Abate To lessen in intensity or degree

Accolade An expression of praise

Adulation Excessive praise, intense adoration
Aesthetic Dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful
Ameliorate To make better or more tolerable
Axiom Universally recognized principle
Burgeon To grow rapidly or flourish
"The burgeoning population"
Bucolic Rustic or pastoral, characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants
"a pleasant bucolic scene"
Castigation Severe criticism or punishment
Caustic Burning or stinging, causing corrosion
Chary Wary, cautious, sparing
"chary of the risks involved"
Cogent Appealing forcibly to the mind or reason, convincing
Complaisance The willingness to comply with the wishes of others
Contentious Argumentative, quarrelsome, causing controversy or disagreement
"a style described as abrasive and contentious"
Contrite Regretful, penitent, seeking forgiveness
Culpable Deserving blame
Dearth Smallness of quantity or number
Demur To question or oppose
Didactic Intended to teach or instruct
Dogmatic Expression a rigid opinion based on unproved or improvable principles
Ebullience Quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feeling
Eclectic Selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas
Emollient Soothing to the skin, mollifying
Ephemeral Brief, fleeting
"the ephemeral joys of childhood"
Esoteric Intended for or understood by a small specific group
Facetious Playful, humorous
Fallacy An invalid or incorrect notion, a mistaken belief.
Furtive Marked by stealth, covert, surreptitious
Gregarious Sociable, outgoing, enjoying the company of other people
"he is a gregarious person who avoids solitude"
Harangue To deliver a pompous speech or tirade
Heretical Violating accepted dogma or convention
Impecunious Lacking funds, without money
Incipient Beginning to come into being or to become apparent
Innocuous Harmless, causing no damage
Intransigent Refusing to compromise
"an intransigent conservative opposed to every liberal tendency"
Inveigle To obtain by deception or flattery
Penurious Penny pinching, excessively thrifty
"lived in a most penurious manner--denying himself every indulgence"
Pernicious Extremely harmful, potentially causing death
Peruse To examine with great care
"Please peruse this report at your leisure"
Pious Extremely reverent or devout
Precursor One that precedes and indicates or announces another
Prolific Producing large volumes or amounts
Quaff To drink deeply
Quiescence Stillness, motionless, quality of being at rest
Redoubtable Awe inspiring, worthy of honor.
"born of a redoubtable family"
Squalid Sordid, wretched, dirty
"a squalid overcrowded apartment in the poorest part of town"
Supplant To take place of, supersede
Torpid Lethargic, sluggish, dormant
"a mind grown torpid in old age"
Ubiquitous Existing everywhere at the same time, constantly encountered
Urbane Sophisticated, refined, elegant
Vilify To defame, to characterize harshly