| affectation |
falseness or superficiality of appearance or behavior; pretense. |
| backwater |
any place that is seen as primitive, unchanging, or stagnant. |
| dross |
anything that is worthless or useless; rubbish. |
| efficacy |
the ability to produce desired results; effectiveness. |
| eventuality |
something that might happen; contingent occurrence. |
| expurgate |
to remove from a book or the like material considered to be offensive or erroneous prior to publication. |
| frond |
a long leaf with many small divisions. Ferns and palm trees have fronds. |
| impending |
about to occur or appear. |
| inelegant |
without taste, grace, or refinement. |
| muse |
to think about something silently or for a long time. |
| outmoded |
no longer in keeping with current standards or practices; obsolete. |
| pillage |
to openly and forcefully seize goods from, as during a war; plunder. |
| scrutinize |
to look at closely and carefully, with attention to detail. |
| secular |
of or concerning the world and material concerns as opposed to religious or spiritual concerns; temporal. |
| subside |
to become less; decrease. |