1. Figurehead
• A leader whose powers are entirely symbolic, such as a constitutional monarch.
Usage: In many countries today, kings and queens are merely figureheads.
2. Star Chamber
• A secretive council or other group within a government that possesses the actual power, regardless of the government’s overt form.
Usage: The Founding Fathers of USA regarded the secret and arbitrary Star Chamber as so unfair that they crafted many of our constitutional protections precisely to avoid its abuses.
3. Presidential Pardon
• A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be absolved of guilt for an alleged crime or other legal offense, as if the act never occurred. The pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the jurisdiction.
Usage: According to the law, a request for a presidential pardon forces a stay of execution of a sentence until a decision is issued.
4. Junta
• A military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force.
Usage: The country’s ruling military junta.
5. Equivocation
• The use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth or to avoid committing oneself; prevarication. If your boss asks you where all the merchandise went and you say, “someone took it,” omitting that the “someone” in question is you, that’s equivocation: using ambiguous language to hide the truth.
Usage: With those who desire to be instrumental in bringing about the triumph of liberty over slavery, there should be neither evasion, vacillation, nor equivocation.
6. Adjudication
• Adjudication is the legal process by which an arbiter or judge reviews evidence and argumentation, including legal reasoning set forth by opposing parties or litigants to come to a decision which determines rights and obligations between the parties involved.
Usage: The slighter and more frivolous the dispute, the less were they inclined to submit them to the king for adjudication.
7.Minimalism
• Minimalism is intentionally living with only the things we really need—those items that support our purpose. We are removing the distraction of excess possessions so I can focus more on those things that matter most.
Usage: More than ever before, people are opting for minimalism instead of overstuffed and cluttered homes.
8. Unfettered
• Not confined or restricted.
Usage: His imagination is unfettered by the laws of logic.
9. Imperil
• Put at risk of being harmed, injured, or destroyed.
Usage: They advised against tax increases for fear of imperilling the recovery.
10. Germane
• Relevant to a subject under consideration.
Usage: That is not germane to our theme.
