| adulteration |
the act or process of making worse or impure by adding unnecessary or inferior ingredients. |
| apprise |
to inform (often followed by "of"). |
| arrant |
complete; unmitigated; downright. |
| askance |
with distrust or suspicion. |
| austerity |
a tightened or stringent economy, as when there are high taxes, frozen wages, and shortages of consumer goods. |
| coir |
the fiber made from coconut husks, used for matting, rope, or the like. |
| ineluctable |
impossible to be avoided; inescapable. |
| knurled |
having small ridges. |
| pedantic |
making or characterized by an excessive display of learnedness, or overly insistent on scholarly details and formalities. |
| penury |
severe poverty; pennilessness. |
| pronate |
to turn or rotate (the hand or forearm) so that the palm of the hand faces down or backwards. |
| quondam |
having been in the past; former. |
| revetment |
a facing of stone, masonry, or the like to support or protect a wall, embankment, or mound of earth. |
| stridulate |
to produce a shrill grating, creaking, or chirping sound by rubbing certain parts of the body together, as some insects do. |
| topography |
the shape of the earth's surface across an area or region. The topography of an area includes the size and location of hills and dips in the land. |