| brevity | briefness |
| exonerate | to free from blame |
| intransigence | refusal to compromise |
| abstruse | difficult to understand |
| disparage | to speak of negatively |
| incontrovertible | indisputable |
| contentious | quarrelsome |
| vacillate | to sway from one side to the other |
| pragmatic | practical |
| insular | isolated |
| parity | equality |
| repugnant | offensive, repulsive |
| precocious | exhibiting early aptitude |
| impugn | to attack as false or questionable |
| rancorous | marked by bitter ill-will |
| debacle | disastrous or ludicrous failure |
| ambivalent | simultaneously feeling opposing feelings |
| astute | shrewd |
| juxtapose | to place side by side |
| pernicious | deadly; irrevocably harmful |
| dirge | funeral hymn or lament |
| ignominy | humiliation; disgraceful conduct |