| apprehensive |
feeling fearful about future events. |
| assail |
to attack with vigor or violence; assault. |
| beatify |
to admire or exalt as superior. |
| cachet |
prestige. |
| constrict |
to pull or squeeze in; make smaller or more narrow; tighten. |
| cyst |
a small pouch within body tissue that is filled with fluid or air. Some cysts are connected with serious disease, but most are not harmful at all. |
| deracinate |
to pull up by or as if by the roots; uproot; isolate; exile. |
| erratic |
not expected or predicted; not regular. |
| expound |
to discuss or explain in detail (usually followed by "on" or "upon"). |
| ineluctable |
impossible to be avoided; inescapable. |
| naturalism |
in literature, a method of depicting life that reflects a philosophy of determinism. |
| nonplus |
to cause (someone) to be unable to think of what to say, do, or decide; perplex; bewilder. |
| parturient |
giving birth or about to give birth; in labor. |
| recidivism |
chronic return to bad habits, especially criminal relapse. |
| salacious |
excited by lust; lecherous. |