| acclivity |
a rising slope. |
| ascertain |
to learn without question; determine. |
| calumny |
a harmful statement, known by the maker to be false. |
| colloquialism |
a word or phrase typically used in conversational, informal, or regional speech or writing, hence sometimes considered inappropriate in formal writing. |
| decedent |
in law, one who has died. |
| deposition |
a sworn statement, usually in writing, for use as testimony by an absent witness in a court of law. |
| epigraph |
a pertinent quotation or motto, especially found at the beginning of a literary work or of a chapter. |
| expiation |
the act or the means of making amends, as for a sin or crime. |
| ostentation |
a showy display to impress others. |
| pretentious |
assuming or marked by an air of importance or superiority that is unwarranted. |
| profligate |
totally given over to immoral and shameful pursuits; dissolute. |
| pronate |
to turn or rotate (the hand or forearm) so that the palm of the hand faces down or backwards. |
| recurve |
to bend or curve back or backward, as the ends of certain shooting bows. |
| regicide |
the murderer of a king. |
| unadulterated |
unmixed with or undiluted by additives or extraneous elements; pure; complete. |