obdurate | hardened in wrongdoing or wickedness; not giving in to persuasion |
obfuscate | confuse; muddle; cause confusion; make needlessly complex |
oblique | having slanting or sloping direction, course, or position; inclined |
obsequious | slavishly attentive; attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery |
obstreperous | noisily aggressive; making great noise or outcry |
obtuse | lacking in insight or discernment; stupid |
odious | hateful; arousing strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure |
officious | marked by excessive eagerness in offering unwanted services or advice to others |
ostensible | put forth or held out as real, actual, or intended; proper or intended to be shown |
palliate | lessen violence of disease; moderate intensity; gloss over with excuses |
pallid | abnormally pale; lacking intensity of color or luminousness |
panacea | remedy for all diseases, evils, or difficulties; a cure-all |
paragon | model of excellence or perfection; peerless example |
pariah | social outcast; person who is rejected from society or home |
parsimony | extreme care in spending money; reluctance to spend money unnecessarily |
pathos | tender sorrow; pity; quality in art or literature that produces these feelings |
paucity | scarcity; smallness of number; fewness |
pejorative | tending to make or become worse; disparaging or belittling |
pellucid | transparent; limpid; easy to understand |
perfidious | tending to betray; disloyal; faithless |
perfunctory | done routinely and with little interest or care; acting with indifference; showing little interest or care |
pernicious | very destructive; tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly |
pertinacious | stubbornly or perversely persistent; unyielding; obstinate |
pithy | precisely meaningful; forceful and brief |
platitude | dullness; insipidity of thought; commonplace statement; lack of originality |
plethora | excess; over-fullness in any respect; superabundance |
portent | omen; forewarning; something that portends an event about to occur, especially unfortunate or evil event |
precocious | advanced in development; appearing or developing early |
primeval | ancient; primitive; belonging to the first or earliest age; original or ancient |
proclivity | inclination; natural tendency; readiness; facility of learning |
promulgate | proclaim doctrine or law; make known by official publication |
propensity | natural inclination; tendency or preference; predilection |
propitious | presenting favorable circumstances; fortunate; advantageous |
prosaic | dull and unimaginative; matter-of-fact; factual |
proscribe | command against; banish; outlaw |
protean | versatile; able to take on many shapes; readily taking on varied shapes |
prurient | having or causing lustful thoughts and desires; having eager desire for something |
puerile | childish; belonging to childhood; immature |
pulchritude | great physical beauty and appeal; attractive moral excellence; moral beauty |
punctilious | marked by precise accordance with details |
quagmire | soft wet boggy land; complex or dangerous situation from which it is difficult to free oneself |
querulous | habitually complaining; expressing complaint or grievance |
quixotic | idealistic without regard to practicality |
rancor | bitter, long-lasting resentment; deep-seated ill will; hatred |
rebuke | scold harshly; criticize severely |
recalcitrant | obstinately stubborn; determined to resist authority |
rectitude | uprightness; moral virtue; correctness of judgment |
replete | filled to brim or to point of being stuffed; abundantly supplied |
reprobate | person hardened in sin; person without moral scruples |
reprove | voice or convey disapproval of; rebuke; find fault with |
repudiate | disown; refuse to acknowledge; reject validity or authority of |
rescind | cancel; make void; repeal or annul |
restive | impatient under restraint or opposition; resisting control; difficult to control |
ribald | coarse or indecent; humorously vulgar or offensive |
rife | excessively abundant or numerous; in widespread existence, practice, or use |
ruse | trick; use of artifice or trickery; deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture |
sacrosanct | regarded as sacred and inviolable |
sagacity | quality of being sagacious; quickness or acuteness of sense perceptions; keenness of discernment; shrewdness |
salient | prominent or protruding; projecting outwardly; moving by leaps or springs |
sanctimonious | excessively or hypocritically pious; possessing sanctity; sacred; holy; saintly; religious |
sanguine | cheerfully confident; optimistic; of healthy reddish color; ruddy |
scurrilous | obscene; indecent; expressing offensive reproach |
serendipity | gift for finding valuable or desirable things by accident; accidental good fortune or luck |
servile | slavish; suitable to slave or servant; relating to servitude or forced labor |
solicitous | worried or concerned; full of desire; expressing care or concern |
somnolent | half asleep; inclined to drowsiness; tending to induce sleep |
spurious | false; counterfeit; forged; illogical |
staid | sober; serious, organized, and professional; characterized by dignity and propriety |
stolid | dull; impassive; having or revealing little emotion or sensibility |
stupefy | make senseless or dizzy; be mystery or bewildering to |
surfeit | eat until excessively full; be more than full; feed someone to excess |
surmise | guess; infer something without sufficiently conclusive evidence |
surreptitious | secret; done or made by stealth, or without proper authority; made or introduced fraudulently |
sycophant | one who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people; bootlicker; yes man |
tacit | indicated or understood without expressed directly; not speaking; silent |
taciturn | silent or reserved in speech; saying little; not inclined to speak or converse |
tantamount | equivalent in effect or value |
temerity | boldness; rashness; foolhardy disregard of danger |
tenuous | long and thin; slender; having little substance |
timorous | fearful; demonstrating fear; weakly hesitant |
torpid | having lost motion, or the power of exertion and feeling; numb; benumbed |
tractable | easily managed or controlled; governable; easily handled or worked; docile |
transient | momentary; temporary; staying for short time |
transmute | change from one form, nature, substance, or state into another; transform |
trenchant | forceful, effective, and vigorous; sharp or keen |
truculent | disposed to fight; belligerent; aggressively hostile |
turgid | swollen; distended; excessively ornate or complex in style or language |
turpitude | depravity; corrupt, depraved, or degenerate act |
ubiquitous | being or existing everywhere; omnipresent |
unctuous | oily; composed of oil or fat; characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness |
upbraid | severely criticize; reprimand; reprove sharply |
usurp | seize and hold power or rights of another by force or without legal authority |
vacillate | sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate |
vacuous | empty; showing lack of thought or intelligence; vacant |
vapid | dull and unimaginative; lacking taste or flavor |
variegated | streaked, spotted, or marked with a variety of color; very colorful |
venerate | treat with great respect and deference; consider hallowed or be in awe of |
veracity | truthfulness; unwillingness to tell lies |
verdant | green; full of juice in vegetation |
vex | annoy; disturb, especially by minor irritations; be a mystery or bewildering to |
vicarious | acting as substitute; done by deputy; experienced at secondhand |
vicissitude | change, especially in one's life or fortunes; regular change or succession of one thing to another; alternation |
vilify | debase; degrade; spread negative information about |
viscous | sticky; gluey; having high resistance to flow |
vitriolic | harsh or corrosive in tone; sarcastic; bitterly scathing |
wanton | unrestrained; willfully malicious; immoral or unchaste |
winsome | agreeable; gracious; charming, often in childlike or naive way |
wistful | full of wishful yearning or longing; sadly thoughtful |
zenith | point directly overhead in sky; summit |
zephyr | gentle breeze; west wind; any of various soft light fabrics, yarns, or garments |
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