| abeyance |
temporary suspension or cessation. |
| baneful |
causing or leading to death, destruction, or ruin; harmful or deadly. |
| belie |
to give a false impression of. |
| berate |
to reproach or scold severely. |
| canard |
a deliberately false story or rumor, usually defamatory to someone. |
| dawdle |
to waste time; be slow. |
| disquisition |
a formal, often lengthy, oral or written discussion of a subject. |
| flange |
a collar or rim that projects from a pipe, housing, or the like to provide strength, stability, or a place for attaching other parts. |
| foible |
a minor flaw or weakness in personality, character, or behavior. |
| gadfly |
a persistent critic, especially of established institutions and policies. |
| 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. |
| magnum opus |
a great work of art, literature, or music, especially a particular person's masterpiece. |
| reprise |
repetition of a musical phrase or theme in an identical or slightly altered way. |
| spurn |
to reject, refuse, or treat with scorn; disdain; despise. |
| truculent |
extremely hostile or belligerent; inclined to fight. |