| amortize |
to deduct (expenditures) by fixed amounts over a period of time. |
| assuage |
to make less severe or more bearable; alleviate. |
| berate |
to reproach or scold severely. |
| cynosure |
a thing or person that is the center of attention and admiration. |
| deposition |
a sworn statement, usually in writing, for use as testimony by an absent witness in a court of law. |
| descry |
to see or make out, especially something obscured or at a distance. |
| disheveled |
not neat; messy. |
| entreat |
to beg for something, or to do something. |
| ineptitude |
incompetence; lack of skill. |
| lattice |
a flat framework made with strips of wood or other material. The strips cross each other and have open spaces in between. A lattice is often used as a screen on a porch or in a garden. |
| ontogeny |
the process of biological growth and development of a particular living organism. |
| rapacious |
capable of capturing and eating live prey; predacious. |
| recidivism |
chronic return to bad habits, especially criminal relapse. |
| sequester |
to remove into protection and isolation; seclude. |
| sere1 |
dried up or withered. |