Pertinent means relevant, to the point, appropriate or meaningful to the subject at hand. The assignment was to write a paragraph that included all the pertinent information about our proposed projects, including the topic, a time-table, and a budget. Remember: The pertinent information about you relates to your character, not your measurements!

To be orthodox is to be conventional, to follow established ways, to be traditional.

Anguish is extreme pain, either physical or emotional.

Subordinate means less than, secondary to, not as important as.

To exhort is to strongly urge, to seriously warn, to seriously advise.

To be culpable means to be guilty, to be to blame for something, to have it be your fault.

Nihilism includes the belief that morality is relative and there is no such thing as right and wrong.

A synthesis is a blending, a combining of parts into a whole, an integration of two or more elements.

To be abstinent means to refrain from indulging, to abstain.

Squalor refers to filth, wretchedness, repulsive conditions.

To delude means to deceive, to mislead, to cause to hold a false belief.

A maverick is a nonconformist, a rebel, a freethinker, a groundbreaker.

Copious means plentiful, abundant.

To be inept is to be clumsy, unskilled, ineffective.

Myopia refers to short-sightedness.

To infer is to deduce, to to find out by reasoning.

Ostentatious means showy, overblown, pretentious.

Cursory means superficial, hasty, brief and haphazard.

An epigram is a witty statement, short, polished, pithy saying, usually in verse, and often having a satiric or paradoxical twist at the end.

The word ascetic refers to the relinquishment of normal comforts, to self-denial, and renunciation of worldly pleasures.

A cynic mistrusts people's motives, thinks everything is motivated by selfishness, is suspicious of appearances, and tends to see the potential problems, rather than the potential joys in a situation.

A genre is a category, a type.

Chicanery means trickery, deceitfulness, underhanded sneakiness, deception by clever means.

To disseminate is to scatter, to spread around, to distribute.

Venal means corrupt, open to bribery.

To be congenial is to be friendly, pleasant, agreeable.

Banal means ordinary, unoriginal, lacking freshness, trite.

Your countenance refers to your face, especially as regards its expression.

To distend means to swell, to bloat, to extend outward, to expand.

A magnate is someone who is influential, who is rich, powerful and controls something.

Substantive means solid, real, having substance, substantial, meaty There is no substantive evidence to justify his arrest.

To libel is to defame, to write or publish things about another that are both damaging and of questionable truth.

Bovine means ox-like or cowlike or related to cows in the same way that canine means dog-like or related to dogs and feline means cat-like or related to cats.

Disdain is contempt or scorn.

Expedient means practical or efficient, advantageous.

An axiom is a statement that is widely accepted as true.

The word nuance refers to subtleties, slight shades of variation, fine points, shadings.

Pedestrian means unimaginative, commonplace, dull.

Largess is generosity or philanthropy.

To squander is to waste.

Theology is the study of religion, the study of the relationship between God and what exists as creation.

A chronicle is a history, a record of events in order of time.

To covet something is to desire it intensely, to yearn for it.

An epitome is a perfect example that embodies the very essence of something.

Veracity refers to the quality of truthfulness.

To be contentious is to be argumentative, quarrelsome.

Staunch means firmly committed, dedicated, steadfast.

To admonish is to scold, to warn, to caution, to remind of a duty.

Munificent means lavishly generous.

To be stoic is to be unemotional, to appear indifferent to pleasure or pain, to maintain a "stiff upper lip.