Abbreviate to shorten, abridge Abstinence the act of refraining from pleasurable activity, e.g., eating or drinking Adulation high praise Adversity misfortune, an unfavorable turn of events Aesthetic pertaining to beauty or the arts Amicable friendly, agreeable Anachronistic out-of-date, not attributed to the correct historical period Anecdote short, usually funny account of an event Anonymous nameless, without a disclosed identity Antagonist foe, opponent, adversary Arid extremely dry or deathly boring Assiduous persistent, hard-working Asylum sanctuary, shelter, place of refuge Benevolent friendly and helpful Camaraderie trust, sociability amongst friends Censure to criticize harshly Circuitous indirect, taking the longest route Clairvoyant exceptionally insightful, able to foresee the future Collaborate to cooperate, work together Compassion sympathy, helpfulness or mercy Compromise to settle a dispute by terms agreeable to both sides Condescending possessing an attitude of superiority, patronizing Conditional depending on a condition, e.g., in a contract Conformist person who complies with accepted rules and customs Congregation a crowd of people, an assembly Convergence state of separate elements joining or coming together Deleterious harmful, destructive, detrimental Demagogue leader, rabble-rouser, usually appealing to emotion or prejudice Digression the act of turning aside, straying from the main point, esp. in a speech or argument Diligent careful and hard-working Discredit harm the reputation of, dishonor or disgrace Disdain to regard with scorn or contempt Divergent separating, moving in different directions from a particular point Empathy identification with the feelings of others Emulate to imitate, follow an example Enervating weakening, tiring Enhance improve, bring to a greater level of intensity Ephemeral momentary, transient, fleeting Evanescent quickly fading, short-lived, esp. an image Exasperation irritation, frustration Exemplary outstanding, an example to others Extenuating excusing, lessening the seriousness of guilt or crime, e.g., of mitigating factors Florid red-colored, flushed; gaudy, ornate Fortuitous happening by luck, fortunate Frugal thrifty, cheap Hackneyed cliched, worn out by overuse Haughty arrogant and condescending Hedonist person who pursues pleasure as a goal Hypothesis assumption, theory requiring proof Impetuous rash, impulsive, acting without thinking Impute to attribute an action to particular person or group Incompatible opposed in nature, not able to live or work together Inconsequential unimportant, trivial Inevitable certain, unavoidable Integrity decency, honesty, wholeness Intrepid fearless, adventurous Intuitive instinctive, untaught Jubilation joy, celebration, exultation Lobbyist person who seeks to influence political events Longevity long life Mundane ordinary, commonplace Nonchalant calm, casual, seeming unexcited Novice apprentice, beginner Opulent wealthy Orator lecturer, speaker Ostentatious showy, displaying wealth Parched dried up, shriveled Perfidious faithless, disloyal, untrustworthy Precocious unusually advanced or talented at an early age Pretentious pretending to be important, intelligent or cultured Procrastinate to unnecessarily delay, postpone, put off Prosaic relating to prose; dull, commonplace Prosperity wealth or success Provocative tending to provoke a response, e.g., anger or disagreement Prudent careful, cautious Querulous complaining, irritable Rancorous bitter, hateful Reclusive preferring to live in isolation Reconciliation the act of agreement after a quarrel, the resolution of a dispute Renovation repair, making something new again Resilient quick to recover, bounce back Restrained controlled, repressed, restricted Reverence worship, profound respect Sagacity wisdom Scrutinize to observe carefully Spontaneity impulsive action, unplanned events Spurious lacking authenticity, false Submissive tending to meekness, to submit to the will of others Substantiate to verify, confirm, provide supporting evidence Subtle hard to detect or describe; perceptive