Vocabulary Mastery: Definitions for Enhanced Understanding

Vocabulary Definitions

Sublime – Such excellence or beauty as to inspire great admiration.

Potentate – A person who possesses great power as a ruler.

Requisition – An authoritative or formal demand.

Adjuration – An earnest request; an oath or promise.

Cessation – A temporary or complete stopping.

Supplicatory – Asking humbly and earnestly.

Implacable – Relentless; unstoppable.

Admonitory – Cautioning of something; warning.

Obstinacy – Stubbornness.

Aphorism – A pithy observation that contains a general truth.

Cadence – A modulation or inflection in voice.

Compunction – A feeling of guilt or moral scruple that follows the doing of something bad.

Abject – Extremely bad, unpleasant, or degrading.

Dejected – To make sad or dispirited.

Propitiate – To win or regain the favor of a god or person by doing something that pleases them.

Felicitous – Well-chosen or suited to circumstances.

Importunity – Making repeated or annoying requests.

Trenchant – Very strong, clear, and effective.

Rejoinder – A reply, especially a sharp or witty one.

Ostentatious – A vulgar or pretentious display designed to impress or attract attention.

Mercenary – A person concerned with making money at the expense of ethics.

Blight – An infection; to infect.

Deride – To ridicule.

Qualms – An uneasy feeling of doubt, worry, or fear.

Recompense – To make amends for loss or harm suffered; compensate.

Assiduous(ly) – Diligently at task; industrious.

Practicable – Able to be done successfully.

Demonstrative – Tending to show feelings, especially of affection, openly.

Predominate – To have or exert control or power; central.

Turbid – Cloudy, opaque, or thick with suspended matter.

Execrations – The act of cursing or denouncing.

Inundation – An overwhelming abundance of things.

Contention – Heated disagreement.

Portentous – Ominous.

Edify – To instruct or improve someone morally or intellectually.

Beatify – To entitle to specific religious honor; to consecrate.

Peremptory – Insisting on immediate attention or obedience in an imperious way.

Conflagration – An extensive fire that destroys a great deal.

Munificent – A sum of money larger or more generous than necessary.

Orthodox – Beliefs that are traditionally or generally accepted.

Latent – Existing but not yet developed; hidden.

Interpose – To place or insert between two things.

Inviolate – Free or safe from injury or violation.

Approbation – Approval or praise.

Sanguine – Optimistic or positive, especially in a bad situation.

Sequester – To isolate or hide away.

Demur – To raise doubts or objections or show reluctance.

Repudiate – To refuse to accept or be associated with.

Requisite – Made necessary by particular circumstances; a thing that is necessary for achievement.

Voluble – Speaking or spoken incessantly and fluently.

Discreditable – Tending to bring harm to a reputation.

Infirmity – Physical or mental weakness.

Presentiment – An intuitive feeling about the future.

Supposition – An uncertain belief.

Imbue(d) – To inspire or permeate with a feeling.

Inveterate – Unlikely to change.

Expiation – Making amends for guilt or wrongdoing.