| asceticism |
self-discipline and self-denial as a means of spiritual improvement. |
| benign |
causing little or no harm. |
| cachet |
prestige. |
| canard |
a deliberately false story or rumor, usually defamatory to someone. |
| comity |
mutual courtesy and respectful treatment among people or nations. |
| disingenuous |
not candid or sincere. |
| Draconian |
(often lower case) harshly cruel or rigorous. |
| irrefragable |
impossible to refute or dispute; undeniable. |
| jeremiad |
a long complaint about life or one's situation; lamentation. |
| knurled |
having small ridges. |
| maverick |
a person who thinks and behaves independently, especially one who refuses to adhere to the orthodoxy of the group to which he or she belongs. |
| periphrasis |
an indirect or roundabout way of phrasing something; circumlocution. |
| quondam |
having been in the past; former. |
| rodomontade |
puffed-up boasting or bravado. |
| sequester |
to remove into protection and isolation; seclude. |