Arduous; adj

hard; strenuous 

Ex: Her arduous efforts had sapped her energy.

Aria; n

Operatic solo.

Ex:At her Metropolitian Opera audition, Marian Anderson sang an aria from Norma.

Arid; adj

dry; barren

Ex: The cactus has adapted tosurvive in an arid enviornment.

Aromatic; adj

Fragrant

Ex: Medieval sailing vessels brought aromatic herbs from China to Europe.

Arousal; n

awakening; provocation

Ex: On arousal, Papa was always grumpy as a bear.

Arraign; v

charge in court; indict

Ex: After his indicment by the Grand Jury, the accused man was arraigned in the CCC.

Array; v

Marshal; draw up an order

Ex: His actions were bound to array public sentiment against him.

Array; v

clothe; edorn

Ex: She liked to watch her mother array herself in her finest clothes before going out for the evening.

Arrears; n

being in debt

Ex: He was in arrears with his payments on the car.

Arrest; v

stop or slow down; catch someones attention

Ex: This near-disaster arrested the crowds attention.

Arrogance; n

pride; haughtiness

Ex: Convinced that Emma thought she was better than anyone else in the class, Ed rebuked her for her arrogance.

Arsenal; n 

storage place for military equipment

Ex: People are forebidden to smoke in the arsenal for fear that a stray spark might set off the munitions stored there.

Articulate; adj

Effective; distinct 

Ex: Her articulate presentation of the advertising campaign impressed her emplyoers.

Artifice; n

Deception; trickery

Ex: The Trojan War proved to the Greeks that cunning and artifice were often more effective than military might.

Artisan; n

manually skilled worker; craftsman; as opposed to artist

Ex: A noted artisan , Arturo was known for the fine craftsmanship of his inlaid cabinets.

Artiess; adj

without guile; open and honest 

Ex: Sophisticated and cynical, Jack could not believe Jill was as artiess and naive as she appeared to be.

Ascendancy; n

controlling influence; domination. 

Ex: Leaders of religious cults maintain asecendany over their followers by methods that can verge on brainwashing.

Ascertian; v

find out for certian.

Ex: Please ascertian present address.

Ascetic; adj

practicing self-denial; austere

Ex: The wealthy self-indulgent young man fely odly drawn to the strict ascetic life led by members of some monastic orders.

Ascribe; v

refer; attribute; assign 

Ex: I can ascribe no motive for her acts.

Aseptic; adj

preventing infection; having a cleansing effect.

Ex: Hospitals succeeded in lowering the mortality as soon as the introduced aseptic conditions.

Ashen; Adj

ash-colored 

Ex: Her face was ashen with fear.

Asinine; adj

stupid

Ex: "What an asinine comment!"

Askance; adj 

with a sideways or indirect look

Ex: Looking askance at her questioner, she displayed her scorn.

Askew; adj

crookedly; slainted; at an angle

Ex: Judy constantly straightened the doilies on her furniture: she couldn't stand seeing them askew.

Asperity; n

sharpness

Ex: These remarks spoken with asperity, stung the boys to whom they had been directed.

Aspersion; n

slander; slur; derogatory remark

Ex: Unscrupulous politicians practice character assassanation as a political tool, casting asperisions.

Aspirant; n

seeker after position or status

Ex: Although I am an aspirant for public office, I am not willing to accept diclates of the party bosses.

Aspire; v

seek to attain; long for

Ex: Because he aspired to a career in professional sports managment.

Assail; v

assult 

Ex: He was assailed with questions after his lecture.

Assay; v 

analyze; evaluate 

Ex: When they assayed the ore they found that they had discovered a very rish vein.

assent; v

agree; accept 

Ex: It gives me great pleasure to assent to your request.

Assert; v

declare or state with confidence 

Ex: Malcome asserted that if Feese quit acting like a wimp and asserted himself a bit more, he'd improve his chances of getting a date.

Assessment; n

evaluatio; judgement 

Ex: Your high school records plays an important part in admissions committee's assessment of you as an aplicant.

Assiduous; adj

diligent

Ex: He was assiduous, working at this taskk for weeks before he felt satisfied with his results.

Assuage; v

ease or lessen (pain); satisfy (hunger); soothe (anger)

Ex: Jilted by Jane, Dick tried to assuage heartache.

Catechism; n

book for religious instruction; Instruction by  question and answer.

Ex: He taught by engaging his pupils in a catechuism until they gave him the correct answer.

Categorical; adj

without exceptions; unqualified; absolute

Ex: He finally had to qualify his categorical denial; he was "hardly eve" sick at sea.

Censor; n

overseer of moral; person who reads to eliminate inappropriate remarks.

Ex: Soldiers dislike having the mail read by a censor but understand the need for precaution.

Censorious: adj

critical 

Ex: Censorious people delight in casting blame.

Cater to; v

supply something desired 

Ex: The chef was happy to cater to the tastes of his highly sophisticated clientele.

Centrifugal; Adj

radiatng ; departing from the center

Ex: Many automatic drying machines remove exess moisture from clothing by centrifugal force.

Centripetal; adj

tending towards the center

Ex: Does centripetal force or the force of gravity bring orbiting bodies to earth's surface?

cerebral; adj

pertaining to the brain or intellect

Ex: The heroes of Dumb and Dumber were poorly equipped for cerebral pursuits

Cerebration; n

thought

Ex: Mathematics problems sometimes require much cerebration

Catharsis; n

purging or cleansing of any passage of the ody

Ex: Aristotle maintained that tragedy created a catharsis by purging the sol of base concepts.

Caucus; n

private meeting of memebers of a party to select officers or determine policy

Ex: The Democratic Party held a caucus to elect the Majority Leader.

Caulk; v

make watertight by filling in the cracks

Ex: Jack had to caulk the tiles in the shower stall to stop the leak into the basement bellow

Certitude; n

cerainty 

Ex: Though there was no certitude of his job.

Caustic; adj

burning; sarcaastically biting

Ex: The critics caustic comments angered the actors.

Cessation; n

stoppage 

Ex: The airline's employees threatened their cessation of all work if management failed to meet their demands

Cession; n

yielding to another; ceding

Ex: The cession of Alaska to the US is discussed in this chapter.

Chafe; v

warm by rubbing; make sore; chilled

Ex: He chafed his hands before the fire.

Chaff; n

worthless products of an endeavor

Ex: When you separate the wheat from the chaff.

chaffing; adj

bantering; joking

Ex: Sometimes Chad's flippant, chaffling remarks annoy us

Chagrin; n

vexation; disappointment

Ex: Someone filled the chagrin doesn't grin: he's too mortified.

Celerity; n

speed; rapidity

Ex: Hamlet resented his mother's celerity in remarrying within a month after his fathers death.

Celestial; Adj

heavingly ; relating to the sky

Ex: Galileo explored the celestial mysteries

Cavalade; n

Procession; parade

Ex: As described by Chaucer, the cavalade of Canterbury pilgrims was a motley group

cavalier; adj

offhand of casual; haughty

Ex: The disguised prince resented the cavalier way in which the palace gaurds treated him

Cavil; v

make frivolous objections

Ex: It really bugs me when you cavil about unimportant details.

Cede; v

yield to; surrender formally 

Ex: Henry II was forced to cede their French territories.

Celebrated; adj

well-known; famous

Ex: Sammy Sosa is one of the most celebrated baseball players