| accountability |
the state or quality of being responsible for providing an explanation or justification. |
| ambivalence |
the presence of conflicting feelings, such as love and hate, toward a person, thing, or situation. |
| amplitude |
the state or quality of being ample; largeness. |
| auspice |
(usually plural) sponsorship or protection; patronage. |
| chastise |
to punish, often corporally. |
| climactic |
pertaining to, reaching, or being the point of highest interest or intensity in a series of increasingly important points or events. |
| corpulent |
fat; portly; obese. |
| covetous |
desiring that which belongs to another; wanting possessions; greedy. |
| decadent |
tending to indulge in sensual pleasures; hedonistic. |
| exigent |
requiring immediate attention; urgent or critical. |
| heterogeneous |
made up of parts or members that differ from each other. (Cf. homogeneous.) |
| iconoclast |
one who attacks and seeks to break down traditional beliefs and institutions or popular ideas and values. |
| sardonic |
bitterly mocking; derisive; scornful. |
| sedulous |
steady and persistent in an action or duty; diligent. |
| synthesis |
the combining of discrete elements into a unified compound or entity, or the unified whole formed by such a combining. |