The Maroon Bluebook: Vocabulary A-I

Vocabulary Highlights A - I

• Evocation: Refers to imaginative recreation, invoking vivid memories or feelings.
• Exacerbate: Means to worsen a situation or condition.
• Excoriate: Involves severe criticism or scathing disapproval.
• Extemporize: The act of improvising without preparation.
• Fastidious: Describes someone who is difficult to please, often due to high standards.
• Fecund: Signifies the ability to produce many new and inventive ideas.
• Fickle: Pertains to someone or something that changes frequently without consistency.
• Flippant: Describes a lack of seriousness or treating matters lightly.
• Florid: Characterized by excessively intricate details or a red-faced appearance.
• Flummox: Means to confuse or bewilder someone.
• Furor: An uproar or intense excitement, often associated with anger.
• Galvanize: To electrify or invigorate, often into action.
• Garrulous: A descriptor for someone who is excessively talkative.
• Genial: Characterizes a friendly and cheerful demeanor.
• Geriatric: Pertaining to the elderly or old age.
• Gerrymander: The act of manipulating boundaries to favor a particular group.
• Gestate: Can refer to both carrying a fetus and the development of ideas.
• Glib: Fluent and persuasive but often shallow and insincere.
• Glut: Indicates an excess supply or saturation in quantity.
• Gregarious: Describes someone who is sociable and enjoys the company of others.
• Guile: Involves cunning intelligence, often in deceitful contexts.
• Gully: A water-worn ravine formed by erosion.
• Halcyon: Conveys a sense of peace and happiness.
• Harbinger: Refers to a sign or omen indicating a future event.
• Haughty: Describes an arrogant or excessively proud attitude.
• Hedonist: Someone who seeks pleasure as the primary goal in life.
• Iconoclast: A critic or skeptic who challenges established beliefs.
• Idiosyncrasy: A unique or peculiar trait specific to an individual.
• Idyllic: Represents a peaceful and blissful state or condition.
• Ignominious: Associated with dishonor or shameful behavior.
• Impecunious: Describes someone who is financially poor or lacking in funds.
• Impetus: Refers to the driving force or motivation behind an action.
• Indigent: A term for someone who is extremely poor or impoverished.
• Indomitable: Represents someone or something that is invincible and cannot be subdued.
• Inexorable: Describes someone or something relentless and unyielding.
• Infernal: Pertaining to hellish conditions or situations.
• Innocuous: Harmless; unlikely to cause any harm or injury.
• Inscrutable: Implies something that is difficult to understand or interpret.
• Insular: Describes attitudes that are narrow-minded or isolated from others.
• Interloper: An intruder who is not welcomed.
• Intrepid: Fearless and adventurous, often in a bold manner.
• Invective: Language that is insulting or abusive in nature.
• Irreverent: Shows a lack of respect for things that are usually taken seriously.
• Itinerant: Refers to someone who travels frequently and is not settled in one place.
• Jibe: A taunt or mocking remark.
• Jocular: Characterizes a humorous or joking attitude.
• Juggernaut: A term for an overwhelming force that crushes everything in its path.

Vocabulary Highlights L - Z

• Laconic: Refers to brevity in speech; concise expression.
• Lambaste: To criticize someone harshly and verbally.
• Lampoon: Publicly ridicule or mock someone or something.
• Laud: To praise highly, typically in a public context.
• Licentious: Describes unprincipled, immoral behavior, often with promiscuity.
• Loquacious: Indicates someone who talks a lot; chatty in nature.
• Lugubrious: An expression that sounds overly sad or mournful.
• Lurid: Refers to something shocking or sensational, often in a graphic manner.
• Magnanimous: Describes a generous spirit; willing to forgive or overlook grievances.
• Malfeasance: Engaging in wrongdoing or misconduct, especially by a public official.
• Manifesto: A public declaration of intentions, policies, or views.
• Martinet: A strict disciplinarian who enforces rules and order rigorously.
• Maudlin: Excessively sentimental or emotional, often in a weak manner.
• Maverick: An independent thinker who does not conform to the norm.
• Mellifluous: A sound that is pleasing to hear; sweet or harmonious.
• Mettle: A quality of spirit; resilience and courage in facing challenges.
• Misanthrope: Someone who dislikes or distrusts humankind.
• Moribund: Describes something that is at the point of death or decline.
• Nadir: The lowest point of a situation or experience.
• Neophyte: A novice or beginner in a particular field or area.
• Nonplussed: A state of confusion or perplexity.
• Noxious: Harmful or poisonous to living things.
• Obdurate: Describes someone who is stubborn and unmoved by persuasion.
• Obfuscate: To deliberately confuse or make something unclear.
• Obsolescence: The state of being outdated or no longer in use.
• Obstreperous: Describes a noisy, unruly person or behavior.
• Occult: Refers to mysterious or hidden knowledge and phenomena.
• Oligarchy: A political system where power rests with a small group of people.