| asceticism |
self-discipline and self-denial as a means of spiritual improvement. |
| bellicose |
easily incited to quarrel or fight; belligerent. |
| castellated |
constructed with turrets and battlements like a castle. |
| cloture |
in U.S. parliamentary procedure, a method of ending debate and causing an immediate vote on the matter being discussed. |
| disquisition |
a formal, often lengthy, oral or written discussion of a subject. |
| epigraph |
a pertinent quotation or motto, especially found at the beginning of a literary work or of a chapter. |
| epistolary |
established or continued through letters. |
| exegesis |
a critical explanation or interpretive analysis, especially of religious texts. |
| flagitious |
viciously or shamefully wicked; infamous. |
| flange |
a collar or rim that projects from a pipe, housing, or the like to provide strength, stability, or a place for attaching other parts. |
| frangible |
easy to break; breakable; fragile. |
| ineptitude |
incompetence; lack of skill. |
| quadrant |
any of the four parts that result when an area is divided by two lines, real or imaginary, that intersect each other at right angles. |
| risible |
provoking laughter; laughable or funny. |
| solecism |
a gross violation of convention in grammar, etiquette, or the like; impropriety. |