| Flap 1 | Flap 2 |
| oligarchy | a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few. |
| muted | to deaden or muffle the sound of. to reduce the intensity of (a color) by the addition of another color. |
| cloudburst | a sudden and very heavy rainfall. |
| dereliction | deliberate or conscious neglect; negligence; delinquency; also the act of abandoning something. |
| discredit | defame;also to give no credence to;disbelieve;also destroy confidence in an effort to discredit honest politicians. |
| egalitarian | equality; asserting, resulting from, or characterized by belief in the equality of all people, esp. in political, economic, or social life. |
| polarity | the presence or manifestation of two opposite or contrasting principles or tendencies. |
| overreach | to reach or extend over or beyond; to defeat (oneself) by overdoing matters; to get the better of, esp. by deceit or trickery; outwit |
| fracas | a noisy, disorderly disturbance or fight; riotous brawl; uproar. |
| seethe | to surge or foam as if boiling.; to soak; to boil lightly, simmer |
| plod | to walk heavily or move laboriously; trudge to plod under the weight of a burden. |
| sodden | soaked with liquid or moisture; saturated. |
| gainsay | to deny, dispute, or contradict. to speak or act against; oppose. To declare false; deny |
| concur | to accord in opinion; agree; also to work together; also coincide |
| prudery | excessive propriety or modesty in speech, conduct, etc. |
| flag | to fall off in vigor, energy, activity, interest, etc. Public enthusiasm flagged when the team kept losing. |
| bettor | a person who bets. |
| lumber | to move clumsily or heavily, esp. from great or ponderous bulk overloaded wagons lumbering down the dirt road. |
| desultory | lacking in consistency, or visible order; disconnected; fitful; random |
| summarily | in a prompt or direct manner; immediately Also without notice; precipitately to be dismissed summarily from one's job. |
| warp | To turn or twist (wood, for example) out of shape. |
| trudge | to walk, esp. laboriously or wearily to trudge up a long flight of steps. |
| forage | to wander or go in search of provisions. Also to search about; seek; He went foraging in the attic for old mementos. |
| mince | To walk with very short steps or with exaggerated primness. |
| vaunt | to speak vaingloriously of; boast of to vaunt one's achievements. |
| torrid | Parched with the heat of the sun; intensely hot. Passionate; ardent |
| homiletics | the art of preaching; the branch of practical theology that treats of homilies or sermons. |
| tautology | Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy. |
| tamp | to force in or down by repeated, rather light, strokes He tamped the tobacco in his pipe. |
| jejune | without interest ; dull; insipid; also juvenile; immature; inexperienced a jejune novel. |
| piquant | agreeably pungent or sharp in taste or flavor; pleasantly biting or tart. Also agreeably stimulating, interesting, or attractive |
| raffish | gaudily vulgar or cheap; mildly or sometimes engagingly disreputable a matinee idol whose raffish offstage behavior amused millions. |
| nonplused | to render utterly perplexed; puzzle completely. |
| tractable | easily managed or controlled; docile; yielding |
| umbrage | offense; annoyance; displeasure to feel umbrage at a social snub |
