Vocabulary #9

Definitions:

• Abortive: failing to produce the intended result
• Bruit: spread a rumor widely
• Contumelious: insulting behavior
• Dictum: a formal pronouncement from an authoritative source; a short statement that expresses a general truth or principle
• Ensconce: establish 
• Iconoclastic: characterized by attack on established beliefs
• In medias res: a narrative that begins somewhere in the middle of a story rather than the beginning
• Internecine: destructive to both sides in a conflict
• Maladroit: clumsy
• Maudlin: self-pitying or tearfully sentimental
• Modulate: controlling influence on
• Portentous: of or like a portent; done in a pompously or overly solemn manner
• Prescience: the power to see the future
• Quid pro quo: a favor granted in return for something
• Salubrious: healthy; pleasant,
• Saturnalia: the ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December
• Touchstone: a standard by which something is judged or recognized
• Traumatic: emotionally disturbing; causing psychological trauma
• Vitiate: spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of; destroy or impair the legal validity of.
• Waggish: humorous in a playful