| aureole | (noun) an indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint | Synonyms: aura, gloriole, glory, halo, nimbus |
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| (noun) the outermost region of the sun's atmosphere; visible as a white halo during a solar eclipse | Synonyms: corona |
| auricle | (noun) a small conical pouch projecting from the upper anterior part of each atrium of the heart | Synonyms: atrial auricle, auricula atrii |
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| (noun) the externally visible cartilaginous structure of the external ear | Synonyms: ear, pinna |
| auriculare | (noun) the craniometric point at the center of the opening of the external acoustic meatus | Synonyms: auricular point |
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| auriculate | (adjective) having auricles | Synonyms: auriculated |
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| auriscope | (noun) medical instrument consisting of a magnifying lens and light; used for examining the external ear (the auditory meatus and especially the tympanic membrane) | Synonyms: auroscope, otoscope |
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| auroscope | (noun) medical instrument consisting of a magnifying lens and light; used for examining the external ear (the auditory meatus and especially the tympanic membrane) | Synonyms: auriscope, otoscope |
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| auscultate | (verb) examine by auscultation | - |
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| auspicate | (verb) commence in a manner calculated to bring good luck | - |
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| (verb) indicate, as with a sign or an omen | Synonyms: augur, betoken, bode, forecast, foreshadow, foretell, omen, portend, predict, prefigure, presage, prognosticate |
| auspice | (noun) a favorable omen | - |
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| austenite | (noun) a solid solution of ferric carbide or carbon in iron; cools to form pearlite or martensite | - |
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| austere | (adjective) practicing great self-denial | Synonyms: ascetic, ascetical, spartan |
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| (adjective) of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect | Synonyms: stern |
| (adjective) severely simple | Synonyms: severe, stark, stern |
| australopithecine | (adjective) of or belonging to the hominid genus Australopithecus | - |
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| (noun) any of several extinct humanlike bipedal primates with relatively small brains of the genus Australopithecus; from 1 to 4 million years ago | - |
| authenticate | (verb) establish the authenticity of something | - |
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| authorise | (verb) grant authorization or clearance for | Synonyms: authorize, clear, pass |
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| (verb) give or delegate power or authority to | Synonyms: authorize, empower |
| authoritative | (adjective) endowed with authority | Synonyms: authorised, authorized |
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| (adjective) having authority or ascendancy or influence | Synonyms: important |
| (adjective) of recognized authority or excellence | Synonyms: definitive |
| authorize | (verb) grant authorization or clearance for | Synonyms: authorise, clear, pass |
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| (verb) give or delegate power or authority to | Synonyms: authorise, empower |
| autoclave | (noun) a device for heating substances above their boiling point; used to manufacture chemicals or to sterilize surgical instruments | Synonyms: steriliser, sterilizer |
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| (verb) subject to the action of an autoclave | - |
| autocue | (noun) a device that displays words for people to read | Synonyms: prompter |
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| autofluorescence | (noun) self-induced fluorescence | - |
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| autoimmune | (adjective) of or relating to the immune response of the body against substance normally present in the body | - |
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| automate | (verb) make automatic or control or operate automatically | Synonyms: automatise, automatize |
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| automatise | (verb) make automatic or control or operate automatically | Synonyms: automate, automatize |
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| (verb) turn into an automaton | Synonyms: automatize |
| automatize | (verb) make automatic or control or operate automatically | Synonyms: automate, automatise |
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| (verb) turn into an automaton | Synonyms: automatise |
| automatonlike | (adjective) resembling the unthinking functioning of a machine | Synonyms: automatic, machinelike, robotic, robotlike |
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| automobile | (noun) a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine | Synonyms: auto, car, machine, motorcar |
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| (verb) travel in an automobile | - |
| automotive | (adjective) of or relating to motor vehicles | - |
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| (adjective) containing within itself the means of propulsion or movement | Synonyms: self-propelled, self-propelling |
