Vocabulary 1

• 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
• bowdlerize


  censor, expurgate
• brusque

  abrupt in one's mannerisms
• bungler


  amateur, incompetent
• cacophony

  harsh mixture of sounds
• caustic


  corrosive; sarcastic
• chaff

  worthless thing; husk of corn
• chicanery


  the use of deception
• chimerical

  illusory, imagination
• compunction


  feeling remorse
• concomitant


  naturally accompanying
• coniferous


  needle-like or scale-like
• conjecture


  guess, speculation
• consternation


  anxious, dismayed
• contentious


  likely to cause argument
• contiguous


  next, together
• contingent


  subject to change
• convivial


  friendly, lively
• 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