Vocabulary Builder A

1	abase	v.	To lower in position, estimation, or the like; degrade.
2	abbess	n.	The lady superior of a nunnery.
3	abbey	n.	The group of buildings which collectively form the dwelling-place of a society of monks or nuns.
4	abbot	n.	The superior of a community of monks.
5	abdicate	v.	To give up (royal power or the like).
6	abdomen	n.	In mammals, the visceral cavity between the diaphragm and the pelvic floor; the belly.
7	abdominal	n.	Of, pertaining to, or situated on the abdomen.
8	abduction	n.	A carrying away of a person against his will, or illegally.
9	abed	adv.	In bed; on a bed.
10	aberration	n.	Deviation from a right, customary, or prescribed course.
11	abet	v.	To aid, promote, or encourage the commission of (an offense).
12	abeyance	n.	A state of suspension or temporary inaction.
13	abhorrence	n.	The act of detesting extremely.
14	abhorrent	adj.	Very repugnant; hateful.
15	abidance	n.	An abiding.
16	abject	adj.	Sunk to a low condition.
17	abjure	v.	To recant, renounce, repudiate under oath.
18	able-bodied	adj.	Competent for physical service.
19	ablution	n.	A washing or cleansing, especially of the body.
20	abnegate	v.	To renounce (a right or privilege).
21	abnormal	adj.	Not conformed to the ordinary rule or standard.
22	abominable	adj.	Very hateful.
23	abominate	v.	To hate violently.
24	abomination	n.	A very detestable act or practice.
25	aboriginal	adj.	Primitive; unsophisticated.
26	aborigines	n.	The original of earliest known inhabitants of a country.
27	aboveboard	adv.	& adj. Without concealment, fraud, or trickery.
28	abrade	v.	To wear away the surface or some part of by friction.
29	abrasion	n.	That which is rubbed off.
30	abridge	v.	To make shorter in words, keeping the essential features, leaning out minor particles.
31	abridgment	n.	A condensed form as of a book or play.
32	abrogate	v.	To abolish, repeal.
33	abrupt	adj.	Beginning, ending, or changing suddenly or with a break.
34	abscess	n.	A Collection of pus in a cavity formed within some tissue of the body.
35	abscission	n.	The act of cutting off, as in a surgical operation.
36	abscond	v.	To depart suddenly and secretly, as for the purpose of escaping arrest.
37	absence	n.	The fact of not being present or available.
38	absent-minded	adj.	Lacking in attention to immediate surroundings or business.
39	absolution	n.	Forgiveness, or passing over of offenses.
40	absolve	v.	To free from sin or its penalties.
41	absorb	v.	To drink in or suck up, as a sponge absorbs water.
42	absorption	n.	The act or process of absorbing.
43	abstain	v.	To keep oneself back (from doing or using something).
44	abstemious	adj.	Characterized by self denial or abstinence, as in the use of drink, food.
45	abstinence	n.	Self denial.
46	abstruse	adj.	Dealing with matters difficult to be understood.
47	absurd	adj.	Inconsistent with reason or common sense.
48	abundant	adj.	Plentiful.
49	abusive	adj.	Employing harsh words or ill treatment.
50	abut	v.	To touch at the end or boundary line.
51	abyss	n.	Bottomless gulf.
52	academic	adj.	Of or pertaining to an academy, college, or university.
53	academician	n.	A member of an academy of literature, art, or science.
54	academy	n.	Any institution where the higher branches of learning are taught.
55	accede	v.	To agree.
56	accelerate	v.	To move faster.
57	accept	v.	To take when offered.
58	access	n.	A way of approach or entrance; passage.
59	accessible	adj.	Approachable.
60	accession	n.	Induction or elevation, as to dignity, office, or government.
61	accessory	n.	A person or thing that aids the principal agent.
62	acclaim	v.	To utter with a shout.
63	accommodate	v.	To furnish something as a kindness or favor.
64	accompaniment	n.	A subordinate part or parts, enriching or supporting the leading part.
65	accompanist	n.	One who or that which accompanies.
66	accompany	v.	To go with, or be associated with, as a companion.
67	accomplice	n.	An associate in wrong-doing.
68	accomplish	v.	To bring to pass.
69	accordion	n.	A portable free-reed musical instrument.
