| Term | Definition |
|---|
| amnesty | n. an act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals |
| apex | n. 1a. the tip of anything; 1b. the top or peak of a mountain, pyramid or spire; 2. the pointed end of anything pyramidal or spiral |
| arduous | adj. 1a. hard to accomplish or achieve; 1b. marked by great labor or effort; 2. hard to climb; steep |
| ascertain | v. 1. to make subjectively certain; 2. to inform, appraise, tell |
| azure | n. 1. a bright blue pigment or dye; 2. the clear blue color of the unclouded sky |
| bayou | n. 1. the marshy offshoots and overflowing of lakes and rivers |
| bombastic | adj. pompous; speaking with inflated language or high-sounding language on a trivial or commonplace subject |
| buoyant | adj. 1. tending to float in a fluid; 2. capable of keeping a body afloat, as a liquid; 3. not easily depressed; cheerful; 4. cheerful or invigorating |
| cessation | n. a temporary or permanent stoppage or discontinuance of an action |
| cogent | adj. 1. having power to compel or constrain; 2a. appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing; 2b. pertinent, relevant |
| contrite | adj. 1. caused by or showing sincere remorse; 2. filled with a sense of guilt and the desire for atonement; penitent |
| decorous | adj. characterized by dignified propriety in conduct, manners, appearance, character, etc. |
| elegiac | adj. 1. mournful, melancholy, plaintive |
| encumbrance | n. 1. a burden, impediment, useless addition; in strong sense: an annoyance, trouble; 2. a burden on property |
| ennui | n. listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from boredom |
| epitome | n. 1. a brief statement of the chief points in a literary work; an abridgment, abstract; 2. something that forms a condensed record or representation 'in miniature' |
| excursion | n. 1a. a going out or forth; 1b. usually a brief pleasure trip; 1c.. a trip at special reduced rates; 2. deviation from a direct, definite, or proper course; 3. a movement outward and back or from a mean position or axis. |
| exogenous | adj. 1. growing by additions on the outside; 2. formed or occurring outside some structure or mass of rock |
| exoteric | adj. 1a. suitable to be imparted to the public; 1b. belonging to the outer or less initiate circle; 2. pertaining to the outside; external, of external origin. |
| extenuation | n. 1. the action or process of making or becoming thin; a shrunken condition; leanness, emaciation; 2. the action of representing (something) as slight and trifling |
| factitious | adj. 1. made by or resulting from art; artificial; 2. arising from custom, habit, or design; not natural or spontaneous; artificial, conventional |
| firmament | n. 1a. the vault or arch of the sky; 1b. heaven, as a place where God dwells |
| grotesque | adj. 1. (in the sense of design or forms): characterized by distortion or unnatural combinations; fantastically extravagant; bizarre, quaint; 2. (of landscape): romantic, picturesquely irregular; 3. ludicrous from incongruity; fantastically absurd |
| isthmus | n. 1. a narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, connecting two larger bodies of land; 2. a connecting, usually narrow, part, organ, or passage, esp. when joining structure of cavities larger than itself |
| lucid | adj. 1. suffused with light; 2. having full use of one's faculties; 3. clear to the understanding |
| myriad | adj. 1. countless numbers of people or things; legions, hosts, hordes of the persons or things specified |
| obtrude | v. 1. to proffer forcibly, unduly, or without invitation; to press, impose, or force upon (a person); to introduce forcibly into; 2. to become noticeable in an unwelcome or intrusive way; to intrude; to impose oneself; to project out from, protrude; 3. to impose oneself; to push oneself in an unwelcome manner. |
| oracle | n. 1. the instrument, agency, or medium (usually a priest or priestess) through which the gods were supposed to speak or prophesy; the mouthpiece of the gods; 2. a person or thing who expounds or interprets the will of God or a god; 3. a person of great wisdom or knowledge, whose opinions or decisions are generally accepted |
| paltry | adj. 1. of a thing: petty, trivial, insignificant; worthless; rubbishy; contemptible; of an amount: very small or meager; 2. of a person: despicable, base; weak, unimportant, not worthy of consideration |
| panoply | n. 1. a magnificent or impressive array; 2. something forming a protective covering |
| pecuniary | adj. 1. consisting of or measured in money; of or relating to money |
| perpetual | adj. 1. lasting or destined to last forever, eternal; never ending or ceasing; 2. for the duration of a person's lifetime; (of a position, office, etc.) held or occupied until death; appointed for life; permanent |
| posthumously | adv. after death |
| precept | n. 1. a general command or injunction; 2. a rule for action or conduct, especially a rule for moral conduct; a maxim; 3. a divine command |
| prosody | n. 1. the science or study of poetic meters and versification; 2. a particular or distinctive system of metrics and versification |
| psalm | n. 1. any of the sacred songs contained in the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament an Hebrew Scriptures; a version or paraphrase of any of these; 2. a sacred song that is or may be sung in religious worship; 3. any song or poem of a sacred or serious nature |
| requiem | n. 1. a special mass said or sung for the repose of the souls of the dead |
| rudiment | n. 1a. the elements or first principles of a subject; 1b. a mere beginning, the first slight appearance or undeveloped or imperfect form of something; 2. biology: an organ or part incompletely developed in size or structure, as one in the embryonic stage, or arrested in growth, or one with no functional activity |
| scansion | n. the metrical analysis of verse (in which ͝indicates unaccented syllable and ̷ indicates a long or accented syllable) |
| sojourner | n. a temporary resident |
| supernumerary | adj. 1a. beyond or in excess of the usual, proper, regular, stated or prescribed number or quantity; additional, extra, left over; 1b. not enumerated among the regular components of a group and especially a military organization; 2. beyond the number needed or desired; superfluous, unnecessary; 3. more numerous |
| swath | n. 1. track, trace; the space covered by a sweep of the mower's scythe; the width of grass or corn so cut |
| transpire | v. 1. to pass in the form of a vapor from a living body; 2. to be revealed; to come to light; to become known or apparent |
| volubility | n. ready or rapid speech |
| waive | v. 1.; to give up or forsake; 2a. to relinquish voluntarily (as a legal right); 2b.to refrain from pressing or enforcing (as a claim or rule); 3. to put off from immediate consideration; postpone |
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