| bereft |
deprived or stripped of something. |
| coalesce |
to grow together or unite to form a single body or organization; unify; fuse. |
| comity |
mutual courtesy and respectful treatment among people or nations. |
| corollary |
a readily drawn conclusion; deduction or inference. |
| crass |
lacking in sensitivity or refinement; crude. |
| effrontery |
shameless impudence; insolence. |
| gossamer |
delicately fine, gauzelike, or filmy. |
| impugn |
to call into question; challenge or try to discredit. |
| indulgent |
gratifying, or being inclined to gratify or yield to others' wishes, especially rather than enforcing discipline or strictness. |
| lugubrious |
sad or mournful, especially in an exaggerated way; gloomy. |
| 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. |
| nostrum |
a favorite but unproven scheme or theory, offered as a remedy for social or political problems; panacea. |
| quondam |
having been in the past; former. |
| recant |
to withdraw from commitment to (a former position or statement), especially publicly; retract. |
| trabeated |
using horizontal beams or lintels as supports instead of arches. |