| adversity |
a condition of trouble or difficulty. |
| annihilate |
to destroy completely. |
| autocracy |
rule by one person with absolute power; despotism. |
| dilapidated |
fallen into ruin or decay. |
| expurgate |
to remove from a book or the like material considered to be offensive or erroneous prior to publication. |
| infectious |
able to be given to others by infection. |
| liquidate |
to pay off or settle (a debt or the like). |
| misrepresent |
to identify or describe in a misleading way. |
| pertinacious |
tenacious in purpose, opinion, or the like; persevering. |
| polemic |
an emphatic statement of a controversial viewpoint, usually criticizing or refuting an existing position. |
| preempt |
to seize or appropriate ahead of others. |
| rectify |
to put right or correct (a bad situation, injustice, or the like); remedy. |
| shard |
a piece of a broken object, especially a fragment of pottery or glass. |
| surmount |
to get over or past; overcome; conquer. |
| wanton |
lacking restraint in the pursuit of sexual pleasure. |