| autophyte | (noun) plant capable of synthesizing its own food from simple organic substances | Synonyms: autophytic plant, autotroph, autotrophic organism |
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| autosome | (noun) any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome; appear in pairs in body cells but as single chromosomes in spermatozoa | Synonyms: somatic chromosome |
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| autostereotype | (noun) the standardized mental picture held in common by members of a cultural group depicting an oversimplified image of themselves and their behaviour. | - |
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| autotomise | (verb) cause a body part to undergo autotomy | Synonyms: autotomize |
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| autotomize | (verb) cause a body part to undergo autotomy | Synonyms: autotomise |
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| autotype | (noun) an exact copy or reproduction | Synonyms: facsimile |
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| (noun) process for producing permanent prints in a carbon pigment | Synonyms: autotypy |
| available | (adjective) obtainable or accessible and ready for use or service | - |
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| (adjective) convenient for use or disposal | Synonyms: usable, useable |
| (adjective) not busy; not otherwise committed | Synonyms: uncommitted |
| avalanche | (noun) a slide of large masses of snow and ice and mud down a mountain | - |
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| (noun) a sudden appearance of an overwhelming number of things | - |
| (verb) gather into a huge mass and roll down a mountain, of snow | Synonyms: roll down |
| avarice | (noun) reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins) | Synonyms: avaritia, covetousness, greed, rapacity |
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| (noun) extreme greed for material wealth | Synonyms: avariciousness, covetousness, cupidity |
| avellane | (adjective) pertaining to filberts or hazelnuts | Synonyms: avellan |
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| avenge | (verb) take revenge for a perceived wrong | Synonyms: retaliate, revenge |
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| aventurine | (noun) a translucent quartz spangled with bits of mica or other minerals | Synonyms: sunstone |
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| avenue | (noun) a line of approach | - |
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| (noun) a wide street or thoroughfare | Synonyms: boulevard |
| average | (adjective) lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered | Synonyms: ordinary |
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| (adjective) around the middle of a scale of evaluation | Synonyms: intermediate, medium |
| (adjective) lacking exceptional quality or ability | Synonyms: fair, mediocre, middling |
| (adjective) relating to or constituting the middle value of an ordered set of values (or the average of the middle two in a set with an even number of values) | Synonyms: median |
| (adjective) approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value | Synonyms: mean |
| (adjective) relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution | Synonyms: modal |
| (noun) a statistic describing the location of a distribution | Synonyms: norm |
| (noun) an intermediate scale value regarded as normal or usual | - |
| (noun) (sports) the ratio of successful performances to opportunities | - |
| (verb) compute the average of | Synonyms: average out |
| (verb) achieve or reach on average | - |
| (verb) amount to or come to an average, without loss or gain | Synonyms: average out |
| averse | (adjective) (usually followed by `to') strongly opposed | Synonyms: antipathetic, antipathetical, indisposed, loath, loth |
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| aversive | (adjective) tending to repel or dissuade | - |
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| avertable | (adjective) capable of being avoided or warded off | Synonyms: avertible, avoidable, evitable |
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| avertible | (adjective) capable of being avoided or warded off | Synonyms: avertable, avoidable, evitable |
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| avianise | (verb) to modify microorganisms by repeated culture in the developing chick embryo | Synonyms: avianize |
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| avianize | (verb) to modify microorganisms by repeated culture in the developing chick embryo | Synonyms: avianise |
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| aviate | (verb) operate an airplane | Synonyms: fly, pilot |
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| avoidable | (adjective) capable of being avoided or warded off | Synonyms: avertable, avertible, evitable |
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| avoidance | (noun) deliberately avoiding; keeping away from or preventing from happening | Synonyms: dodging, shunning, turning away |
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| avulse | (verb) separate by avulsion | - |
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| awake | (adjective) not in a state of sleep; completely conscious | - |
