CSS/PMS Vocabulary List Set 5

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• Palimpsest – something reused but still showing traces of the original
• Pallid – pale; lacking vitality
• Panoply – complete or impressive collection
• Parley – discussion to resolve conflict
• Paroxysm – sudden outburst or attack
• Passe – no longer fashionable; outdated
• Patrician – aristocratic; noble
• Peccant – sinful; guilty
• Pecuniary – related to money
• Pedagogue – strict or dull teacher
• Pejoration – worsening of meaning or status
• Pell-mell – confused, disorderly manner
• Penumbra – partial shadow; surrounding area
• Perambulate – walk through or travel around
• Percolate – filter through; spread gradually
• Peremptorily – in a commanding, decisive way
• Perfidious – deceitful; treacherous
• Periphrasis – long-winded expression
• Pernickety – fussy about small details
• Peroration – concluding part of a speech
• Persnickety – overly concerned with trivial detail
• Pertinacity – stubborn persistence
• Petard – an explosive device; a trap
• Phalanx – a compact group of people
• Philistine – indifferent or hostile to culture
• Phlegm – calmness or composure
• Picayune – trivial or petty
• Pied – multicolored; mixed
• Pilfer – to steal small items
• Pine – long for; yearn
• Piquant – pleasantly stimulating; spicy
• Pith – essential or central part
• Placard – a sign or notice
• Platitude – overused, dull statement
• Plaudit – strong praise or applause
• Plebeian – common; ordinary
• Plebiscite – direct vote by the people
• Plenary – fully attended; complete
• Plenipotentiary – person with full authority
• Plenum – full assembly
• Pliable – easily bent or influenced
• Plight – difficult or unfortunate situation
• Plutonic – relating to deep igneous rocks
• Polemic – strong verbal attack
• Politic – prudent; shrewd
• Ponderable – significant enough to be considered
• Pontiff – religious leader, especially the Pope
• Portentous – ominously significant
• Posit – put forward as fact
• Postulate – assume without proof
• Potentate – ruler with great power
• Pragmatism – practical approach to issues
• Prandial – relating to a meal
• Precarity – state of insecurity
• Preceptor – teacher or instructor
• Precipitous – extremely steep; sudden
• Preclude – prevent from happening
• Predominate – be the strongest element
• Prelate – high-ranking cleric
• Prepossess – influence beforehand
• Prepotent – superior in power
• Preprandial – before a meal
• Presage – sign of something to come
• Presbyterian – relating to a church governed by elders
• Primavera – springtime
• Primiparous – giving birth for the first time
• Principality – territory ruled by a prince
• Prink – dress up fussily
• Probative – serving to prove
• Procreate – reproduce
• Procrustean – enforcing conformity harshly
• Profligacy – reckless extravagance
• Prognathous – having projecting jaws
• Prognosticate – predict
• Prolegomenon – critical introduction
• Prolix – long-winded
• Prolocutor – spokesperson
• Promontory – high point of land projecting into water
• Propinquity – nearness in place or time
• Propitiatory – intended to appease
• Prosaicism – quality of being dull or ordinary
• Prosody – patterns of rhythm and sound in language
• Protagonism – advocacy or leadership
• Protégé – person guided by a mentor
• Provenance – place of origin
• Proviso – a conditional clause
• Prude – excessively proper person
• Prudish – easily shocked by immorality
• Psittacism – mechanical, meaningless repetition
• Puckish – playful; mischievous
• Pugnacity – inclination to fight
• Pulverize – crush into powder
• Punctilio – exact observance of rules
• Punitive – intended to punish
• Purblind – slow to understand; partially blind
• Puritanical – very strict in moral behavior
• Purview – range of authority or control
• Putrefy – rot or decay
• Pyrrhic – won at too great a cost
• Quaff – drink heartily
• Spendthrift — wasteful spender
• Sporadic — occurring occasionally
• Spurious — false; fake
• Spurn — reject contemptuously
• Squalid — filthy; degraded
• Stagnant — not moving; inactive
• Staid — serious and dignified
• Stalwart — loyal and hardworking
• Stanch — stop (flow of blood)
• Stark — harsh; plain
• Static — unchanging
• Steadfast — firm and unwavering
• Stealthy — secretive
• Stentorian — loud and powerful
• Stereotype — oversimplified idea
• Stifle — suppress
• Stigmatize — brand as disgraceful
• Stint — limited amount of work or time
• Stoic — enduring pain without emotion
• Stratagem — clever trick or plan
• Strident — loud and harsh
• Taction – physical touch or contact
• Talismanic – having supposed magical protective power
• Tautological – redundant; needlessly repetitive
• Tawpie – a foolish or awkward person
• Temerate – moderately restrained
