S
- Saccharine - (adj.) overly sweet
- Salubrious - (adj.) favorable to health of mind or body; promoting health; healthful
- Sardonic - (adj.) disdainfully or ironically humorous; scornful and mocking
- Scrutinize - (verb) examine carefully for accuracy with the intent of verification; to look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail
- Seditious - (adj.) in opposition to a civil authority or government; arousing to action or rebellion
- Sedulous - (adj.) marked by care and persistent effort
- Skepticism - (noun) doubt about the truth of something; the disbelief in any claims of ultimate knowledge
- Somber - (adj.) grave or even gloomy in character; lacking brightness or color; dull
- Sovereign - (noun) a nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right
- Sovereign - (adj.) greatest in status or authority or power; not controlled by outside forces
- Sparse - (adj.) not dense; not thickly settled
- Specify - (verb) decide upon or fix definitely; be specific about; determine the essential quality
- Spontaneous - (adj.) happening or arising without apparent external cause; said or done without having been planned or written in advance
- Spurn - (verb) reject with contempt
- Squander - (verb) spend extravagantly; spend thoughtlessly; throw away or waste
- Stimulus - (noun) any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action
- Stringent - (adj.) demanding strict attention to rules and procedures
- Stymie - (noun) a thwarting and distressing situation
- Stymie - (verb) hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
- Subtle - (adj.) faint and difficult to analyze; able to make fine distinctions
- Succinct - (adj.) briefly giving the gist of something
- Summary - (noun) a brief statement that presents the main points in a concise form
- Summon - (verb) call in an official matter, such as to attend court; ask to come; gather or bring together
- Sumptuous - (adj.) rich and superior in quality
- Sycophant - (noun) a servile, self-seeking flatterer
- Symbiotic - (adj.) used of organisms living together but not necessarily in a relation beneficial to each; cooperative relationship