| appellation |
a name, title, or other designation. |
| astringent |
a substance or drug that contracts body tissue and slows discharge or secretion. |
| caste |
the status conferred by the class to which one belongs. |
| frangible |
easy to break; breakable; fragile. |
| impugn |
to call into question; challenge or try to discredit. |
| jubilate |
to feel joyful; rejoice; exult. |
| loll |
to hang down loosely; dangle. |
| malfeasance |
an illegal act or wrongdoing, especially by a public official. |
| periphrasis |
an indirect or roundabout way of phrasing something; circumlocution. |
| profligate |
totally given over to immoral and shameful pursuits; dissolute. |
| pungency |
sharpness or bite in taste or smell. |
| recidivism |
chronic return to bad habits, especially criminal relapse. |
| reprisal |
injury inflicted in retaliation for injury received, as in war; revenge. |
| schadenfreude |
(often capitalized) pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. |
| transpose |
to exchange the position or order of (two things). |