| affidavit |
a written statement that is sworn in the presence of an authorized official to be true, used as legal evidence. |
| disabuse |
to free (a person) from misconception or deception; set straight. |
| doyen |
the senior or highest-ranking male member of a group. |
| epistolary |
established or continued through letters. |
| impugn |
to call into question; challenge or try to discredit. |
| interdict |
to deter or impede by the steady use of firepower. |
| internecine |
of or pertaining to conflict, discord, or struggle within a group. |
| jeremiad |
a long complaint about life or one's situation; lamentation. |
| macerate |
to soften (food or the like) by soaking, as in digestion. |
| nonplus |
to cause (someone) to be unable to think of what to say, do, or decide; perplex; bewilder. |
| parsimonious |
excessively frugal; stingy. |
| parvenu |
a person who has suddenly acquired wealth or status, without acquiring the tastes, manners, customs, or the like of his or her new station. |
| peroration |
the concluding part of a speech in which there is a summing up of the principal points. |
| symbiosis |
a close association, usually a mutually beneficial relationship, between two dissimilar organisms. |
| voluble |
characterized by a steady flow of words; fluent; talkative. |