession
- n. The having, holding, or detention of property in one's power or command.
- rudimentary
- adj. Being in an initial, early, or incomplete stage of development.
- penultimate
- adj. A syllable or member of a series that is last but one.
- proscription
- n. Any act of condemnation and rejection from favor and privilege.
- remonstrant
- adj. Having the character of a reproof.
- pedagogics
- n. The science and art of teaching.
- predicament
- n. A difficult, trying situation or plight.
- regiment
- n. A body of soldiers.
- requital
- n. Adequate return for good or ill.
- protective
- adj. Sheltering.
- pendulum
- n. A weight hung on a rod, serving by its oscillation to regulate the rate of a clock.
- quartet
- n. A composition for four voices or four instruments.
- retroactive
- adj. Operative on, affecting, or having reference to past events, transactions, responsibilities.
- playwright
- n. A maker of plays for the stage.
- percolate
- v. To filter.
- propel
- v. To drive or urge forward.
- pamphleteer
- v. To compose or issue pamphlets, especially controversial ones.
- perfidy
- n. Treachery.
- resilience
- n. The power of springing back to a former position
- panorama
- n. A series of large pictures representing a continuous scene.
- remonstrate
- v. To present a verbal or written protest to those who have power to right or prevent a wrong.
- principality
- n. The territory of a reigning prince.
- resumption
- n. The act of taking back, or taking again.
- perhaps
- adv. Possibly.
- Pantheon
- n. A circular temple at Rome with a fine Corinthian portico and a great domed roof.
- recidivist
- n. A confirmed criminal.
- proffer
- v. To offer to another for acceptance.
- preposterous
- adj. Utterly ridiculous or absurd.
- pantheism
- n. The worship of nature for itself or its beauty.
- protract
- v. To prolong.
- raillery
- n. Good-humored satire.
- plea
- n. An argument to obtain some desired action.
- prefer
- v. To hold in higher estimation.
- rendezvous
- n. A prearranged place of meeting.
- reliquary
- n. A casket, coffer, or repository in which relics are kept.
- penurious
- adj. Excessively sparing in the use of money.
- repellent
- adj. Having power to force back in a manner, physically or mentally.
- reassure
- v. To give new confidence.
- plumb
- n. A weight suspended by a line to test the verticality of something.
- reck
- v. To have a care or thought for.
- rankle
- v. To produce irritation or festering.
- postscript
- n. Something added to a letter after the writer's signature.
- proclamation
- n. Any announcement made in a public manner.
- resuscitate
- v. To restore from apparent death.
- pennant
- n. A small flag.
- reprimand
- v. To chide or rebuke for a fault.
- perversity
- n. Wickedness.
- remodel
- v. Reconstruct.
- pharmacy
- n. The art or business of compounding and dispensing medicines.
- preservation
- n. Conservation.
- proletarian
- n. A person of the lowest or poorest class.
- permutation
- n. Reciprocal change, different ordering of same items.
- reiterate
- v. To say or do again and again.
- parsimonious
- adj. Unduly sparing in the use or expenditure of money.
- perspicacity
- n. Acuteness or discernment.
- polygon
- n. A figure having many angles.
- reversion
- n. A return to or toward some former state or condition.
- plenipotentiary
- n. A person fully empowered to transact any business.
- phosphorescence
- n. The property of emitting light.
- paternal
- adj. Fatherly.
- proselyte
- n. One who has been won over from one religious belief to another.
- prohibitory
- adj. Involving or equivalent to prohibition, especially of the sale of alcoholic beverages.
- perception
- n. Knowledge through the senses of the existence and properties of matter or the external world.
- recede
- v. To move back or away.
- recapture
- v. To capture again.
- rescind
- v. To make void, as an act, by the enacting authority or a superior authority.
- passive
- adj. Unresponsive.
- revise
- v. To examine for the correction of errors, or for the purpose of making changes.
- prospector
- n. One who makes exploration, search, or examination, especially for minerals.
- preordain
- v. To foreordain.
- patter
- v. To mumble something over and over.
- reclaim
- v. To demand or to obtain the return or restoration of.
- prudery
- n. An undue display of modesty or delicacy.
- proximately
- adv. Immediately.
- ruminant
- adj. Chewing the cud.
- prickle
- v. To puncture slightly with fine, sharp points.
- profligate
- adj. Abandoned to vice.
- potency
- n. Power.
- prescriptible
- adj. Derived from authoritative direction.
- purport
- n. Intent.
- renovate
- v. To restore after deterioration, as a building.
- receptive
- adj. Having the capacity, quality, or ability of receiving, as truths or impressions.
- quiescence
- n. Quiet.
- regnant
- adj. Exercising royal authority in one's own right.
- peter
- v. To fail or lose power, efficiency, or value.
- retrieve
- v. To recover something by searching.
