| ascertain |
to learn without question; determine. |
| cavalier |
carefree and offhand; nonchalant. |
| centripetal |
forced or moving inward toward a center point or axis. |
| contumacious |
stubbornly disobedient; insubordinate; rebellious. |
| Draconian |
(often lower case) harshly cruel or rigorous. |
| euphoria |
a strong feeling of well-being or elation, sometimes unrealistic or unwarranted, and able to be induced by certain drugs. |
| heinous |
extremely wicked or despicable; atrocious. |
| imprimatur |
any official permission or sanction. |
| inquest |
a legal investigation, usually involving a jury, especially a coroner's investigation of a suspicious death. |
| interdict |
to deter or impede by the steady use of firepower. |
| neologism |
a new word, phrase, or usage. |
| pandemic |
a widespread outbreak of disease that afflicts many people over different continents. |
| peroration |
the concluding part of a speech in which there is a summing up of the principal points. |
| pleonasm |
a redundant word, phrase, or expression. |
| sere1 |
dried up or withered. |