| appurtenance |
(plural) equipment or instruments used for a given purpose; gear. |
| ascertain |
to learn without question; determine. |
| banal |
lacking originality or liveliness; disappointingly ordinary; commonplace; trite. |
| deign |
to consider some act to be appropriate or in keeping with one's dignity; condescend. |
| diatribe |
a bitter, abusive attack in speech or writing. |
| fealty |
faithfulness or loyalty. |
| fledge |
to grow flight feathers. |
| frangible |
easy to break; breakable; fragile. |
| gadfly |
a persistent critic, especially of established institutions and policies. |
| knurled |
having small ridges. |
| periphrasis |
an indirect or roundabout way of phrasing something; circumlocution. |
| peroration |
the concluding part of a speech in which there is a summing up of the principal points. |
| pliant |
easily flexed; supple. |
| relict |
a plant, animal, or geological feature that has survived in a considerably changed environment. |
| saturnine |
gloomy, sullen, or cynical in temperament or appearance. |