Gratuitous adj. 1. Given or granted without return or recompense; unearned. 2. Unnecessary or unwarranted; unjustified: A gratuitousremark.

Aplomb [a·plomb] n.  Self-confident assurance, skill, and poise – especially in difficult or challenging circumstances.

Secular [sec·u·lar] adj. 1. Worldly rather than spiritual. 2. Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body. “A secular book.”

Arduous adj. 1. Demanding great effort or labor; difficult. “An arduousundertaking.” 2. Testing severely the powers of endurance; strenuous. “A long and arduous process.”

Antithesis n.pl. 1. Direct contrast; opposition. 2. The direct or exact opposite. “Hope is the antithesis of despair.”

A phrase in which two words of contradictory meaning are used together for special effect, for example, “wise fool” or “to make haste slowly.”

Pervicacious adj. Stubborn, extremely willful, obstinate. “He became quite pervicacious in his old age.”

Accoutrement n. Additional items of dress or equipment, carried or worn by a person or used for a particular activity. The General dressed for battle in shining accoutrements.”

Vernacular n. The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region. An idiomatic word, phrase, or expression. The idiom of a particular trade or profession: “In the legal vernacular.”

Paradigm n. A typical example or pattern of something; a model. “The economic paradigm was flawed.”