| apprehensive |
feeling fearful about future events. |
| austerity |
a tightened or stringent economy, as when there are high taxes, frozen wages, and shortages of consumer goods. |
| cyst |
a small pouch within body tissue that is filled with fluid or air. Some cysts are connected with serious disease, but most are not harmful at all. |
| declivity |
a downward or descending slope. |
| despoil |
to forcefully take belongings or goods from; plunder. |
| effrontery |
shameless impudence; insolence. |
| epistolary |
established or continued through letters. |
| exegesis |
a critical explanation or interpretive analysis, especially of religious texts. |
| frangible |
easy to break; breakable; fragile. |
| jejune |
lacking interest or liveliness; dull. |
| malapropism |
the humorous or ridiculous misuse of a word, especially by using a word that sounds similar to the correct word, but whose meaning is inappropriate. |
| oligarchy |
a government or state in which only a relatively few people or members of a family have real power. |
| refulgent |
shining brilliantly; radiant. |
| sententious |
using or marked by pompous, high-flown moralizing. |
| sylph |
a slender, graceful woman or girl. |