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Senior Vocabulary Words
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adroit (adj.) skillful, clever adulterate (verb) to make impure, to contaminate adventitious (adj.) accidental, nonessential aegis (noun) a shield; protection, sponsorship aesthetic (adj.) pertaining to beauty affectation (noun) a phony attitude; pose affinity (noun) an attraction to affluence (noun) wealth; richness agape (adj.) open-mouthed; surprised; agog aggrandize (verb) to enlarge or to expand altruism (noun) a concern for others; generosity ambiguous (adj.) open to more than one interpretation amoral (adj.) lacking a sense of right and wrong amorphous (adj.) shapeless, formless, vague animosity (noun) hatred
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antipathy (noun) an intense dislike antithesis (noun) an exact opposite; an opposite extreme badinage (noun) playful, teasing talk banal (adj.) common, ordinary baroque (adj.) overly decorated bauble (noun) a showy but useless thing bedlam (noun) a noisy uproar; a scene of wild confusion beguile (verb) to deceive; to charm; to enchant besiege (verb) to overwhelm; to surround and attack besmirch (verb) to make dirty; to stain bestial (adj.) savage, brutal bilious (adj.) bad tempered; cross blanch (verb) to whiten, to make pale bland (adj.) mild, tasteless, dull blandishment ( noun) flattery
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bombast (noun) impressive but meaningless language bona fide (noun) in good faith boor (adj.) a rude of impolite person bovine (adj.) pertaining to cows or cattle bowdlerize (verb) to remove offensive passages of a play, novel, etc. brevity ( noun) briefness; short duration bucolic (adj.) pertaining to the countryside; rural, rustic cajole (verb) to coax, to persuade, to wheedle callow (adj.) young and inexperienced
carcinogen (noun) causing cancer carnal (adj.) sensual, sexual carrion (noun) decaying flesh cataclysm (noun) a violent change cataract (noun) 1. large waterfall; 2. abnormality of the eye caveat (noun) a warning
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celibate (noun) unmarried censure (verb) to criticize sharply cessation (noun) a stopping; a discontinuance chaff (noun) worthless matter chagrin (noun) embarrassment; or a complete loss of courage chimerical (adj.) imaginary, fantastic coalesce (verb) to blend, to merge debacle (noun) a complete failure; a total collapse debauchery (noun) corruption; self-indulgence deference (noun) respect, consideration defile (verb) to pollute, to corrupt deign (verb) to lower oneself I before an inferior delineate (verb) to describe, to depict demeanor (noun) behavior; manner of conducting oneself denouement (noun) an outcome, result
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deride (verb) to ridicule, to mock desiccated (adj.) dried up despicable (adj.) contemptible, hateful desultory (adj.) wandering from subject to subject deviate (verb) to turn aside diadem (noun) a crown diaphanous (adj.) very sheer and light dichotomy (noun) a division into two parts ebullient (adj.) enthusiastic eclectic (adj.) choosing from various sources edify (verb) improve someone morally effete (adj.) worn out; barren egregious (adj.) remarkably bad; outrageous elegy (noun) a sad or mournful poem elicit (verb) to draw forth; to call forth
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elixir (noun) a supposed remedy for all ailments elucidate (verb) to make clear emanate (verb) to come forth; to send forth emendation (noun) a correction empathy (noun) an understanding of another's feelings empirical (adj.) based on practical experience rather than theory endemic (adj.) confined to a particular country or area
hedonism (noun) pursuit of pleasure, especially of the senses hegira (noun) flight, escape hermetic (adj.) tightly sealed heterogeneous (adj.) different; dissimilar hiatus (noun) a pause or gap hoi polloi (noun) common people; the masses hospice (noun) a shelter hubris (noun) excessive pride or self-confidence hybrid (noun) anything of mixed origin; (adj.) mixed, assorted idiosyncrasy (noun) a peculiar personality trait
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idolatry (noun) excessive or blind adoration; worship of an object ignoble (adj.) dishonorable, shameful imminent (adj.) likely to happen; threatening immolate (verb) to kill someone as a sacrificial victim, usually by fire immutable (adj.) unchangeable, fixed impair (verb) to weaken; to cause to become worse impale (verb) to pierce with a sharp stake through the body impalpable (adj.) cannot be felt impecunious (adj.) without money; penniless impediment (noun) a barrier; obstruction imperative (adj.) extremely necessary; vitally important imperious (adj.) domineering; haughty impinge (verb) to strike; to encroach impious (adj.) disrespectful towards God importune (verb) to persistently ask; to beg
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impotent (adj.) powerless; lacking strength imprecation (noun) a curse jocular (adj.) humorous, lighthearted juxtapose (verb) to place side by side for comparison kinetic (adj.) pertaining to motion kismet (noun) destiny, fate, fortune (one's lot in life) knell (noun) a sound made by a bell rung slowly for a death or funeral labyrinth (noun) a complicated network of wilding passages; a maze lachrymose (adj.) tearful, weepy laconic (adj.) using few words; short, concise lambent (adj.) softly bright or radiant; running or moving lightly over a surface languid (adj.) sluggish; drooping from weakness lascivious (adj.) lustful or lewd; inciting sexual desire legerdemain (noun) sleight of hand; deception libertine (noun) one who leads an immortal life
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machination (noun) an evil design or plan macroscopic (adj.) visible to the naked eye maelstrom (noun) whirlpool, turbulence; agitated state of mind
malapropism (noun) a word humorously misused malleable (adj.) capable of being changed; easily shaped martinet (noun) a strict disciplinarian; taskmaster masochist (noun) one who enjoys his or her own pain and suffering mendacious (adj.) lying; false, deceitful meretricious (adj.) attractive in a cheap, flashy way milieu (noun) environment, setting miscreant (noun) a vicious person nebulous (adj.) hazy, vague, uncertain necromancy (noun) magic, especially that practiced by a witch neologism (noun) use a new word; making up a new word or definition nihilism (noun) a total rejection of established laws
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nirvana (noun) a place of great peace or happiness nonentity (noun) a person of thing or little importance non sequitur (noun) something that does not logically follow nubile (adj.) a female suitable for marriage in regard to age and physical development obdurate (adj.) stubborn, hardhearted obfuscate (verb) to confuse; to bewilder obloquy (noun) strong disapproval; a bad reputation resulting from public obsequious (adj.) excessively submissive or overly attentive obviate (verb) to prevent; to get around offal (noun) garbage; waste parts olfactory (adj.) pertaining to smell onerous (adj.) burdensome; heavy; hard to endure onus (noun) a burden, responsibility, obligation optimum (noun) the best, the most favorable, the ideal opulent (adj.) rich, luxurious; the trappings of great wealth
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orifice (noun) mouth; opening orthography (noun) correct spelling paleontology (noun) a science dealing with prehistoric life through study of fossils palliate (verb) to ease, to lessen, to soothe panache (noun) self-confidence; a showy manner pandemic (adj.) general; widespread panegyric (noun) an expression of praise paradigm (noun) a model, an example parochial (adj.) local; narrow; limited parody (noun) a work which imitates another in a ridiculous manner paroxysm (noun) a sudden outburst; a fit patent (adj.) evident or obvious peccadillo (noun) a minor offense, a misdeed pecuniary (adj.) pertaining to money; financial pedantic (adj.) tending to show off one's learning
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