| avow |
to assert or affirm. |
| bellicose |
easily incited to quarrel or fight; belligerent. |
| blatant |
completely obvious or undisguised, sometimes offensively so. |
| cachet |
prestige. |
| canard |
a deliberately false story or rumor, usually defamatory to someone. |
| cantankerous |
irritable, stubborn, and quarrelsome. |
| decedent |
in law, one who has died. |
| descant |
a secondary, usually higher, melody that is played or sung at the same time as the chief melody. |
| doyen |
the senior or highest-ranking male member of a group. |
| effrontery |
shameless impudence; insolence. |
| emulous |
filled with the desire to equal or surpass. |
| expostulate |
to argue earnestly with someone, usually against an intended action; remonstrate. |
| intransigence |
refusal to alter one's ideas or position in response to the wishes of others. |
| ligature |
a band or tie. |
| shyster |
a person, usually a lawyer, who uses underhanded, unethical methods. |