WORDS

• credulity


  readiness to believe
• credulous


  gullible, naive
• culpable


  deserving blame
• curtail


  to deprive, to reduce
• decant


  to pour
• decrepit


  elderly, worn out from age
• deference


  respect, submission
• desecrate


  to disrespect
• desiccate


  to dry out
• desist


  stop, cease, or abstain
• despot


  a ruler with absolute power
• diatribe


  bitter verbal attack
• didactic


  to instruct
• diffident


  shy, lacks self-confidence
• dilatory


  slow, unhurried, tardy
• dirge


  funeral hymn, mournful music
• disconsolate


  unhappy, doleful
• disparage


  to belittle
• dissolute


  unprincipled, promiscuous
• dolorous


  doleful, distressed
• draconian


  strict rules
• dregs


  remnant, leftovers
• edify


  to instruct
• effigy


  sculpture or model of a person
• effusive


  to express gratitude
• elucidate


  to clarify
• emaciated


  thin or weak
• empirical


  observed, seen
• entomology


  the study of insects
• entrench


  firmly establish
• epitaph


  elegy, commemoration
• euphony


  pleasing sound
• evanescent


  not lasting long
• acrimonious


  angry, bitter
• alimentary


  nourishment, sustenance
• amalgam


  mixture, blend
• ambivalent


  mixed feelings
• ameliorate


  make better
• anachronism


  from another time
• aplomb


  assurance, self-confidence