70	accost	v.	To speak to.
71	account	n.	A record or statement of receipts and expenditures, or of business transactions.
72	accouter	v.	To dress.
73	accredit	v.	To give credit or authority to.
74	accumulate	v.	To become greater in quantity or number.
75	accuracy	n.	Exactness.
76	accurate	adj.	Conforming exactly to truth or to a standard.
77	accursed	adj.	Doomed to evil, misery, or misfortune.
78	accusation	n.	A charge of crime, misdemeanor, or error.
79	accusatory	adj.	Of, pertaining to, or involving an accusation.
80	accuse	v.	To charge with wrong doing, misconduct, or error.
81	accustom	v.	To make familiar by use.
82	acerbity	n.	Sourness, with bitterness and astringency.
83	acetate	n.	A salt of acetic acid.
84	acetic	adj.	Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of vinegar.
85	ache	v.	To be in pain or distress.
86	Achillean	adj.	Invulnerable.
87	achromatic	adj.	Colorless,
88	acid	n.	A sour substance.
89	acidify	v.	To change into acid.
90	acknowledge	v.	To recognize; to admit the genuineness or validity of.
91	acknowledgment	n.	Recognition.
92	acme	n.	The highest point, or summit.
93	acoustic	adj.	Pertaining to the act or sense of hearing.
94	acquaint	v.	To make familiar or conversant.
95	acquiesce	v.	To comply; submit.
96	acquiescence	n.	Passive consent.
97	acquire	v.	To get as one's own.
98	acquisition	n.	Anything gained, or made one's own, usually by effort or labor.
99	acquit	v.	To free or clear, as from accusation.
100	acquittal	n.	A discharge from accusation by judicial action.
101	acquittance	n.	Release or discharge from indebtedness, obligation, or responsibility.
102	acreage	n.	Quantity or extent of land, especially of cultivated land.
103	acrid	adj.	Harshly pungent or bitter.
104	acrimonious	adj.	Full of bitterness.
105	acrimony	n.	Sharpness or bitterness of speech or temper.
106	actionable	adj.	Affording cause for instituting an action, as trespass, slanderous words.
107	actuality	n.	Any reality.
108	actuary	n.	An officer, as of an insurance company, who calculates and states the risks and premiums.
109	actuate	v.	To move or incite to action.
110	acumen	n.	Quickness of intellectual insight, or discernment; keenness of discrimination.
111	acute	adj.	Having fine and penetrating discernment.
112	adamant	n.	Any substance of exceeding hardness or impenetrability.
113	addendum	n.	Something added, or to be added.
114	addle	v.	To make inefficient or worthless; muddle.
115	adduce	v.	To bring forward or name for consideration.
116	adhere	v.	To stick fast or together.
117	adherence	n.	Attachment.
118	adherent	adj.	Clinging or sticking fast.
119	adhesion	n.	The state of being attached or joined.
120	adieu	inter.	Good-by; farewell.
121	adjacency	n.	The state of being adjacent.
122	adjacent	n.	That which is near or bordering upon.
123	adjudge	v.	To award or bestow by formal decision.
124	adjunct	n.	Something joined to or connected with another thing, but holding a subordinate place.
125	adjuration	n.	A vehement appeal.
126	adjutant	adj.	Auxiliary.
127	administrator	n.	One who manages affairs of any kind.
128	admissible	adj.	Having the right or privilege of entry.
129	admittance	n.	Entrance, or the right or permission to enter.
130	admonish	v.	To warn of a fault.
131	admonition	n.	Gentle reproof.
132	ado	n.	unnecessary activity or ceremony.
133	adoration	n.	Profound devotion.
134	adroit	adj.	Having skill in the use of the bodily or mental powers.
135	adulterant	n.	An adulterating substance.
136	adulterate	v.	To make impure by the admixture of other or baser ingredients.
137	adumbrate	v.	To represent beforehand in outline or by emblem.
138	advent	n.	The coming or arrival, as of any important change, event, state, or personage.
139	adverse	adj.	Opposing or opposed.
140	adversity	n.	Misfortune.
141	advert	v.	To refer incidentally.
142	advertiser	n.	One who advertises, especially in newspapers.
143	advisory	adj.	Not mandatory.
