R

radix n. That from or on which something is developed.
raillery n. Good-humored satire.
ramify v. To divide or subdivide into branches or subdivisions.
ramose adj. Branch-like.
rampant adj. Growing, climbing, or running without check or restraint.
rampart n. A bulwark or construction to oppose assault or hostile entry.
rancor n. Malice.
rankle v. To produce irritation or festering.
rapacious adj. Disposed to seize by violence or by unlawful or greedy methods.
rapine n. The act of seizing and carrying off property by superior force, as in war.
rapt adj. Enraptured.
raptorial adj. Seizing and devouring living prey.
ration v. To provide with a fixed allowance or portion, especially of food.
rationalism n. The formation of opinions by relying upon reason alone, independently of authority.
raucous adj. Harsh.
ravine n. A deep gorge or hollow, especially one worn by a stream or flow of water.
rebuff n. A peremptory or unexpected rejection of advances or approaches.
rebut v. To oppose by argument or a sufficient answer.
recant v. To withdraw formally one's belief (in something previously believed or maintained).
recapitulate v. To repeat again the principal points of.
recede v. To move back or away.
receptive adj. Having the capacity, quality, or ability of receiving, as truths or impressions.
recessive adj. Having a tendency to go back.
recidivist n. A confirmed criminal.
reciprocal adj. Mutually interchangeable or convertible.
reciprocate v. To give and take mutually.
reciprocity n. Equal mutual rights and benefits granted and enjoyed.
recitation n. The act of reciting or repeating, especially in public and from memory.
reck v. To have a care or thought for.
recluse n. One who lives in retirement or seclusion.
reclusory n. A hermitage.
recognizance n. An acknowledgment entered into before a court with condition to do some particular act.
recoil v. To start back as in dismay, loathing, or dread.
reconcilable adj. Capable of being adjusted or harmonized.
reconnoiter v. To make a preliminary examination of for military, surveying, or geological purposes.
recourse n. Resort to or application for help in exigency or trouble.
recreant n. A cowardly or faithless person.
recrudescence n. The state of becoming raw or sore again.
recrudescent adj. Becoming raw or sore again.
rectify v. To correct.
rectitude n. The quality of being upright in principles and conduct.
recur v. To happen again or repeatedly, especially at regular intervals.
redemption n. The recovery of what is mortgaged or pledged, by paying the debt.
redolent adj. Smelling sweet and agreeable.
redolence n. Smelling sweet and agreeable.
redoubtable adj. Formidable.
redound n. Rebound.
reducible adj. That may be reduced.
redundance n. Excess.
redundant adj. Constituting an excess.
reestablish v. To restore.
refinery n. A place where some crude material, as sugar or petroleum, is purified.
refract v. To bend or turn from a direct course.
refractory adj. Not amenable to control.
refragable adj. Capable of being refuted.
refringency n. Power to refract.
refringent adj. Having the power to refract.
refute v. To prove to be wrong.
regale v. To give unusual pleasure.
regalia n. pl. The emblems of royalty.
regent n. One who is lawfully deputized to administer the government for the time being in the name of the ruler.
regicide n. The killing of a king or sovereign.
regime n. Particular conduct or administration of affairs.
regimen n. A systematized order or course of living with reference to food, clothing and personal habits.
regiment n. A body of soldiers.
regnant adj. Exercising royal authority in one's own right.
regress v. To return to a former place or condition.
reimburse v. To pay back as an equivalent of what has been expended.
reinstate v. To restore to a former state, station, or authority.
reiterate v. To say or do again and again.
relegate v. To send off or consign, as to an obscure position or remote destination.
relent v. To yield.
relinquish v. To give up using or having.
reliquary n. A casket, coffer, or repository in which relics are kept.
reluctant adj. Unwilling.
remiss adj. Negligent.
remission n. Temporary diminution of a disease.
remunerate v. To pay or pay for.
remuneration n. Compensation.
