English Vocabulary

Stratagem

a plan, scheme, or trick to achieve a goal or gain an advantage.

Compliance

the act of conforming, acquiescing, or yielding.

Depravity

moral wickedness or evil; corruption.

Chattel

any article of tangible property other than land or buildings; a slave.

Pious

showing reverence for God and one's religious duties.

Divest

to strip or deprive someone of something; to get rid of.

Precept

a commandment or rule of moral conduct.

Apprehension

suspicion or fear of future trouble or evil.

Urchin

a mischievous boy; any small boy or youngster.

Vindication

a defense or justification.

Abhor

to detest utterly; to loathe.

Animate

alive; possessing life.

Treacherous

deceptive, untrustworthy, unreliable.

Abolition

the legal prohibition and ending of slavery.

Hew

to make, shape, or smooth with cutting blows.

Proprietary

pertaining to property or ownership.

Sporadic

happening at irregular intervals; occasional.

Bohemian

a person, as an artist or writer, who lives and acts free of regard for
conventional rules and practices.

Dilettante

a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement,
especially in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler.

Staple

a basic or necessary item of food.

Boon

something to be thankful for; a blessing or benefit.

Skulk

to move in a stealthy manner; slink.

Pristine

having its original purity; uncorrupted, unsullied.

Disparage

to speak of or treat slightingly; belittle.

Contingency

a contingent event; a chance, accident, or possibility conditional on something uncertain

Feasible

capable of being done or accomplished; probable, likely.

Hock

to pawn; to deposit as security for money borrowed.

Dualism

the philosophical view that there are just two mutually irreducible
substances (that is, matter and spirit).

Sate

to satisfy fully; to fill to excess.

Confound

to perplex or amaze; to bewilder or confuse.

Gadfly

a person who persistently annoys or provokes others with criticism, demands, etc.

Status quo

the existing state or condition.

Relegate

to send or consign to an inferior position, place, or condition.

Existential

pertaining to existence or to existentialism.

Ideology

the body of doctrine or belief that guides an individual, social movement, or group.

Zeitgeist

the spirit of the time; the general trend of thought or feeling characteristic of a particular period.

Repressed

characterized by psychological repression, the rejection from
consciousness of painful feelings, conflicts, memories, etc.

Bosom

the breast, especially conceived as the center of feelings or emotions.

Blatant

brazenly obvious; flagrant.

Pious

showing a dutiful spirit of reverence for God or willingness to fulfill religious
obligations.

Sanctimonious

making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, etc.

Secular

pertaining to worldly things, things not regarded as religious or sacred.

Clarion

clear and shrill. (often in the phrase clarion call)

Laxity

the state of being lax, that is, not strict or severe; looseness, leniency.

Mores

folkways of central importance and embodying the moral values of a group.