pug·na·cious

1: (adj.) Combative in nature; belligerent.

pug·nacious·ly (adv.), pug·nacious·ness or pug·naci·ty (n.).

[syn: aggressiveness, contentiousness, belligerence, quarrelsomeness]

dog·ma

1: (n.) A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a church.

A tenet is that which is maintained as true with great firmness; as, the tenets of our holy religion. A dogma is that which is laid down with authority as indubitably true, especially a religious doctrine; as, the dogmas of the church. A tenet rests on its own intrinsic merits or demerits; a dogma rests on authority regarded as competent to decide and determine. Dogma has in our language acquired, to some extent, a repulsive sense, from its carrying with it the idea of undue authority or assumption. This is more fully the case with its derivatives dogmatical and dogmatism.

2: (n.) An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true. The obscure and loose dogmas of early antiquity. -- Whewell. [Syn: doctrine]

3: (n.) A principle or belief or a group of them, an arbitrary dictum: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present” (Abraham Lincoln).

ef·fete

1: (adj.) Depleted of vitality, force, or effectiveness; exhausted: the final, effete period of the baroque style.

2: (adj.) Marked by self-indulgence, triviality, or decadence: an effete group of self-professed intellectuals.

3: (adj.) Overrefined; effeminate.

4: (adj.) No longer productive; infertile.

ef·fetely (adv.), ef·feteness (n.)

os·ten·ta·tious

1: (adj.) Characterized by or given to ostentation; pretentious. Far from being ostentatious of the good you do. --Dryden

2: (adj.) Unduly conspicuous; showy.

osten·tatious·ly (adv.), /ant/ unostentatious (adj.)

vo·lup·tu·ar·y

1: (n.) A person whose life is given over to luxury and sensual pleasures; a sensualist: "an adventurous voluptuary, angling in all streams for variety of pleasures” (Thomas De Quincey).

[syn: sybarite]
[syn: epicurean, luxurious, sybaritic, voluptuous] (adj.)

vo·luptu·ary (adj.)

rec·on·dite

1: (adj.) Hidden from the mental or intellectual view; secret; abstruse. Ambiguous. recondite causes of things.

2: (adj.) Concerned with or treating something abstruse or obscure, difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge: recondite learning.

3: (adj.) Concealed; hidden.

recon·ditely (adv.), recon·diteness (n.)

trench·ant

1: (adj.) Forceful, effective, and vigorous: a trenchant argument.

2: (adj.) Caustic; cutting: trenchant criticism.

3: (adj.) Distinct; clear-cut.

trenchan·cy (n.), trenchant·ly (adv.)

im·mure

1: (v.) To inclose whithin walls, or as within walls; hence, to shut up; to imprison; to incarcerate.

2: (v.) To build into a wall: immure a shrine.

3: (v.) To entomb in a wall

im·mured, im·mur·ing, im·mures (v.)

a·plomb

1: (n.) Self-confident assurance; poise

[syn: assuredness, cool, poise, sang-froid, self-possession]

di·dac·tic

1: (adj.) Fitted or intended to teach; conveying instruction; preceptive; instructive; teaching some moral lesson; as, didactic essays. "Didactical writings.''

2: (adj.) Inclined to teach or moralize excessively.

di·dacti·cal·ly (adv.), di·dacti·cism (n.).

in·cho·ate

1: (adj.) In an initial or early stage; incipient.

2: (adj.) Imperfectly formed or developed, existing in its elements; incomplete: a vague, inchoate idea./ Neither a substance perfect, nor a substance inchoate. --Raleigh.

in·choate·ly (adv.), in·choate·ness (n.).

hith·er·to

1: a. (adv.) Until this time: The weather, which had hitherto been sunny and mild, suddenly turned cold.

b. Used in a negative statement to describe a situation that hasn't existed up to this point in time: "So far he hasn't called"; "the sun isn't up yet"

2: . To this place; to a prescribed limit. Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. --Job xxxviii. 11.

[syn: so far, thus far, up to now, heretofore, as yet, yet, til now, until now]

prog·no·sis

1: (n.) a. A prediction of the probable course and outcome of a disease.
b. The likelihood of recovery from a disease.

2: A forecast or prediction: a gloomy prognosis for economic recovery.

klep·to·ma·ni·a

1: An obsessive impulse to steal regardless of economic need.

klepto·mani·ac (n.), klepto·ma·nia·cal (adj.).

cor·rob·o·rate

1: (v.) To strengthen or support with other evidence; make more certain. The concurrence of all corroborates the same truth. --I. Taylor.

[syn: confirm, sustain, substantiate, support, affirm] [syn: validate]

2: To make strong, or to give additional strength to; to strengthen. As any limb well and duly exercised, grows stronger, the nerves of the body are corroborated thereby. --I. Watts.

cor·rob·o·rat·ed, cor·rob·o·rat·ing, cor·rob·o·rates (v.), cor·robo·ration (n.), cor·robo·rative, cor·robo·ra·tory (adj.), cor·robo·rator (n.).

dearth

1: (n.) A scarce supply; a lack: “the dearth of uncensored, firsthand information about the war” (Richard Zoglin).

2: (n.) Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine.

mit·i·gate

1: (v.) To moderate (a quality or condition) in force or intensity; alleviate. This opinion . . . mitigated kings into companions. --Burke.

mit·i·gat·ed, mit·i·gat·ing, mit·i·gates (v.), miti·gation (n.), miti·gative or miti·ga·tory, miti·ga·ble (adj.)

[Syn: To alleviate; assuage; allay.]

bla·sé

1: (adj.) Uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence. his blase indifference/ a petulent blase air

2: (adj.) Unconcerned; nonchalant: had a blasé attitude about housecleaning.

3: (adj.) Very sophisticated especially because of surfeit; versed in the ways of the world. the blase traveler refers to the ocean he has crossed as `the pond'

skulk

1: (v.) To lie in hiding, as out of cowardice or bad conscience; lurk.

2: (v.) To move about stealthily.

3: (v.) To evade work or obligation; shirk.

4: (n.) A congregation of vermin, especially foxes, or of thieves.

5: (n.) One who hides, lurks, or practices evasion.

sar·to·ri·al

1: (adj.) Of or relating to a tailor, tailoring, or tailored clothing: sartorial elegance.

2: (adj.) Anat. Of or pertaining to the sartorius muscle.

3: Our legs skulked under the table as free from sartorial impertinences as those of the noblest savages. --Lowell

ech·e·lon

1: (n.) A formation of troops/ craft in which each unit/ group/ individual is positioned successively to the left or right of the rear unit to form an oblique or steplike line

2: (n.) A subdivision of a military or naval force: a command echelon.

3: (n.) a diffraction grating consisting of a pile of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset

4: (n.) A level of responsibility or authority in a hierarchy; a rank: a job in the company's lower echelon.

5: (v.) To arrange or take place in an echelon.

{French échelon, from Old French eschelon, rung of a ladder}

au·gur

1: (n.)A seer or prophet; a soothsayer.


au·gured, au·gur·ing, au·gurs
1: (v.)To predict, especially from signs or omens; foretell. See Synonyms at foretell.

2: (v.)To serve as an omen of; betoken: trends that augur change in society/ A smooth dress rehearsal augured well for the play/ A smooth dress rehearsal augured well for the play.

[Syn: To predict; forebode; betoken; portend; presage; prognosticate; prophesy; forewarn.]

cha·rade

1: Games.

2: A readily perceived pretense; a travesty: went through the charade of a public apology.

3: a composition that imitates somebody's style in a humorous way

[syn: parody, lampoon, spoof, sendup, mockery, takeoff, burlesque, travesty, pasquinade]