| adulteration |
the act or process of making worse or impure by adding unnecessary or inferior ingredients. |
| apotheosis |
a perfect or ideal example; epitome. |
| asceticism |
self-discipline and self-denial as a means of spiritual improvement. |
| canard |
a deliberately false story or rumor, usually defamatory to someone. |
| castellated |
constructed with turrets and battlements like a castle. |
| cyst |
a small pouch within body tissue that is filled with fluid or air. Some cysts are connected with serious disease, but most are not harmful at all. |
| laudatory |
expressing praise. |
| meretricious |
appealing or attracting in a cheap, showy, or shallow way. |
| nostrum |
a favorite but unproven scheme or theory, offered as a remedy for social or political problems; panacea. |
| recondite |
involving profound concepts and complexities; not easily understood. |
| reprisal |
injury inflicted in retaliation for injury received, as in war; revenge. |
| savor |
to give an impression; hint (usually followed by "of"). |
| solecism |
a gross violation of convention in grammar, etiquette, or the like; impropriety. |
| triage |
a system of determining priority of medical treatment, on the basis of need, chances of survival, and the like, to victims on a battlefield or in a hospital emergency ward. |
| unscathed |
not hurt or harmed; completely uninjured. |