ablution | n. washing or cleansing of the body, especially as part of religious rite |
abnegation | n. repudiation; self-sacrifice; renouncing your own interests in favor of interests of others |
abomasum | n. the fourth compartment of the stomach of a ruminant; the one where digestion takes place |
abstemious | a. sparing or moderation in eating and drinking; temperate |
accretion | n. growth or increase in size by gradual external addition, fusion, or inclusion |
acolyte | n. someone who assists a priest or minister in a liturgical service; a cleric ordained in the highest of the minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church but not in the Anglican Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches |
alopecia | n. loss of hair (especially on the head) or loss of wool or feathers; in humans it can result from heredity or hormonal imbalance or certain diseases or drugs and treatments (chemotherapy for cancer) |
anneal | v. bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling |
asseverate | v. state categorically |
bilious | a. suffering from indigestion; appearing as if affected by disorder; sickly |
braggadocio | n. vain and empty boasting |
bulbul | n. nightingale spoken of in Persian poetry |
camaraderie | n. good-fellowship; companionship; close friendship in friends or teammates |
campanile | n. a bell tower; usually stands alone unattached to a building |
catachresis | n. strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths') |
chimerical | a. fantastically improbable; highly unrealistic; imaginative |
clerihew | n. a witty satiric verse containing two rhymed couplets and mentioning a famous person |
concessionaire | n. someone who holds or operates a concession |
concurrence | n. a state of cooperation; agreement of results or opinions; acting together |
denigrate | v. blacken; defame; attack reputation of; degrade |
deracinate | v. pull up by or as if by the roots |
ecclesiastic | n. minister or priest; cleric; one holding an office in the Christian ministry |
egregious | a. notorious; conspicuously bad or shocking |
elegy | n. poem or song expressing lamentation; mournful poem |
frangipani | n. any of various tropical American deciduous shrubs or trees of the genus Plumeria having milky sap and showy fragrant funnel-shaped variously colored flowers |
grandiloquence | n. high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation |
imbroglio | n. a very embarrassing misunderstanding |
impecunious | a. without money; poor; penniless |
implacable | a. incapable of being pacified; not to be relieved; |
incarnadine | a. red, especially blood red; of blood red color of raw flesh |
interlocutor | n. one who speaks in dialogue or takes part in conversation |
lyceum | n. a public hall for lectures and concerts |
magniloquent | a. lofty in style |
minatory | a. threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments |
monomania | n. a mania restricted to one thing or idea |
moribund | a. dying; in dying state; approaching death; about to die |
multifarious | a. varied; greatly diversified; made up of many differing parts |
munificence | n. liberality in bestowing gifts; extremely liberal and generous of spirit |
nauseous | a. feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit |
noisome | a. foul-smelling; offensive by arousing disgust; harmful or dangerous |
obstreperous | a. noisily aggressive; making great noise or outcry |
pellucid | a. transparent; limpid; easy to understand |
persiflage | n. light teasing |
physiognomy | n. the human face (`kisser' and `smiler' and `mug' are informal terms for `face' and `phiz' is British) |
portmanteau | n. a new word formed by joining two others and combining their meanings |
punctilious | a. marked by precise accordance with details |
risibility | n. a disposition to laugh |
rubicund | a. inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life |
simulacrum | n. an insubstantial or vague semblance |
vituperate | v. spread negative information about |
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