| antediluvian |
hopelessly old-fashioned; primitive; outdated. |
| appellation |
a name, title, or other designation. |
| attenuate |
to cause to be thin, rarefied, or fine. |
| berate |
to reproach or scold severely. |
| conversant |
familiar; acquainted; practiced (usually followed by "with" or "in"). |
| feckless |
weak or incompetent; ineffective. |
| frangible |
easy to break; breakable; fragile. |
| gossamer |
delicately fine, gauzelike, or filmy. |
| gullible |
believing almost anything; easily tricked. |
| hypocrisy |
the practice or an instance of stating or pretending to hold beliefs or principles that one does not actually live by; insincerity. |
| ineluctable |
impossible to be avoided; inescapable. |
| inflection |
change that occurs in the form of words to show a grammatical characteristic such as the tense of a verb, the number of a noun, or the degree of an adjective or adverb. |
| peremptory |
not permitting refusal or disobedience. |
| precursory |
coming before and serving to indicate what will follow; premonitory. |
| sotto voce |
in a low voice or undertone, so as not to be overheard; softly (often used as a musical direction). |