| adulteration |
the act or process of making worse or impure by adding unnecessary or inferior ingredients. |
| caparison |
decorative trappings to cover a horse's saddle or harness. |
| centripetal |
forced or moving inward toward a center point or axis. |
| desiccate |
to remove the moisture in (food) so as to preserve it. |
| epistolary |
established or continued through letters. |
| germane |
having relevance to a given matter; pertinent; significant. |
| goad |
something that spurs a person to action; stimulus. |
| heinous |
extremely wicked or despicable; atrocious. |
| idiosyncrasy |
a characteristic of temperament, habit, or physical structure particular to a given individual or group; peculiarity. |
| impediment |
an obstacle or hindrance. |
| mirabile dictu |
(Latin) wonderful to say or relate. |
| putrefaction |
the act or process of rotting or decomposing. |
| raffish |
carelessly unconventional or disreputable, sometimes appealingly so. |
| scabrous |
characterized by a rough or scaly surface, as the leaf of a plant. |
| tort |
in law, any civil rather than criminal harm or injury that violates the implicit duty of each citizen not to harm others, and for which one may bring a civil suit and collect compensation. |