| assumption |
something that is supposed or believed without questioning. For example, if you ask someone whether she is allowed to watch TV during dinner, you have made an assumption that there is a TV in her house. Assumptions are ideas people have that are not based on proven facts. An assumption can be correct or incorrect. |
| astride |
over or upon and with a leg on each side of. |
| brood |
to think or worry a lot about a single subject (usually followed by "on" or "over"). |
| buoyant |
lighthearted or cheerful. |
| devise |
to invent or think out. |
| downplay |
to dismiss the significance of; minimize. |
| encase |
to enclose. |
| forecast |
a guess or estimate about something that will happen in the future. |
| intellectual |
of or having to do with the intellect. |
| palette |
a thin, oval board, with a thumb hole, on which a painter holds and mixes colors. |
| prestige |
importance in the eyes of other people because of doing great things, being in high position, or having wealth. |
| psychic |
of, caused by, or pertaining to nonphysical, spiritual, or supernatural processes or influences. |
| restrictive |
characterized by limitations on application. |
| slaughter |
the killing and butchering of animals for food. |
| temperate |
having neither extremely hot nor extremely cold temperatures and mild weather. |