(v) To present evidence in support of: back (up), buttress, substantiate
desiccate
(v) To make or become free of moisture: dehydrate, dry (out), exsiccate, parch
engender
(v) To cause to come into existence: beget, breed, create, father, hatch, make, originate, parent, procreate, produce, sire, spawn
ephemeral
(adj) Lasting or existing only for a short time: evanescent, fleet, fleeting, fugacious, fugitive, momentary, passing, short-lived, temporal, temporary, transient, transitory
gullible
(adj) Easily imposed on or tricked: credulous, dupable, easy, exploitable, naive, susceptible
homogenous
(adj) All of the same or similar kind or nature
laconic
(adj) Marked by or consisting of few words that are carefully chosen: brief, compendious, concise, lean, short, succinct, summary, terse
(adj) Given to conversation: chatty, conversational, garrulous, talkative, talky, voluble
mitigate
(v) To make less severe or more bearable: allay, alleviate, assuage, comfort, ease, lessen, lighten, palliate, relieve
pedant
(n) One who pays undue attention to book learning and formal rules
pragmatic
(adj) Having or indicating an awareness of things as they really are: down-to-earth, hard, hardheaded, matter-of-fact, objective, practical, pragmatical, prosaic, realistic, sober, tough-minded, unromantic
propriety
(n) The quality of being proper; appropriateness
vacillate
(v) To move back and forth or from side to side, as if about to fall: oscillate, sway, teeter, totter, waver, weave, wobble