| affidavit |
a written statement that is sworn in the presence of an authorized official to be true, used as legal evidence. |
| bereft |
deprived or stripped of something. |
| calumny |
a harmful statement, known by the maker to be false. |
| collateral |
property or other security put forward to guarantee repayment of a loan. |
| disencumber |
to remove burdens or hindrances from. |
| goad |
something that spurs a person to action; stimulus. |
| idiosyncrasy |
a characteristic of temperament, habit, or physical structure particular to a given individual or group; peculiarity. |
| 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. |
| nonfeasance |
in law, failure to perform a required duty, as by a public official. |
| nostrum |
a favorite but unproven scheme or theory, offered as a remedy for social or political problems; panacea. |
| periphrasis |
an indirect or roundabout way of phrasing something; circumlocution. |
| perquisite |
a payment or benefit in addition to the wages or salary associated with a position. |
| profligate |
totally given over to immoral and shameful pursuits; dissolute. |
| salacious |
excited by lust; lecherous. |
| schadenfreude |
(often capitalized) pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. |