the right to choose what should be done in a particular situation; the quality of being careful about what you do and say so that people will not be embarrassed or offended
discretion
moving, occurring, or performed in a backward direction; tending toward or resulting in a worse or previous state
retrograde
an unusual or unexpected sight, phenomenon; a ghostly figure; appearance
apparition
suggestive of an uncle especially in kindliness or geniality
avuncular
look, expression; mental compusure; face, visage; bearing or expression that offers calm, approval, or sanction, moral support
countenance
characterized by profuse or wasteful expenditure, lavish; recklessly spendthrift
prodigal
a statement that refers to something without mentioning it directly; an implied or indirect reference especially in literature
allusion
to grow by rapid production of new parts, cells, buds, or offspring; to increase in number, multiply
proliferate
one of two, usually equal, parts into which something is divided; component, part, half
moiety
too eager to help or obey someone important; marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness
obsequious
to declare as a matter of fact or as a thing that can be proved, affirm; corroborate; to acknowledge (something, such as an act) as one's own; confess
avouch
hypocritically pious or devout
sanctimonious
repeated syntactical or other similarities introduced for rhetorical or artistic effect; resemblance, correspondence
parallelism
marked by shameless or disrespectful boldness
brazen
a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person; feeling, showing, or deriving from strong and sometimes blind adherence to a particular party, faction, cause, or person
partisan
characterized by a lean slender body build with slight muscular development
ectomorphic
the act of talking to oneself; a poem, discourse, or utterance of a character in a drama that has the form of a monologue or gives the illusion of being a series of unspoken reflections
soliloquy
eliciting amazement or wonder, prodigious; being a grave or serious matter; self-consciously solemn or important, pompous; ponderously excessive
portentous
to speak rapidly, inarticulately, and often foolishly
gibber
a commonplace, tiresome, or hackneyed person, statement, or notion; a bore
bromide