Abrogate
(v.) to abolish, usually by authority(The Bill of Rights assures that the government cannot _____ our rights to a free press.)
Boon
(n.) a gift or blessing(The good weather has been a _____ for many businesses located near the beach.)
Cajole
(v.) to urge, coax(Fred's buddies _____ him into attending the bachelor party.)
Defile
(v.) to make unclean, impure(She _____ the calm of the religious building by playing her banjo.)
Effrontery
(n.) impudence, nerve, insolence(When I told my aunt that she was boring, my mother scolded me for my _____.)
Fastidious
(adj.) meticulous, demanding, having high and often unattainable standards(Mark is so _____ that he is never able to finish a project because it always seems imperfect to him.)
Grandiloquence
(n.) lofty, pompous language(The student thought her _____ would make her sound smart, but neither the class nor the teacher bought it.)
Hapless
(adj.) unlucky(My poor, _____ family never seems to pick a sunny week to go on vacation.)
Ignominious
(adj.) humiliating, disgracing(It was really _____ to be kicked out of the dorm for having an illegal gas stove in my room.)
Juxtaposition
(n.) the act of placing two things next to each other for implicit comparison(The interior designer admired my _____ of the yellow couch and green table.)
Laconic
(adj.) terse in speech or writing(The author's _____ style has won him many followers who dislike wordiness.)
Maelstrom
(n.) a destructive whirlpool which rapidly sucks in objects(Little did the explorers know that as they turned the next bend of the calm river a vicious _____ would catch their boat.)