rendezvous n. A prearranged place of meeting.
rendition n. Interpretation.
renovate v. To restore after deterioration, as a building.
repartee n. A ready, witty, or apt reply.
repertory n. A place where things are stored or gathered together.
repine v. To indulge in fretfulness and faultfinding.
replete adj. Full to the uttermost.
repository n. A place in which goods are stored.
reprehend v. To find fault with.
reprehensible adj. Censurable.
reprehension n. Expression of blame.
repress v. To keep under restraint or control.
reprieve v. To grant a respite from punishment to.
reprimand v. To chide or rebuke for a fault.
reprisal n. Any infliction or act by way of retaliation on an enemy.
reprobate n. One abandoned to depravity and sin.
repugnance n. Thorough dislike.
repugnant adj. Offensive to taste and feeling.
repute v. To hold in general opinion.
requiem n. A solemn mass sung for the repose of the souls of the dead.
requisite adj. Necessary.
requital n. Adequate return for good or ill.
requite v. To repay either good or evil to, as to a person.
rescind v. To make void, as an act, by the enacting authority or a superior authority.
reseat v. To place in position of office again.
reservoir n. A receptacle where a quantity of some material, especially of a liquid or gas, may be kept.
residue n. A remainder or surplus after a part has been separated or otherwise treated.
resilience n. The power of springing back to a former position
resilient adj. Having the quality of springing back to a former position.
resistive adj. Having or exercising the power of resistance.
resistless powerless
resonance adj. Able to reinforce sound by sympathetic vibrations.
resonate v. To have or produce resonance.
respite n. Interval of rest.
resplendent adj. Very bright.
restitution n. Restoration of anything to the one to whom it properly belongs.
resumption n. The act of taking back, or taking again.
resurgent adj. Surging back or again.
resuscitate v. To restore from apparent death.
retaliate v. To repay evil with a similar evil.
retch v. To make an effort to vomit.
retention n. The keeping of a thing within one's power or possession.
reticence n. The quality of habitually keeping silent or being reserved in utterance.
reticent adj. Habitually keeping silent or being reserved in utterance.
retinue n. The body of persons who attend a person of importance in travel or public appearance.
retrench v. To cut down or reduce in extent or quantity.
retrograde v. To cause to deteriorate or to move backward.
retrogression n. A going or moving backward or in a reverse direction.
retrospect n. A view or contemplation of something past.
retrospective adj. Looking back on the past.
revelation n. A disclosing, discovering, or making known of what was before secret, private, or unknown.
revere v. To regard with worshipful veneration.
reverent adj. Humble.
reversion n. A return to or toward some former state or condition.
revile v. To heap approach or abuse upon.
revocation n. Repeal.
revoke v. To rescind.
rhapsody n. Rapt or rapturous utterance.
rhetoric n. The art of discourse.
rhetorician n. A showy writer or speaker.
ribald adj. Indulging in or manifesting coarse indecency or obscenity.
rife adj. Abundant.
righteousness n. Rectitude.
rigmarole n. Nonsense.
rigor n. Inflexibility.
rigorous adj. Uncompromising.
risible adj. capable of exciting laughter.
rivulet n. A small stream or brook.
rondo n. A musical composition during which the first part or subject is repeated several times.
rookery n. A place where crows congregate to breed.
rotary adj. Turning around its axis, like a wheel, or so constructed as to turn thus.
rote n. Repetition of words or sounds as a means of learning them, with slight attention.
rotund adj. Round from fullness or plumpness.
rudimentary adj. Being in an initial, early, or incomplete stage of development.
rue v. To regret extremely.
ruffian adj. A lawless or recklessly brutal fellow.
ruminant adj. Chewing the cud.
ruminate v. To chew over again, as food previously swallowed and regurgitated.
rupture v. To separate the parts of by violence.
rustic adj. Characteristic of dwelling in the country.
ruth n. Sorrow for another's misery.