| adulteration |
the act or process of making worse or impure by adding unnecessary or inferior ingredients. |
| aggregate |
a sum, combination, or composite of separable elements. |
| Byzantine |
characterized by complexity and intrigue. |
| cantankerous |
irritable, stubborn, and quarrelsome. |
| discomfit |
to upset or confuse. |
| equivocal |
having at least two plausible alternative meanings, often intentionally so in order to deceive or avoid commitment; ambiguous. |
| eruct |
to belch forth. |
| gnomic |
short and pithy, as an aphorism. |
| lugubrious |
sad or mournful, especially in an exaggerated way; gloomy. |
| minatory |
presenting a threat; menacing. |
| nostrum |
a favorite but unproven scheme or theory, offered as a remedy for social or political problems; panacea. |
| obviate |
to prevent or eliminate in advance; render unnecessary or irrelevant. |
| reconnaissance |
the act or process of examining an area, especially to gain militarily useful information. |
| scabrous |
characterized by a rough or scaly surface, as the leaf of a plant. |
| triage |
a system of determining priority of medical treatment, on the basis of need, chances of survival, and the like, to victims on a battlefield or in a hospital emergency ward. |