• adventitious - accidental; appearing casually
  • antipathy - a feeling of intense dislike
  • apoplectic - of or related to a sudden loss of consciousness such as a rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain
  • a posteriori - derived from observed facts
  • a priori - derived by logic without observed facts
  • bathyscaphe - navigable deep diving vessel for underwater exploration
  • betoken - indicate
  • bowdlerize - to remove parts of an account or text that are deemed offensive
  • brusquely - in a blunt direct manner
  • capricious - determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason; impulsive; whimsical
  • chary - characterized by great caution and wariness
  • cliquiness - the state, quality or condition of being cliquey - an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
  • cloy - To cause distaste or disgust by supplying with too much of something originally pleasant, especially something rich or sweet; surfeit
  • colloquy - a formal conversation
  • conforaneous - of the marketplace or court
  • crèche - day nursery; a foundling (abandoned infant child ‘found’) hospital where infants are taken in and cared for
  • decaplet - alt - decuplet; coordinate term for a group of ten, or one of ten (babies born at the same time)
  • dectuple - tenfold; group of ten
  • denary - containing ten or ten parts
  • diminuendo - a gradual decrease in loudness
  • ebullience - overflowing with eager enjoyment or enthusiasm
  • empiricism - the philosophical doctrine that knowledge derives from experience
  • engaged theory - which moves across different levels of interpretation, linking different empirical questions to ontological understandings
  • ennead - any grouping or system containing nine objects
  • epistemology - the ontological philosophical theory of knowledge
  • extemporaneous - ad-lib; with little or no preparation or forethought
  • faculae - bright spot on a planet such as Mercury
  • filch - make off with the belongings of others
  • florid - elaborately or excessively ornamented
  • frenetically - in a very agitated manner; as if possessed by a mythological evil spirit
  • friable - easily broken into small fragments or reduced to powder
  • gangplank - temporary bridge for getting on and off a vessel at dockside
  • gerontocracy - a political system governed by old men
  • gradus - a handbook used as an aid in a difficult art or practice
  • grandiloquent - given to using language in a showy way by using an excessive number of difficult words to impress others
  • Grounded theory - which seeks to derive theories from facts;
  • hagiography - a biography that idolizes or idealizes the person (especially a person called a “saint”)
  • hew - to shape with an ax
  • indissoluble - incapable of being dissolved (in a solution)
  • ineffable - defying expression or description
  • inexpert - lack of professional skill or expertise
  • insuperable - impossible to surmount; insurmountable
  • intransigence - the trait of being intransigent; stubbornly refusing to compromise
  • involute - rolled; having margins rolled inward; especially of pedals or leaves in bud; closely coiled (shell) so the axis is obscured
  • junketing - taking an excursion for pleasure
  • lexicomane - a lover of words
  • malevolent - having or exerting a malignant influence
  • metaphysics - the philosophical study of being and knowing
  • mottle - colored with streaks or blotches of different shades
  • munificent - very generous
  • nettle - any of a number of plants with stinging hairs that cause skin irritation
  • nonuplet - coordinate term for a group of nine
  • nostrum - hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; once sought by alchemists
  • onerous - not easily borne; wearing (burdensome, taxing)
  • ontology - the metaphysical study of the nature of being and existence
  • pall - a sudden numbing dread
  • parsimonious - excessively unwilling to spend
  • positivism - (ontological theory) which focuses on the observations themselves, attending more to claims about facts than to facts themselves
  • postmodernism - which regards facts as fluid and elusive, and recommends focusing only on observational claims in ontological theory
  • prodigal - rashly or wastefully extravagant
  • quixotic - not sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic
  • rationalism - the philosophical doctrine that knowledge is acquired by reason without resorting to experience
  • realism - the idea that facts are “out there” just waiting to be discovered;
  • redound - return or recoil
  • relativism - the philosophical doctrine that all criteria of judgment are relative to the individuals and situations involved
  • ribald - off-color; humorously vulgar
  • rueful - feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for offenses
  • sanguine - a blood red color
  • sardonically - in a sarcastic manner
  • sessile - permanently attached to a substrate; not free to move about
  • simulacrum - (plural simulacra) an insubstantial or vague semblance; a representation of a person such as a statue
  • skein - coils of worsted yarn (tightly twisted woolen yarn from long-staple wool)
  • sophistry - a deliberate invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hopes of deceivingly someone
  • sphericity - the roundness of a three dimensional object
  • spome - is any hypothetical system closed with respect to matter and open with respect to energy capable of sustaining human life indefinitely
  • stauling-ken - a house that will receive stollen goods
  • stolid - impassive; having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited
  • stultify - deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or worthless
  • surfeit - To feed or supply to excess, satiety, or disgust; overindulge
  • susurration - the indistinct sound of people whispering
  • torpid - slow and apathetic
  • turgid - abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas
  • voluble - marked by a ready flow of speech
  • winnowing - the act of separating the grain from the chaff; select the desirable parts of a group or list; to cull
  • witticism - a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to invoke laughter