144	advocacy	n.	The act of pleading a cause.
145	advocate	n.	One who pleads the cause of another, as in a legal or ecclesiastical court.
146	aerial	adj.	Of, pertaining to, or like the air.
147	aeronaut	n.	One who navigates the air, a balloonist.
148	aeronautics	n.	the art or practice of flying aircraft
149	aerostat	n.	A balloon or other apparatus floating in or sustained by the air.
150	aerostatics	n.	The branch of pneumatics that treats of the equilibrium, pressure, and mechanical properties.
151	affable	adj.	Easy to approach.
152	affect	v.	To act upon
153	affectation	n.	A studied or ostentatious pretense or attempt.
154	affiliate	n.	Some auxiliary person or thing.
155	affirmative	adj.	Answering yes; to a question at issue.
156	affix	v.	To fasten.
157	affluence	n.	A profuse or abundant supply of riches.
158	affront	n.	An open insult or indignity.
159	afire	adv.	& adj. On fire, literally or figuratively.
160	afoot	adv.	In progress.
161	aforesaid	adj.	Said in a preceding part or before.
162	afresh	adv.	Once more, after rest or interval.
163	afterthought	n.	A thought that comes later than its appropriate or expected time.
164	agglomerate	v.	To pile or heap together.
165	aggrandize	v.	To cause to appear greatly.
166	aggravate	v.	To make heavier, worse, or more burdensome.
167	aggravation	n.	The fact of being made heavier or more heinous, as a crime , offense, misfortune, etc.
168	aggregate	n.	The entire number, sum, mass, or quantity of something.
169	aggress	v.	To make the first attack.
170	aggression	n.	An unprovoked attack.
171	aggrieve	v.	To give grief or sorrow to.
172	aghast	adj.	Struck with terror and amazement.
173	agile	adj.	Able to move or act quickly, physically, or mentally.
174	agitate	v.	To move or excite (the feelings or thoughts).
175	agrarian	adj.	Pertaining to land, especially agricultural land.
176	aide-de-camp	n.	An officer who receives and transmits the orders of the general.
177	ailment	n.	Slight sickness.
178	airy	adj.	Delicate, ethereal.
179	akin	adj.	Of similar nature or qualities.
180	alabaster	n.	A white or delicately tinted fine-grained gypsum.
181	alacrity	n.	Cheerful willingness.
182	albeit	conj.	Even though.
183	albino	n.	A person with milky white skin and hair, and eyes with bright red pupil and usually pink iris.
184	album	n.	A book whose leaves are so made to form paper frames for holding photographs or the like.
185	alchemy	n.	Chemistry of the middle ages, characterized by the pursuit of changing base metals to gold.
186	alcohol	n.	A volatile, inflammable, colorless liquid of a penetrating odor and burning taste.
187	alcoholism	n.	A condition resulting from the inordinate or persistent use of alcoholic beverages.
188	alcove	n.	A covered recess connected with or at the side of a larger room.
189	alder	n.	Any shrub or small tree of the genus Alumnus, of the oak family.
190	alderman	n.	A member of a municipal legislative body, who usually exercises also certain judicial functions.
191	aldermanship	n.	The dignity, condition, office, or term of office of an alderman.
192	alias	n.	An assumed name.
193	alien	n.	One who owes allegiance to a foreign government.
194	alienable	adj.	Capable of being aliened or alienated, as lands.
195	alienate	v.	To cause to turn away.
196	alienation	n.	Estrangement.
197	aliment	n.	That which nourishes.
198	alkali	n.	Anything that will neutralize an acid, as lime, magnesia, etc.
199	allay	v.	To calm the violence or reduce the intensity of; mitigate.
200	allege	v.	To assert to be true, especially in a formal manner, as in court.
201	allegory	n.	The setting forth of a subject under the guise of another subject of aptly suggestive likeness.
202	alleviate	v.	To make less burdensome or less hard to bear.
203	alley	n.	A narrow street, garden path, walk, or the like.
204	alliance	n.	Any combination or union for some common purpose.
205	allot	v.	To assign a definite thing or part to a certain person.
206	allotment	n.	Portion.
207	allude	v.	To refer incidentally, or by suggestion.
208	allusion	n.	An indirect and incidental reference to something without definite mention of it.
