 Severe or stern in manner;  without adornment or luxury, simple, plain;

 The austere clothing and conduct of the Puritans expressed their beliefs. It’s gettin’ aust in ‘ere…

Performing acts of kindness or charity Conferring benefits, doing good It’s the opposite of maleficent!

 From them I learned that purely beneficent acts can require as much hard work as a nine-to-five job.

 Pale, gaunt, resembling a corpse  Syn: corpselike, wasted, haggard, emaciated, ghastly

King Tut!

 Weak from hunger and cadaverous in appearance, the rescued captives were carried from the plane.

 To prepare by combining ingredients, make up (as a dish)  To devise, invent, fabricate

 Coarse, unfeeling; stupid  Syn: crude, vulgar, tasteless

 We feel that the positions of our representative show a crass indifference to our problems. Lacking CLASS Being an…

 To lower in character, quality, or value  To degrade, adulterate  To cause to deteriorate  Syn: cheapen, corrupt, demean, depreciate

 Every time a new rule is introduced in a popular sport, there are fans who say it will debase the game.

 To commit sacrilege upon, treat irreverently  To contaminate, pollute

 The search continues for the vandals who desecrated the cemetery.

 To confuse  To disturb the composure of

 They had hoped to disconcert him with an unexpected question, but he was well prepared.

 Grand in an impressive or stately way;  Marked by pompous affectation or grandeur, absurdly exaggerated

 In how many cities, I wonder, does an ambitious engineer dream up such grandiose designs?

 Trifling, unimportant  Syn: trivial, petty

 Feel free to ignore the inconsequential details, provided that you are sure that they are unimportant.

Infraction  A Breaking of a law or obligation  Synonyms: violation, transgression, breach, offense  His uncle paid a fine for his infraction of the local recycling regulations.

Infraction

Mitigate  To make milder or softer, to moderate in force or intensity  Synonyms: lessen, relieve, alleviate, diminish  I had hoped to mitigate her anger by offering an apology.

Mitigate  Hopefully, burping a baby will mitigate its crying.

Pillage  To rob of goods by open force (as in war), plunder; (n) the act of looting; booty  Synonyms: Ravage, sack, loot, booty  The commanding officer warned his troops not to pillage the conquered city.

Pillage

Prate  To talk a great deal in a foolish or aimless fashion  Synonyms: chatter, prattle, blab, blabber, palaver  He would prate endlessly about the past but say nothing useful about our present dilemma.

Prate

Punctilious  Very careful and exact, attentive to fine points of etiquette or propriety  Synonyms: precise, scrupulous, exacting, fussy, finicky  The clerk was so punctilious in obeying court rules that I had to be very careful to sign the papers accurately.

Punctilious

Redoubtable  Inspiring fear of awe; illustrations, eminent  Synonyms: formidable, fearsome, awesome, august  As a fierce ruler he was redoubtable, but like all such rulers, not much loved.

Redoubtable

Reprove  To find fault with, scold, rebuke  Synonyms: chide, chastise, upbraid, reproach  She reproved her staff for not following orders.

Reprove Reprimand

Restitution  The act of restoring someone or something to the rightful owner or to a former state or position; making good on a loss or damage  Synonyms: compensation, reimbursement, redress, restoration  They made restitution for the damage to the car but never fully regained the friendship of its owner.

Restitution  Restoration

Stalwart  (adj.)Strong and sturdy, brave, resolute, (n) a brave, strong person; a strong supporter; one who takes an uncompromising position  Synonyms: sturdy, stout, intrepid, valiant She became a stalwart of the basketball team as their statistician.

Stalwart  Superman is a stalwart hero to all of the citizens of the city.  (adj.) Sturdy  (n) Mainstay

Vulnerable  Open to attack, capable of being wounded or damaged; unprotected  Synonyms: Defenseless, exposed, unguarded  Those brave enough to have opposed the dictator’s rise now found themselves in a vulnerable position when he gained power.

Vulnerable