| arbiter |
someone who has the authority to decide an issue or settle a dispute. |
| banter |
joking, clever conversation. |
| befall |
to happen to. |
| bromide |
a bland or trite remark or idea. |
| constrain |
to keep within tight restrictions; confine. |
| empirical |
based on or verifiable by experience or experiment, rather than on or by theory. |
| gratuitous |
given or done without sufficient reason or justification; unwarranted. |
| imponderable |
unable to be evaluated or calculated accurately. |
| juxtaposition |
the state of being placed side by side, especially for the purposes of comparison and contrast. |
| litigious |
inclined to bring lawsuits. |
| primacy |
the state of being first, earliest, most essential, or most important. |
| rudimentary |
of or pertaining to the basic or first principles; elementary. |
| soporific |
causing sleep or sleepiness. |
| virile |
having the qualities of a man; characteristically masculine. |
| winnow |
to sift through, or separate out the desired or worthwhile from the undesired or worthless part of, as by critical analysis. |