209	alluvion	n.	Flood.
210	ally	n.	A person or thing connected with another, usually in some relation of helpfulness.
211	almanac	n.	A series of tables giving the days of the week together with certain astronomical information.
212	aloof	adv.	Not in sympathy with or desiring to associate with others.
213	altar	n.	Any raised place or structure on which sacrifices may be offered or incense burned.
214	alter	v.	To make change in.
215	alteration	n.	Change or modification.
216	altercate	v.	To contend angrily or zealously in words.
217	alternate	n.	One chosen to act in place of another, in case of the absence or incapacity of that other.
218	alternative	n.	Something that may or must exist, be taken or chosen, or done instead of something else.
219	altitude	n.	Vertical distance or elevation above any point or base-level, as the sea.
220	alto	n.	The lowest or deepest female voice or part.
221	altruism	n.	Benevolence to others on subordination to self-interest.
222	altruist	n.	One who advocates or practices altruism.
223	amalgam	n.	An alloy or union of mercury with another metal.
224	amalgamate	v.	To mix or blend together in a homogeneous body.
225	amateur	adj.	Practicing an art or occupation for the love of it, but not as a profession.
226	amatory	adj.	Designed to excite love.
227	ambidextrous	adj.	Having the ability of using both hands with equal skill or ease.
228	ambiguous	adj.	Having a double meaning.
229	ambitious	adj.	Eagerly desirous and aspiring.
230	ambrosial	adj.	Divinely sweet, fragrant, or delicious.
231	ambulance	n.	A vehicle fitted for conveying the sick and wounded.
232	ambulate	v.	To walk about
233	ambush	n.	The act or state of lying concealed for the purpose of surprising or attacking the enemy.
234	ameliorate	v.	To relieve, as from pain or hardship
235	amenable	adj.	Willing and ready to submit.
236	Americanism	n.	A peculiar sense in which an English word or phrase is used in the United States.
237	amicable	adj.	Done in a friendly spirit.
238	amity	n.	Friendship.
239	amorous	adj.	Having a propensity for falling in love.
240	amorphous	adj.	Without determinate shape.
241	amour	n.	A love-affair, especially one of an illicit nature.
242	ampere	n.	The practical unit of electric-current strength.
243	ampersand	n.	The character &; and.
244	amphibious	adj.	Living both on land and in water.
245	amphitheater	n.	An edifice of elliptical shape, constructed about a central open space or arena.
246	amplitude	n.	Largeness.
247	amply	adv.	Sufficiently.
248	amputate	v.	To remove by cutting, as a limb or some portion of the body.
249	amusement	n.	Diversion.
250	anachronism	n.	Anything occurring or existing out of its proper time.
251	anagram	n.	The letters of a word or phrase so transposed as to make a different word or phrase.
252	analogous	adj.	Corresponding (to some other) in certain respects, as in form, proportion, relations.
253	analogy	n.	Reasoning in which from certain and known relations or resemblance others are formed.
254	analyst	n.	One who analyzes or makes use of the analytical method.
255	analyze	v.	To examine minutely or critically.
256	anarchy	n.	Absence or utter disregard of government.
257	anathema	n.	Anything forbidden, as by social usage.
258	anatomy	n.	That branch of morphology which treats of the structure of organisms.
259	ancestry	n.	One's ancestors collectively.
260	anecdote	n.	A brief account of some interesting event or incident.
261	anemia	n.	Deficiency of blood or red corpuscles.
262	anemic	adj.	Affected with anemia.
263	anemometer	n.	An instrument for measuring the force or velocity of wind.
264	anesthetic	adj.	Pertaining to or producing loss of sensation.
265	anew	adv.	Once more.
266	angelic	adj.	Saintly.
267	Anglophobia	n.	Hatred or dread of England or of what is English.
268	Anglo-Saxon	n.	The entire English race wherever found, as in Europe, the United States, or India.
269	angular	adj.	Sharp-cornered.
270	anhydrous	adj.	Withered.
271	animadversion	n.	The utterance of criticism or censure.
272	animadvert	v.	To pass criticism or censure.
273	animalcule	n.	An animal of microscopic smallness.
274	animate	v.	To make alive.
275	animosity	n.	Hatred.
276	annalist	n.	Historian.