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| (adjective) mentally perceptive and responsive | Synonyms: alert, alive |
| (verb) stop sleeping | Synonyms: arouse, awaken, come alive, wake, wake up, waken |
| aware | (adjective) (sometimes followed by `of') having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization or perception | Synonyms: cognisant, cognizant |
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| (adjective) bearing in mind; attentive to | Synonyms: mindful |
| awe | (noun) a feeling of profound respect for someone or something | Synonyms: fear, reverence, veneration |
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| (noun) an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration | - |
| (verb) inspire awe in | - |
| awesome | (adjective) inspiring awe or admiration or wonder | Synonyms: amazing, awe-inspiring, awful, awing |
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| awhile | (adverb) for a brief period | Synonyms: for a while |
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| axe | (noun) an edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle | Synonyms: ax |
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| (verb) terminate | Synonyms: ax |
| (verb) chop or split with an ax | Synonyms: ax |
| axile | (adjective) relating to or attached to the axis | Synonyms: axial |
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| axle | (noun) a shaft on which a wheel rotates | - |
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| axletree | (noun) a dead axle on a carriage or wagon that has terminal spindles on which the wheels revolve | - |
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| axone | (noun) long nerve fiber that conducts away from the cell body of the neuron | Synonyms: axon |
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| azathioprine | (noun) an immunosuppressive drug (trade name Imuran) used to prevent rejection of a transplanted organ | Synonyms: Imuran |
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| azide | (noun) a chemical compound containing the azido group combined with an element or radical | - |
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| azoimide | (noun) a colorless explosive liquid that is volatile and poisonous and foul-smelling | Synonyms: HN, hydrazoic acid, hydrogen azide |
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| azote | (noun) an obsolete name for nitrogen | - |
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| azure | (adjective) of a deep somewhat purplish blue color similar to that of a clear October sky | Synonyms: bright blue, cerulean, sky-blue |
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| (noun) a light shade of blue | Synonyms: cerulean, lazuline, sapphire, sky-blue |
| (verb) color azure | - |
| azurite | (noun) blue carbonate of copper; blue malachite | - |
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| babble | (noun) gibberish resembling the sounds of a baby | Synonyms: babbling, lallation |
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| (verb) to talk foolishly | Synonyms: blather, blether, blither, smatter |
| (verb) divulge confidential information or secrets | Synonyms: babble out, blab, blab out, let the cat out of the bag, peach, sing, spill the beans, talk, tattle |
| (verb) utter meaningless sounds, like a baby, or utter in an incoherent way | - |
| (verb) flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise | Synonyms: bubble, burble, guggle, gurgle, ripple |
| babe | (noun) a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk | Synonyms: baby, infant |
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| babelike | (adjective) like a baby especially in dependence | - |
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| baccalaureate | (noun) an academic degree conferred on someone who has successfully completed undergraduate studies | Synonyms: bachelor's degree |
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| (noun) a farewell sermon to a graduating class at their commencement ceremonies | - |
| baccate | (adjective) resembling a berry | Synonyms: berrylike |
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| (adjective) producing or bearing berries | Synonyms: bacciferous, berried |
| bacchante | (noun) (classical mythology) a priestess or votary of Bacchus | - |
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| bachelorette | (noun) a young unmarried woman who lives alone | Synonyms: bachelor girl |
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| backache | (noun) an ache localized in the back | - |
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| backbite | (verb) say mean things | Synonyms: bitch |
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| backbone | (noun) the part of a network that connects other networks together | - |
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| (noun) the part of a book's cover that encloses the inner side of the book's pages and that faces outward when the book is shelved | Synonyms: spine |
| (noun) fortitude and determination | Synonyms: grit, gumption, guts, moxie, sand |
| (noun) the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord | Synonyms: back, rachis, spinal column, spine, vertebral column |
| (noun) a central cohesive source of support and stability | Synonyms: anchor, keystone, linchpin, lynchpin, mainstay |
| backdate | (verb) make effective from an earlier date | - |
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| backfire | (noun) a miscalculation that recoils on its maker | Synonyms: boomerang |
