Vocabulary A-F

Novel comparisons

Intended or likely to be understood by a small number of people with specialized knowledge or interest

A mistaken belief, especially one based on a unsound argument

Involving or requiring strenuous effort; hard; difficult and tiring

A puzzling or difficult problem; an essential point requiring a resolution

Intense warmth or heat; earnestness of feeling

Release of strong emotion through expression

Concerned with beauty; appreciation of beauty

A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand

A ruler with absolute power or authority; usually tyrannical

To sympathize with; have pity or sorrow; share a feeling of distress

Scarcity or lack of something

Deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources; Judy Moody’s aunt

A place for safe keeping or concealment, such as valuables (eg: geocache)

Reduction in size, extent or importance

A jarring disagreeing sound; dissonance

To give up all resistance; acquiesce

A spontaneous or natural liking; sympathy for someone or something

Praise enthusiastically

Showing a casual or cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper

Warn or reprimand someone firmly

Intended to teach

Lasting for a very short time

Severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance

Excessively particular or critical; painstaking

Characteristic or ordinary conversation rather than formal speech or writing; geographic connection

Involve deeply in an argument, conflict, or difficult situation; beefin

Habits or customs; lends credibility to argument

The moral or cultural decline as characterized by excessive indulgence in pleasure or luxury

To make something bad better; improve

Use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth

Gradually lesson or reduce; recede

Abundant; wordy

Impulsive and unpredictable; subject to whim

Mercy; humanness; mildness; forgiveness

Wary and unwilling to take risks

Accept something reluctantly, but without protest; give up

High sounding, but with little meaning

Inclined to lay down principles as objectively or incontrovertibly true

The state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone

A figure of speech in which words repeat at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences.

Cause or give rise to a feeling, situation, or condition

To erase or remove completely, usually something that is not wanted

To blend; to merge parts into a whole