277	annals	n.	A record of events in their chronological order, year by year.
278	annex	v.	To add or affix at the end.
279	annihilate	v.	To destroy absolutely.
280	annotate	v.	To make explanatory or critical notes on or upon.
281	annual	adj.	Occurring every year.
282	annuity	n.	An annual allowance, payment, or income.
283	annunciation	n.	Proclamation.
284	anode	n.	The point where or path by which a voltaic current enters an electrolyte or the like.
285	anonymous	adj.	Of unknown authorship.
286	antagonism	n.	Mutual opposition or resistance of counteracting forces, principles, or persons.
287	Antarctic	adj.	Pertaining to the south pole or the regions near it.
288	ante	v.	In the game of poker, to put up a stake before the cards are dealt.
289	antecede	v.	To precede.
290	antecedent	n.	One who or that which precedes or goes before, as in time, place, rank, order, or causality.
291	antechamber	n.	A waiting room for those who seek audience.
292	antedate	v.	To assign or affix a date to earlier than the actual one.
293	antediluvian	adj.	Of or pertaining to the times, things, events before the great flood in the days of Noah.
294	antemeridian	adj.	Before noon.
295	antemundane	adj.	Pertaining to time before the world's creation.
296	antenatal	adj.	Occurring or existing before birth.
297	anterior	adj.	Prior.
298	anteroom	n.	A room situated before and opening into another, usually larger.
299	anthology	n.	A collection of extracts from the writings of various authors.
300	anthracite	n.	Hard coal.
301	anthropology	n.	The science of man in general.
302	anthropomorphous	adj.	Having or resembling human form.
303	antic	n.	A grotesque, ludicrous, or fantastic action.
304	Antichrist	n.	Any opponent or enemy of Christ, whether a person or a power.
305	anticlimax	n.	A gradual or sudden decrease in the importance or impressiveness of what is said.
306	anticyclone	n.	An atmospheric condition of high central pressure, with currents flowing outward.
307	antidote	n.	Anything that will counteract or remove the effects of poison, disease, or the like.
308	antilogy	n.	Inconsistency or contradiction in terms or ideas.
309	antipathize	v.	To show or feel a feeling of antagonism, aversion, or dislike.
310	antiphon	n.	A response or alteration of responses, generally musical.
311	antiphony	n.	An anthem or other composition sung responsively.
312	antipodes	n.	A place or region on the opposite side of the earth.
313	antiquary	n.	One who collects and examines old things, as coins, books, medals, weapons, etc.
314	antiquate	v.	To make old or out of date.
315	antique	adj.	Pertaining to ancient times.
316	antiseptic	n.	Anything that destroys or restrains the growth of putrefactive micro-organisms.
317	antislavery	adj.	Opposed to human slavery.
318	antispasmodic	adj.	Tending to prevent or relieve non-inflammatory spasmodic affections.
319	antistrophe	n.	The inversion of terms in successive classes, as in "the home of joy and the joy of home".
320	antitoxin	n.	A substance which neutralizes the poisonous products of micro-organisms.
321	antonym	n.	A word directly opposed to another in meaning.
322	anxious	adj.	Distressed in mind respecting some uncertain matter.
323	apathy	n.	Insensibility to emotion or passionate feeling.
324	aperture	n.	Hole.
325	apex	n.	The highest point, as of a mountain.
326	aphorism	n.	Proverb.
327	apiary	n.	A place where bees are kept.
328	apogee	n.	The climax.
329	apology	n.	A disclaimer of intentional error or offense.
330	apostasy	n.	A total departure from one's faith or religion.
331	apostate	adj.	False.
332	apostle	n.	Any messenger commissioned by or as by divine authority.
333	apothecary	n.	One who keeps drugs for sale and puts up prescriptions.
334	apotheosis	n.	Deification.
335	appall	v.	To fill with dismay or horror.
336	apparent	adj.	Easily understood.
337	apparition	n.	Ghost.
338	appease	v.	To soothe by quieting anger or indignation.
339	appellate	adj.	Capable of being appealed to.
340	appellation	n.	The name or title by which a particular person, class, or thing is called.
341	append	v.	To add or attach, as something accessory, subordinate, or supplementary.
342	appertain	v.	To belong, as by right, fitness, association, classification, possession, or natural relation.
