vocabulary

• acrimonious


  angry, bitter
• alimentary


  nourishment, sustenance
• amalgam


  mixture, blend
• ambivalent


  mixed feelings
• ameliorate


  make better
• anachronism


  from another time
• aplomb


  assurance, self-confidence
• arid


  dry out
• ascetic


  abstinent, non-indulgent
• assuage


  to ease
• autocrat


  a ruler with absolute power
• avarice


  extremely greedy
• axiom


  accepted truth
• beatitude


  state of bliss
• beleaguer


  to cause problems for
• belie


  give false impression
• credulity


  readiness to believe
• credulous


  gullible, naive
• culpable


  deserving blame
• curtail


  to deprive, to reduce
• decant


  to pour
• decrepit


  elderly, worn out from age
• deference


  respect, submission
• desecrate


  to disrespect
• desiccate


  to dry out
• desist


  stop, cease, or abstain
• despot


  a ruler with absolute power
• diatribe


  bitter verbal attack
• didactic


  to instruct
• diffident


  shy, lacks self-confidence
• dilatory


  slow, unhurried, tardy
• dirge


  funeral hymn, mournful music
• discomfit


  to embarrass
• disconsolate


  unhappy, doleful
• dissolute


  unprincipled, promiscuous
• bowdlerize


  censor, expurgate
• brusque


  abrupt in one's mannerisms
• disparage


  to belittle
• bungler


  amateur, incompetent
• cacophony


  harsh mixture of sounds