Word | Definition |
abortive | (adj) failing to accomplish an intended aim or purpose; only partially or imperfectly developed |
bruit | (v) to spread news, reports, or unsubstaniated rumors |
contumelious | (adj) insolent or rude in speech or behavior; insultingly abusive; humiliating |
dictum | (n) a short saying; an authoritative statement |
ensconce | (v) to settle comfortably and firmly in position; to put or hide in a safe place |
iconoclastic | (adj) attacking or seeking to overthrow popular or traditional beliefs, ideas, or institutions |
in medias res | (adv) in or into the middle of a plot; into the middle of things |
internecine | (adj) mutually destructive; characterized by great slaughter and bloodshed |
maladroit | (adj) lacking skill or dexterity; lacking tact, perception or judgment |
maudlin | (adj) excesively or effusively sentimental |
modulate | (v) to change or vary the intensity or pitch; to temper or soften; to regulate, adjust |
portentous | (adj) foreshadowing an event to come; causing wonder or awe; self-consciously weighty, pompous |
prescience | (n) knowledge of events or actions before they happen; foresight |
quid pro quo | (n) something given in exchange or return for something else |
salubrious | (adj) conductive to health or well-being; wholesome |
saturnalian | (adj) characterized by riotous or unrestrained revelry or licentiousness |
touchstone | (n) a means of testing worth or genuieness |
tramatic | (adj) so shocking to the emotions as to cause lasting and substantial psychological damage |
vitiate | (v) to weaken, debase, or corrupt; to imapir the quality or value of |
waggish | (adj) fond of making jokes; characteristic of a joker; playfully humorous or droll |