1. Substantive [suhb-stuh n-tiv]
Noun: having independent existence; independent; belonging to the real nature or essential part of a thing; essential; real or actual; of considerable amount or quantity; possessing substance; having practical importance, value, or effect.
2. Mere [meer]
Adjective: being nothing more nor better than.
Synonyms: bare, minor, pure, sheer, simple, common, entire, little, plain, poor, small, bald, blunt, complete, insignificant, pure and simple, , k, unadorned, unadulterated, unmitigated, unmixed, utter, very.
Antonyms: decorated, indefinite, uncertain, abnormal.
3. Surmise [verb ser-mahyz; noun ser-mahyz, sur-mahyz]
Verb: to think or infer without certain or strong evidence; conjecture; guess; to conjecture or guess.
Noun: a matter of conjecture; an idea or thought of something as being possible or likely;
a conjecture or opinion.
Synonyms: assumption, attempt, conjecture, deduction, guesstimate, guesswork, hunch, hypothesis, idea, inference, notion, opinion, possibility, presumption, speculation, supposition, suspicion.
Antonyms: certainty, fact, information, knowledge.
Example: A ban on a book, howsoever pernicious its contents might be, should, under any circumstances, strike the court as a matter for serious consideration.
4. Pernicious [per-nish-uh s]
Adjective: causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful; deadly; fatal.
Synonyms: damaging, dangerous, deadly, destructive, detrimental, devastating, harmful, lethal, malicious, nefarious, noxious, poisonous, ruinous, toxic, virulent, baleful, deleterious, evil, fatal, iniquitous, injurious, killing, maleficent, malevolent, malign.
Antonyms: advantageous, assisting, beneficial, benevolent.
Example: While this order is certainly welcome, any reasonable analysis of the court’s judgments shows us that it invariably tends to sing a different tune when faced with active bans imposed by the state, thereby shading its jurisprudence with more than a trace of caprice.
5. Shade [sheyd]
Noun: the comparative darkness caused by the interception or screening of rays of light from an object, place, or area; a place or an area of comparative darkness, as one sheltered from the sun.
Verb: to produce shade in or on; to obscure, dim, or darken; to screen or hide from view; to protect (something) from light, heat, etc., by or as by a screen.
Synonyms: shadow, adumbration, blackness, coolness, cover, darkness, dusk, gloominess, obscurity, penumbra, screen, semidarkness, shadiness, shadows, umbra, umbrage, obscuration.
Antonyms: light, lightness, brightness, gap.
6. Jurisprudence [joo r-is-prood-ns, joo r-is-prood-]
Noun: the science or philosophy of law; a body or system of laws; a department of law.
Synonyms: act, case, charge, charter, code, constitution, decision, decree, legislation, mandate, measure, order, precedent, regulation, requirement, ruling, statute, assize, behest, bidding.
Antonyms: disorganization, lawlessness, breaking, transgression.
7. Caprice [kuh-prees]
Noun: a sudden, unpredictable change, as of one’s mind or the weather; a tendency to change one’s mind without apparent or adequate motive; whimsicality; capriciousness.
Synonyms: bee, caper, changeableness, contrariety, crotchet, fad, fancy, fickleness, fitfulness, freak, gag, humor, impulse, inconsistency, inconstancy, jerk, kink, mood, notion, peculiarity, perversity, quirk.
Antonyms: normality, constancy, constant, dependability.
Example: Upholding bans on books strikes at this legitimacy, at the principles of justice that are meant to fortify the republic.
8. Legitimacy [li-jit-uh-muh-see]
Noun: the state or quality of being legitimate.
Synonyms: authority, justice, validity, lawfulness, licitness, permissibility, right, constitutionality, defendability, legitimateness.
9. Fortify [fawr-tuh-fahy]
Verb: to protect or strengthen against attack; surround or provide with defensive military works; to furnish with a means of resisting force or standing strain or wear; to make strong; impart strength or vigor to; to increase the effectiveness of, as by additional ingredients.
Synonyms: brace, build up, buttress, consolidate, entrench, protect, reinforce, secure, shore up, step up, strengthen, bulwark, embattle, garrison, gird, prepare, prop, ready, steel, support, charge up, punch up, soup up.
Antonyms: harm, hurt, injure, let down.
10. Republic [ri-puhb-lik]
Noun: a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them; any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth; a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other hereditary head of state.
Synonyms: commonwealth, self-government, constitutional government, democratic state, representative government.