343	apposite	adj.	Appropriate.
344	apposition	n.	The act of placing side by side, together, or in contact.
345	appraise	v.	To estimate the money value of.
346	appreciable	adj.	Capable of being discerned by the senses or intellect.
347	apprehend	v.	To make a prisoner of (a person) in the name of the law.
348	apprehensible	adj.	Capable of being conceived.
349	approbation	n.	Sanction.
350	appropriate	adj.	Suitable for the purpose and circumstances.
351	aqueduct	n.	A water-conduit, particularly one for supplying a community from a distance.
352	aqueous	adj.	Of, pertaining to, or containing water.
353	arbiter	n.	One chosen or appointed, by mutual consent of parties in dispute, to decide matters.
354	arbitrary	adj.	Fixed or done capriciously.
355	arbitrate	v.	To act or give judgment as umpire.
356	arbor	n.	A tree.
357	arboreal	adj.	Of or pertaining to a tree or trees.
358	arborescent	adj.	Having the nature of a tree.
359	arboretum	n.	A botanical garden or place devoted to the cultivation of trees or shrubs.
360	arboriculture	n.	The cultivation of trees or shrubs.
361	arcade	n.	A vaulted passageway or street; a roofed passageway having shops, etc., opening from it.
362	archaic	adj.	Antiquated
363	archaism	n.	Obsolescence.
364	archangel	n.	An angel of high rank.
365	archbishop	n.	The chief of the bishops of an ecclesiastical province in the Greek, Roman, and Anglican church.
366	archdeacon	n.	A high official administrator of the affairs of a diocese.
367	archaeology	n.	The branch of anthropology concerned with the systematic investigation of the relics of man.
368	archetype	n.	A prototype.
369	archipelago	n.	Any large body of water studded with islands, or the islands collectively themselves.
370	ardent	adj.	Burning with passion.
371	ardor	n.	Intensity of passion or affection.
372	arid	adj.	Very dry.
373	aristocracy	n.	A hereditary nobility
374	aristocrat	n.	A hereditary noble or one nearly connected with nobility.
375	armada	n.	A fleet of war-vessels.
376	armful	n.	As much as can be held in the arm or arms.
377	armory	n.	An arsenal.
378	aroma	n.	An agreeable odor.
379	arraign	v.	To call into court, as a person indicted for crime, and demand whether he pleads guilty or not.
380	arrange	v.	To put in definite or proper order.
381	arrangement	n.	The act of putting in proper order, or the state of being put in order.
382	arrant	adj.	Notoriously bad.
383	arrear	n.	Something overdue and unpaid.
384	arrival	n.	A coming to stopping-place or destination.
385	arrogant	adj.	Unduly or excessively proud, as of wealth, station, learning, etc.
386	arrogate	v.	To take, demand, or claim, especially presumptuously or without reasons or grounds.
387	Artesian	well	n. A very deep bored well. water rises due to underground pressure
388	artful	adj.	Characterized by craft or cunning.
389	Arthurian	adj.	Pertaining to King Arthur, the real or legendary hero of British poetic story.
390	artifice	n.	Trickery.
391	artless	adj.	Ingenuous.
392	ascendant	adj.	Dominant.
393	ascension	n.	The act of rising.
394	ascent	n.	A rising, soaring, or climbing.
395	ascetic	adj.	Given to severe self-denial and practicing excessive abstinence and devotion.
396	ascribe	v.	To assign as a quality or attribute.
397	asexual	adj.	Having no distinct sexual organs.
398	ashen	adj.	Pale.
399	askance	adv.	With a side or indirect glance or meaning.
400	asperity	n.	Harshness or roughness of temper.
401	aspirant	n.	One who seeks earnestly, as for advancement, honors, place.
402	aspiration	n.	An earnest wish for that which is above one's present reach.
403	aspire	v.	To have an earnest desire, wish, or longing, as for something high and good, not yet attained.
404	assailant	n.	One who attacks.
405	assassin	n.	One who kills, or tries to kill, treacherously or secretly.
406	assassinate	v.	To kill, as by surprise or secret assault, especially the killing of some eminent person.
407	assassination	n.	Murderer, as by secret assault or treachery.
