| Term | Definition |
|---|
| cloture | terminate debate by calling for a vote |
| Unctuous | oily; unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech |
| Imperturbable | unshakably calm; placid |
| Portentously | ominously significant or indicative |
| Bemused | confused, bewildered |
| Galling | causing extreme irritation |
| Harried | worried, stressed, tormented |
| Arrears | being in debt; money that should have been paid; work that should have been done |
| Firmament | foundation; the sky or heavens, viewed poetically as a solid arch or vault |
| Brio | enthusiastic vigor; vivacity; liveliness; spirit |
| Winsome | charming in a childlike or naive way |
| Impugn | dispute or contradict(in an insulting way), gainsay, challenge |
| Scabrous | (1) having or covered with scales or small projections and rough to the touch; (2) dealing with scandalous or salacious material |
| Malfeasance | wrongful conduct especially by a public officials |
| Carapace | a shell; a protective covering. |
| Fetid | offensively malodorous |
| Parlous | fraught with danger; hazardous. |
| Colloquy | formal conversation |
| Rapacious | excessively greedy and grasping |
| supercilious | haughty; arrogant; condescending; patronizing |
| consternation | A sudden or complete loss of courage in the face of trouble or danger. A state of paralyzing dismay |
| sumptuary | regulating or controlling expenditure or personal behavior |
| depredations | the act of preying upon or plundering; robbery; ravage. |
| bifurcate | divide into two branches |
| posterity | all future generations |
| restive | restlessly impatient, obstinately resisting control |
| preponderance | high quantity |
| cataclysm | any violent upheaval, esp. one of a social or political nature, disaster or flood |
| pillory | publicly mock or deride |
| lambent | softly bright or radiant; dealing lightly and gracefully with a subject, brilliantly playful, moving lightly over a surface |
| patina | a superficial layer or exterior |
| buckraking | The practice of accepting large sums of money for speaking to business or special interest groups, especially when viewed as compromising the objectivity of journalists |
| shoal | shallow part of water; sandbar |
| bailiwick | a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work: to confine |
| inveigh | to protest angrily |
| tautological | Needless repetition of words; redundancy. |
| whinge | To complain or protest, especially in an annoying or persistent manner |
| scurrilous | grossly or obscenely abusive; low humor |
| appurtenance | Something added to another, more important thing; an appendage. |
| ambit | a sphere of operation or influence; range; scope |
| tendentious | having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or purpose |
| farrago | a confused mixture; hodgepodge; medley |
| argot | special vocabulary and idiom of a particular profession or social group |
| tumescent | swollen; teeming with ideas, pompous and pretentious; aroused |
| dispatch | speediness; prompt execution; message sent with all due speed; V: send to a specified destination; finish promptly; kill |
| ponderous | having great mass and weight and unwieldiness |
| ferment | (n) A state of great excitement, agitation, or turbulence (v) To work into such a state. To produce alcohol by chemical action. |
| phlegmatic | showing little emotion |
| imperiousness | arrogance, commanding presence, overbearingness |
| propitiate | make peace with |
| doctrinaire | a stubborn person of arbitrary or arrogant opinions |
| edify | To build up, or strengthen, especially in morals or religion. |
| abrogate | revoke formally |
| turpitude | a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice |
| ancillary | subordinate; assisting |
| fiduciary | a person who holds assets in trust for a beneficiary |
| interdict | a court order prohibiting a party from doing a certain activity |
| vertiginous | Turning about an axis; inducing dizziness; mercurial |
| meretricious | alluring by a show of flashy or vulgar attractions |
| parlous | dangerous, hazardous |
| fulsome | overdone, insincerely lavish, disgusting |
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