• Tenebrous – dark, shadowy, obscure
• Tergiversate – abandon a belief or change sides repeatedly
• Terminus – final point or end
• Tesselated – patterned like a mosaic
• Tetchy – easily irritated; irritable
• Thespian – relating to drama or acting
• Thrall – state of being enslaved
• Timorousness – fearfulness; timid quality
• Titular – holding a title without real power
• Tocsin – alarm bell or warning signal
• Toper – habitual drinker
• Torpor – state of mental or physical inactivity
• Transfix – cause to freeze with shock or fear
• Transiently – briefly; not lasting long
• Transmogrify – transform in a surprising or magical manner
• Trappist – member of a strict monastic order
• Trilateral – three-sided
• Trilobite – extinct marine arthropod (used metaphorically for antiquated things)
• Trireme – ancient vessel with three rows of oars
• Trituration – grinding into fine particles
• Troglodyte – cave-dweller; ignorant person
• Trolleyed – very drunk (British informal)
• Truism – obvious, self-evident truth
• Tumescent – swelling or becoming engorged
• Tumid – swollen; pompous in style
• Tumulus – burial mound
• Turbidimetry – measurement of cloudiness in fluid
• Tutelary – serving as a guardian or protector
• Ubiety – state of existing in a particular place
• Ubiquitarian – one who believes God exists everywhere
• Uliginous – swampy; muddy; moist
• Ultramontane – supporting papal authority
• Ululate – howl or wail loudly
• Umbral – relating to deepest shadow
• Uncouth – lacking manners; crude
• Undulant – forming wave-like motions
• Ungulate – hoofed animal
• Uniate – member of an Eastern Catholic Church
• Unremitting – never relaxing; persistent
• Untinctured – not influenced or affected
• Upthrust – sudden upward movement
• Urbicide – deliberate destruction of a city
• Usurious – charging excessive interest
• Uxorious – excessively devoted to one’s wife
• Vatic – prophetic; visionary
• Vaunt – boast proudly
• Vedette – mounted sentinel used in military scouting
• Vehementia – violent force or energy
• Vellicate – twitch; pluck at
• Venery – sexual indulgence or pursuit
• Venesection – surgical bloodletting
• Veridical – truthful; veracious
• Vernal – relating to spring
• Verve – enthusiasm; vigor
• Vespertine – relating to evening
• Vexillology – study of flags
• Viaticum – provision for a journey; Eucharist to dying person
• Vicennial – recurring every 20 years
• Vicinage – surrounding area or neighborhood
• Vielle – medieval string instrument
• Virescence – abnormal greening (in plants)
• Viridescent – slightly green
• Viscera – internal organs
• Vituline – relating to calves
• Vocable – a word or term
• Votary – devoted follower
• Vulcanize – treat rubber with heat and chemicals
• Vulpine – fox-like; crafty
• Waif – homeless, neglected person
• Wainscot – wooden paneling on walls
• Wallop – strike hard
• Wamble – stomach growling or nausea
• Wanhope – hopelessness
• Wassail – festive drinking
• Weakfish – soft-spoken or weak-willed person (figurative use)
• Weir – barrier across a river
• Welkin – the sky or heavens
• Weltanschauung – comprehensive worldview
• Wend – proceed or go along
• Wheedle – coax by flattery
• Whilom – former; erstwhile
• Whirligig – constantly changing situation
• Whorl – spiral pattern
• Wight – person; human being
• Wimple – cloth covering for head or neck
• Winsomely – attractively or charmingly
• Wrack – ruin or destruction
• Wroth – angry; enraged
• Xanthic – yellowish
• Xenial – hospitable toward strangers
• Xenodochy – reception of strangers
• Xeric – very dry environment
• Xerophyte – plant adapted to dry conditions
• Xerosis – abnormal dryness of skin or mucous membrane
• Xylograph – wood engraving
• Xylotomy – preparation of wood for microscopic study
• Yare – agile; ready for action
• Yaw – deviate violently from course
• Yawl – small sailing boat
• Yclept – named or called
• Yeomanly – loyal; diligent
• Yestreen – yesterday evening
• Ylem – hypothetical original matter of the universe
• Yokelet – small or light yoke
• Yondermost – farthest away
• Zabaglione – light custard dessert (figuratively: something airy/light)
• Zaftig – full-bodied; plump (Yiddish origin)
• Zamarra – fur-lined Spanish coat
• Zealotry – fanatical pursuit of a cause
• Zedoary – aromatic plant root (used medicinally)
• Zeolite – mineral with absorption properties
• Zibeline – soft, luxurious fabric
• Ziggurat – terraced pyramid structure
• Zillion – extremely large indefinite number
• Zoetic – relating to life; living
• Zoomorphic – animal-shaped
• Zoophagous – animal-eating
• Zootomy – dissection of animals
• Zori – Japanese outdoor sandal
• Zygomatic – relating to cheekbone
• Zymurgy – branch of chemistry dealing with fermentation

Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5