| boudoir |
a woman's private sitting room or bedroom. |
| curmudgeon |
an irritable or ill-tempered person. |
| demotic |
of or relating to the common people; popular. |
| encomium |
a formal expression of praise. |
| epistemology |
the branch of philosophy dealing with the origin, nature, and limits of human knowledge. |
| garble |
to mix up, distort, or confuse (a message, translation, or the like); cause to be disordered or unintelligible. |
| hackneyed |
made trite or commonplace by overuse, as an expression or phrase. |
| interdict |
to deter or impede by the steady use of firepower. |
| 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. |
| parsimonious |
excessively frugal; stingy. |
| pinchbeck |
false, sham, or counterfeit. |
| recessional |
a piece of music that accompanies the exit of participants in a program or religious ceremony. |
| rodomontade |
puffed-up boasting or bravado. |
| surcingle |
a girth or belt that wraps around the body of a horse to secure a saddle, pack, or the like to its back. |
| vitiate |
to harm the quality of; mar; spoil. |