| alluvium |
sand, soil, gravel, or the like deposited by moving water, as along a river bed. |
| bellicose |
easily incited to quarrel or fight; belligerent. |
| cognizant |
aware; informed (usually followed by "of"). |
| conclave |
a secret, private, or confidential meeting or gathering. |
| descant |
a secondary, usually higher, melody that is played or sung at the same time as the chief melody. |
| disheveled |
not neat; messy. |
| effrontery |
shameless impudence; insolence. |
| imprecation |
a curse, uttered or thought of. |
| indurate |
to make hard in texture; harden. |
| intelligentsia |
the elite class of highly learned people within a society, or those who consider themselves part of such a class. |
| pathos |
a quality in life or art that evokes pity, sadness, or compassion. |
| peroration |
the concluding part of a speech in which there is a summing up of the principal points. |
| pliant |
easily flexed; supple. |
| sotto voce |
in a low voice or undertone, so as not to be overheard; softly (often used as a musical direction). |
| stridulate |
to produce a shrill grating, creaking, or chirping sound by rubbing certain parts of the body together, as some insects do. |