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| (noun) a loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine | - |
| (noun) the backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is fired | Synonyms: blowback |
| (noun) a fire that is set intentionally in order to slow an approaching forest fire or grassfire by clearing a burned area in its path | - |
| (verb) set a controlled fire to halt an advancing forest to prairie fire | - |
| (verb) emit a loud noise as a result of undergoing a backfire | - |
| (verb) come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect | Synonyms: backlash, recoil |
| backhoe | (noun) an excavator whose shovel bucket is attached to a hinged boom and is drawn backward to move earth | - |
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| backplate | (noun) plate armor protecting the back; worn as part of a cuirass | - |
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| backside | (noun) the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on | Synonyms: arse, ass, behind, bottom, bum, buns, butt, buttocks, can, derriere, fanny, fundament, hind end, hindquarters, keister, nates, posterior, prat, rear, rear end, rump, seat, stern, tail, tail end, tooshie, tush |
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| (noun) the side of an object that is opposite its front | Synonyms: back end, rear |
| backslide | (verb) drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards | Synonyms: lapse |
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| backspace | (noun) the typewriter key used for back spacing | Synonyms: backspace key, backspacer |
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| (verb) hit the backspace key on a computer or typewriter keyboard | - |
| backstage | (adjective) concealed from public view or attention | Synonyms: offstage |
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| (noun) a stage area out of sight of the audience | Synonyms: offstage, wing |
| (adverb) in or to a backstage area of a theater | - |
| (adverb) out of view of the public; behind the scenes | - |
| backstroke | (noun) a swimming stroke that resembles the crawl except the swimmer lies on his or her back | - |
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| (verb) swim on one's back | - |
| bacteriacide | (noun) any chemical agent that destroys bacteria | Synonyms: bactericide |
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| bactericide | (noun) any drug that destroys bacteria or inhibits their growth | Synonyms: antibacterial, antibacterial drug |
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| (noun) any chemical agent that destroys bacteria | Synonyms: bacteriacide |
| bacteriophage | (noun) a virus that is parasitic (reproduces itself) in bacteria | Synonyms: phage |
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| bacterise | (verb) subject to the action of bacteria | Synonyms: bacterize |
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| bacterize | (verb) subject to the action of bacteria | Synonyms: bacterise |
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| baddeleyite | (noun) a mineral consisting of zirconium oxide | - |
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| baddie | (noun) the principal bad character in a film or work of fiction | Synonyms: villain |
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| badge | (noun) any feature that is regarded as a sign of status (a particular power or quality or rank) | - |
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| (noun) an emblem (a small piece of plastic or cloth or metal) that signifies your status (rank or membership or affiliation etc.) | - |
| (verb) put a badge on | - |
| badinage | (noun) frivolous banter | - |
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| baffle | (noun) a flat plate that controls or directs the flow of fluid or energy | Synonyms: baffle board |
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| (verb) restrain the emission of (sound, fluid, etc.) | Synonyms: regulate |
| (verb) be a mystery or bewildering to | Synonyms: amaze, beat, bewilder, dumbfound, flummox, get, gravel, mystify, nonplus, perplex, pose, puzzle, stick, stupefy, vex |
| (verb) hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of | Synonyms: bilk, cross, foil, frustrate, queer, scotch, spoil, thwart |
| bagasse | (noun) the dry dusty pulp that remains after juice is extracted from sugar cane or similar plants | - |
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| bagatelle | (noun) a table game in which short cues are used to knock balls into holes that are guarded by wooden pegs; penalties are incurred if the pegs are knocked over | Synonyms: bar billiards |
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| (noun) something of little value or significance | Synonyms: fluff, frippery, frivolity |
| (noun) a light piece of music for piano | - |
| baggage | (noun) cases used to carry belongings when traveling | Synonyms: luggage |
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| (noun) the portable equipment and supplies of an army | - |
| (noun) a worthless or immoral woman | - |
| bagpipe | (noun) a tubular wind instrument; the player blows air into a bag and squeezes it out through the drone | - |
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| baguette | (noun) narrow French stick loaf | Synonyms: baguet |
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