- populous
- adj. Containing many inhabitants, especially in proportion to the territory.
- penury
- n. Indigence.
- rebuild
- v. To build again or anew.
- pervade
- v. To pass or spread through every part.
- quintessence
- n. The most essential part of anything.
- preoccupy
- v. To fill the mind of a person to the exclusion of other subjects.
- precursor
- n. A forerunner or herald.
- pudgy
- adj. Small and fat.
- physique
- n. The physical structure or organization of a person.
- participate
- v. To receive or have a part or share of.
- penetrable
- adj. That may be pierced by physical, moral, or intellectual force.
- promontory
- n. A high point of land extending outward from the coastline into the sea.
- prima
- adj. First.
- piccolo
- n. A small flute.
- reprieve
- v. To grant a respite from punishment to.
- placid
- adj. Serene.
- premature
- adj. Coming too soon.
- preamble
- n. A statement introductory to and explanatory of what follows.
- pectoral
- adj. Pertaining to the breast or thorax.
- repertory
- n. A place where things are stored or gathered together.
- reconstruct
- v. To rebuild.
- rivulet
- n. A small stream or brook.
- perverse
- adj. Unreasonable.
- rigmarole
- n. Nonsense.
- pommel
- v. To beat with something thick or bulky.
- regenerate
- v. To reproduce.
- polycracy
- n. The rule of many.
- physiology
- n. The science of organic functions.
- repartee
- n. A ready, witty, or apt reply.
- perversion
- n. Diversion from the true meaning or proper purpose.
- prehension
- n. The act of laying hold of or grasping.
- resemblance
- n. Similarity in quality or form.
- preempt
- v. To secure the right of preference in the purchase of public land.
- rationalism
- n. The formation of opinions by relying upon reason alone, independently of authority.
- ravine
- n. A deep gorge or hollow, especially one worn by a stream or flow of water.
- phenomenal
- adj. Extraordinary or marvelous.
- proportionate
- adj. Being in proportion.
- ridiculous
- adj. Laughable and contemptible.
- polyarchy
- n. Government by several or many persons of what- ever class.
- reflexible
- adj. Capable of being reflected.
- recreant
- n. A cowardly or faithless person.
- resonance
- n. The quality of being able to reinforce sound by sympathetic vibrations.
- rebut
- v. To oppose by argument or a sufficient answer.
- profligacy
- n. Shameless viciousness.
- progeny
- n. Offspring.
- pauper
- n. One without means of support.
- ridicule
- n. Looks or acts expressing amused contempt.
- receivable
- adj. Capable of being or fit to be received - often money.
- polyglot
- adj. Speaking several tongues.
- pandemic
- adj. Affecting a whole people or all classes, as a disease.
- preponderate
- v. To exceed in influence or power.
- promiscuous
- adj. Brought together without order, distinction, or design (for sex).
- rotary
- adj. Turning around its axis, like a wheel, or so constructed as to turn thus.
- profile
- n. An outline or contour.
- reciprocate
- v. To give and take mutually.
- pitiful
- adj. Wretched.
- procrastination
- n. Delay.
- pestilence
- n. A raging epidemic.
- periodicity
- n. The habit or characteristic of recurrence at regular intervals.
- photoelectric
- adj. Pertaining to the combined action of light and electricity.
- retch
- v. To make an effort to vomit.
- poignant
- adj. Severely painful or acute to the spirit.
- quantity
- n. Magnitude.
- regality
- n. Royalty.
- pseudapostle
- n. A pretended or false apostle.
- repeal
- v. To render of no further effect.
- revocation
- n. Repeal.
- rectify
- v. To correct.
- philogynist
- n. One who is fond of women.
- promulgate
- v. To proclaim.
- quadruple
- v. To multiply by four.
- rapine
- n. The act of seizing and carrying off property by superior force, as in war.
- partisan
- adj. Characterized by or exhibiting undue or unreasoning devotion to a party.
- philologist
- n. An expert in linguistics.
- parallelism
- n. Essential likeness.
- regretful
- adj. Feeling, expressive of, or full of regret.
- pillory
- n. A wooden framework in which an offender is fastened to boards and is exposed to public scorn.
- perceptible
- adj. Cognizable.
- preferment
- n. Preference.
- rustic
- adj. Characteristic of dwelling in the country.
- retrospect
- n. A view or contemplation of something past.
- protuberate
- v. To swell or bulge beyond the surrounding surface.
- piteous
- adj. Compassionate.
- rearrange
- v. To arrange again or in a different order.
- repute
- v. To hold in general opinion.
- preclude
- v. To prevent.
- peerless
- adj. Of unequaled excellence or worth.
- resource
- n. That which is restored to, relied upon, or made available for aid or support.
- patriotism
- n. Love and devotion to one's country.
- presentment
- n. Semblance.