408	assay	n.	The chemical analysis or testing of an alloy ore.
409	assent	v.	To express agreement with a statement or matter of opinion.
410	assess	v.	To determine the amount of (a tax or other sum to be paid).
411	assessor	n.	An officer whose duty it is to assess taxes.
412	assets	n.	pl. Property in general, regarded as applicable to the payment of debts.
413	assiduous	adj.	Diligent.
414	assignee	n.	One who is appointed to act for another in the management of certain property and interests.
415	assimilate	v.	To adapt.
416	assonance	n.	Resemblance or correspondence in sound.
417	assonant	adj.	Having resemblance of sound.
418	assonate	v.	To accord in sound, especially vowel sound.
419	assuage	v.	To cause to be less harsh, violent, or severe, as excitement, appetite, pain, or disease.
420	astringent	adj.	Harsh in disposition or character.
421	astute	adj.	Keen in discernment.
422	atheism	n.	The denial of the existence of God.
423	athirst	adj.	Wanting water.
424	athwart	adv.	From side to side.
425	atomizer	n.	An apparatus for reducing a liquid to a fine spray, as for disinfection, inhalation, etc.
426	atone	v.	To make amends for.
427	atonement	n.	Amends, reparation, or expiation made from wrong or injury.
428	atrocious	adj.	Outrageously or wantonly wicked, criminal, vile, or cruel.
429	atrocity	n.	Great cruelty or reckless wickedness.
430	attache	n.	A subordinate member of a diplomatic embassy.
431	attest	v.	To certify as accurate, genuine, or true.
432	attorney-general	n.	The chief law-officer of a government.
433	auburn	adj.	Reddish-brown, said usually of the hair.
434	audacious	adj.	Fearless.
435	audible	adj.	Loud enough to be heard.
436	audition	n.	The act or sensation of hearing.
437	auditory	adj.	Of or pertaining to hearing or the organs or sense of hearing.
438	augment	v.	To make bigger.
439	augur	v.	To predict.
440	Augustinian	adj.	Pertaining to St. Augustine, his doctrines, or the religious orders called after him.
441	aura	n.	Pervasive psychic influence supposed to emanate from persons
442	aural	adj.	Of or pertaining to the ear.
443	auricle	n.	One of the two chambers of the heart which receives the blood from the veins.
444	auricular	adj.	Of or pertaining to the ear, its auricle, or the sense of hearing.
445	auriferous	adj.	Containing gold.
446	aurora	n.	A luminous phenomenon in the upper regions of the atmosphere.
447	auspice	n.	favoring, protecting, or propitious influence or guidance.
448	austere	adj.	Severely simple; unadorned.
449	autarchy	n.	Unrestricted power.
450	authentic	adj.	Of undisputed origin.
451	authenticity	n.	The state or quality of being genuine, or of the origin and authorship claimed.
452	autobiography	n.	The story of one's life written by himself.
453	autocracy	n.	Absolute government.
454	autocrat	n.	Any one who claims or wields unrestricted or undisputed authority or influence.
455	automaton	n.	Any living being whose actions are or appear to be involuntary or mechanical.
456	autonomous	adj.	Self-governing.
457	autonomy	n.	Self-government.
458	autopsy	n.	The examination of a dead body by dissection to ascertain the cause of death.
459	autumnal	adj.	Of or pertaining to autumn.
460	auxiliary	n.	One who or that which aids or helps, especially when regarded as subsidiary or accessory.
461	avalanche	n.	The fall or sliding of a mass of snow or ice down a mountain-slope, often bearing with it rock.
462	avarice	n.	Passion for getting and keeping riches.
463	aver	v.	To assert as a fact.
464	averse	adj.	Reluctant.
465	aversion	n.	A mental condition of fixed opposition to or dislike of some particular thing.
466	avert	v.	To turn away or aside.
467	aviary	n.	A spacious cage or enclosure in which live birds are kept.
468	avidity	n.	Greediness.
469	avocation	n.	Diversion.
470	avow	v.	To declare openly.
471	awaken	v.	To arouse, as emotion, interest, or the like.
472	awry	adv.	& adj. Out of the proper form, direction, or position.
473	aye	adv.	An expression of assent.
474	azalea	n.	A flowering shrub.
475	azure	n.	The color of the sky.