Vocabulary: P
30 words starting with P at the advanced level
Pacify
To quell the anger, agitation, or excitement of.
Palliate
To make (a disease or its symptoms) less severe or unpleasant without removing the cause.
Parsimonious
Unwilling to spend money or use resources; stingy or frugal.
Paucity
The presence of something only in small or insufficient quantities or amounts; scarcity.
Pedestrian
Lacking inspiration or excitement; dull.
Pensive
Engaged in, involving, or reflecting deep or serious thought.
Penurious
Extremely poor; poverty-stricken.
Perceptive
Having or showing sensitive insight.
Perennial
Lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.
Perpetual
Never ending or changing.
Perplex
To make (someone) feel completely baffled.
Pertinacious
Holding firmly to an opinion or a course of action.
Perturb
To make (someone) anxious or unsettled.
Pessimistic
Tending to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.
Philanthropic
(Of a person or organization) seeking to promote the welfare of others, especially by donating money to good causes; generous and benevolent.
Pillory
To attack or ridicule publicly.
Placate
To make (someone) less angry or hostile.
Platitude
A remark or statement, especially one with a moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful.
Plethora
A large or excessive amount of (something).
Pliant
Pliable; easily influenced.
Politic
(Of an action) seeming sensible and judicious under the circumstances.
Precipitate
To cause (an event or situation, typically one that is bad or undesirable) to happen suddenly, unexpectedly, or prematurely.
Preclude
To prevent from happening; make impossible.
Pretense
An attempt to make something that is not the case appear true.
Prodigal
Spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.
Profligate
Recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources.
Propitiate
To win or regain the favor of (a god, spirit, or person) by doing something that pleases them.
Prosaic
Having the style or diction of prose; lacking poetic beauty. (Metaphorical: commonplace; unromantic).
Provoke
To stimulate or give rise to (a reaction or emotion, typically a strong or unwelcome one) in someone.
Prudent
Acting with or showing care and thought for the future.