- replica
- n. A duplicate executed by the artist himself, and regarded, equally with the first, as an original.
- preemption
- n. The right or act of purchasing before others.
- plasticity
- n. The property of some substances through which the form of the mass can readily be changed.
- palpable
- n. perceptible by feeling or touch.
- plenitude
- n. Abundance.
- palatial
- adj. Magnificent.
- precedential
- adj. Of the nature of an instance that may serve as a guide or basis for a rule.
- proctor
- n. An agent acting for another.
- philanthropist
- n. One who endeavors to help his fellow men.
- persuadable
- adj. capable of influencing to action by entreaty, statement, or anything that moves the feelings.
- risible
- adj. capable of exciting laughter.
- percolator
- n. A filter.
- riddance
- n. The act or ridding or delivering from something undesirable.
- phonology
- n. The science of human vocal sounds.
- pension
- n. A periodical allowance to an individual on account of past service done by him/her.
- refute
- v. To prove to be wrong.
- panegyric
- n. A formal and elaborate eulogy, written or spoken, of a person or of an act.
- potion
- n. A dose of liquid medicine.
- posterior
- n. The hinder part.
- poesy
- n. Poetry.
- ponder
- v. To meditate or reflect upon.
- pandemonium
- n. A fiendish or riotous uproar.
- propriety
- n. Accordance with recognized usage, custom, or principles.
- paralyze
- v. To deprive of the power to act.
- plagiarism
- n. The stealing of passages from the writings of another and publishing them as one's own.
- perfunctory
- adj. Half-hearted.
- poetic
- adj. Pertaining to poetry.
- retract
- v. To recall or take back (something that one has said).
- referee
- n. An umpire.
- philanthropic
- adj. Benevolent.
- philharmonic
- adj. Fond of music.
- preexistence
- n. Existence antecedent to something.
- pristine
- adj. Primitive.
- pastoral
- adj. Having the spirit or sentiment of rural life.
- proficient
- adj. Possessing ample and ready knowledge or of skill in any art, science, or industry.
- profuse
- adj. Produced or displayed in overabundance.
- pauperism
- n. Dependence on charity.
- refer
- v. To direct or send for information or other purpose.
- precipice
- n. A high and very steep or approximately vertical cliff.
- refusal
- n. Denial of what is asked.
- pungent
- adj. Affecting the sense of smell.
- productive
- adj. Yielding in abundance.
- perforate
- v. To make a hole or holes through.
- paraphrase
- v. Translate freely.
- ribald
- adj. Indulging in or manifesting coarse indecency or obscenity.
- patrician
- adj. Of senatorial or noble rank.
- parlance
- n. Mode of speech.
- realism
- n. The principle and practice of depicting persons and scenes as they are believed really to exist.
- pluperfect
- adj. Expressing past time or action prior to some other past time or action.
- rotate
- v. To cause to turn on or as on its axis, as a wheel.
- recur
- v. To happen again or repeatedly, especially at regular intervals.
- ruminate
- v. To chew over again, as food previously swallowed and regurgitated.
- predatory
- adj. Prone to pillaging.
- rebellious
- adj. Insubordinate.
- pagan
- n. A worshiper of false gods.
- poetics
- n. The rules and principles of poetry.
- resplendent
- adj. Very bright.
- perpetuate
- v. To preserve from extinction or oblivion.
- reform
- n. Change for the better.
- perquisite
- n. Any profit from service beyond the amount fixed as salary or wages.
- potentate
- n. One possessed of great power or sway.
- piecemeal
- adv. Gradually.
- pecuniary
- adj. Consisting of money.
- reorganize
- v. To change to a more satisfactory form of organization.
- perambulate
- v. To walk about.
- probation
- n. Any proceeding designed to ascertain or test character, qualification, or the like.
- professor
- n. A public teacher of the highest grade in a university or college.
- principle
- n. A general truth or proposition.
- proscribe
- v. To reject, as a teaching or a practice, with condemnation or denunciation.
- posit
- v. To present in an orderly manner.
- prodigious
- adj. Immense.
- parliament
- n. A legislative body.
- phonogram
- n. A graphic character symbolizing an articulate sound.
- reproof
- n. An expression of disapproval or blame personally addressed to one censured.
- pedestal
- n. A base or support as for a column, statue, or vase.
- pomposity
- n. The quality of being marked by an assumed stateliness and impressiveness of manner.
- prim
- adj. Stiffly proper.
- pseudonymity
- n. The state or character of using a fictitious name.
- paramour
- n. One who is unlawfully and immorally a lover or a mistress.
- psychiatry
- n. The branch of medicine that relates to mental disease.
- prudence
- n. Caution.
- paramount
- adj. Supreme in authority.
- remuneration
- n. Compensation.
- ramose
- adj. Branch-like.
- panel
- n. A rectangular piece set in or as in a frame.
- prevention
- n. Thwarting.
- reproduce
- v. To make a copy of.
- rein
- n. A step attached to the bit for controlling a horse or other draft-animal.
- partition
- n. That which separates anything into distinct parts.
- parentage
- n. The relation of parent to child, of the producer to the produced, or of cause to effect.
- redundance
- n. Excess.
- prehensible
- adj. Capable of being grasped.
- reconnoiter
- v. To make a preliminary examination of for military, surveying, or geological purposes.
- philander
- v. To play at courtship with a woman.
- ponderous
- adj. Unusually weighty or forcible.
- reliant
- adj. Having confidence.
- prescience
- n. Knowledge of events before they take place.
- presage
- v. To foretell.
- precedence
- n. Priority in place, time, or rank.
- potent
- adj. Physically powerful.
- prevalent
- adj. Of wide extent or frequent occurrence.
- relapse
- v. To suffer a return of a disease after partial recovery.
- provident
- adj. Anticipating and making ready for future wants or emergencies.
- pretentious
- adj. Marked by pretense, conceit, or display.
- refinery
- n. A place where some crude material, as sugar or petroleum, is purified.
- quiescent
- adj. Being in a state of repose or inaction.
- pantoscope
- n. A very wide-angled photographic lens.
- recluse
- n. One who lives in retirement or seclusion.
- placate
- v. To bring from a state of angry or hostile feeling to one of patience or friendliness.
- repressible
- adj. Able to be kept under restraint or control.
- participant
- n. One having a share or part.
- rue
- v. To regret extremely.
- requite
- v. To repay either good or evil to, as to a person.
- repress
- v. To keep under restraint or control.
- recuperate
- v. To recover.
- quadrate
- v. To divide into quarters.
- repine
- v. To indulge in fretfulness and faultfinding.
- pyre
- n. A heap of combustibles arranged for burning a dead body.
- reflection
- n. The throwing off or back of light, heat, sound, or any form of energy that travels in waves.
- provocation
- n. An action or mode of conduct that excites resentment.
- profiteer
- n. One who profits.
- Pan-American
- adj. Including or pertaining to the whole of America, both North and South.
- replenish
- v. To fill again, as something that has been emptied.
- reign
- v. To hold and exercise sovereign power.
- racy
- adj. Exciting or exhilarating to the mind.
- recoil
- v. To start back as in dismay, loathing, or dread.
- polemics
- n. The art of controversy or disputation.
- prescription
- n. An authoritative direction.
- quiet
- adj. Making no noise.
- repetition
- n. The act of repeating.
- possible
- adj. Being not beyond the reach of power natural, moral, or supernatural.
- pentad
- n. The number five.
- prattle
- v. To utter in simple or childish talk.
- remembrance
- n. Recollection.
- pneumatic
- adj. Pertaining to or consisting of air or gas.
- recant
- v. To withdraw formally one's belief (in something previously believed or maintained).
- pleasant
- adj. Agreeable.
- propellant
- adj. Propelling.
- philanthropy
- n. Active humanitarianism.
- revere
- v. To regard with worshipful veneration.
- primitive
- adj. Pertaining to the beginning or early times.
- pestilent
- adj. Having a malign influence or effect.
- pledgeor
- n. One who gives a pledge.
- radix
- n. That from or on which something is developed.
- penchant
- n. A bias in favor of something.
- pious
- adj. Religious.
- polytechnic
- adj. Pertaining to, embracing, or practicing many arts.
- recitation
- n. The act of reciting or repeating, especially in public and from memory.
- precipitate
- v. To force forward prematurely.
- physiocracy
- n. The doctrine that land and its products are the only true wealth.
- Protestant
- n. A Christian who denies the authority of the Pope and holds the right of special judgment.
- propaganda
- n. Any institution or systematic scheme for propagating a doctrine or system.
- pontiff
- n. The Pope.
- physiognomy
- n. The external appearance merely.
- querulous
- adj. Habitually complaining.
- partible
- adj. Separable.
- preoccupation
- n. The state of having the mind, attention, or inclination preoccupied.
- redound
- n. Rebound.
- retrace
- v. To follow backward or toward the place of beginning, as a track or marking.
- recurrent
- adj. Returning from time to time, especially at regular or stated intervals.
- panacea
- n. A remedy or medicine proposed for or professing to cure all diseases.
- prolix
- adj. Verbose.
- persuade
- v. To win the mind of by argument, eloquence, evidence, or reflection.
- precession
- n. The act of going forward.
- reprehension
- n. Expression of blame.
- prominence
- n. The quality of being noticeable or distinguished.
- quarterly
- adj. Occurring or made at intervals of three months.
- peccable
- adj. Capable of sinning.
- physiography
- n. Description of nature.
- rupture
- v. To separate the parts of by violence.