a gradual wearing way, a natural or expected decrease in number or size; The company did not sanction the firing of employees, but preferred to reduce their work force through ________.
to open up a subject (often a delicate one) for discussion; Since attrition was used to avoid lay-offs and firing, the revenue manager felt it was necessary to ________ the subject to the personnel manager that the company was losing millions of dollars.
roundabout, not following a direct path; His wife knew how he hated suggestions, but in spite of that, she broached the subject of his _________ route, expressing her doubts that they would ever reach Disney World.
to make fearful, to intimidate; The fact that the judge denounced his tautological reasoning didn't ________ his use of this circuitous logic when answering the prosecutors questions.
native, restricted to a particular region or era, indigenous; The fact that they received two feet of snow in one evening didn't daunt the man and his family, because this kind of winter weather was _______ to this region.
humorous, not serious, clumsily humorous; Although the politician was being ________ when he talked about sanctioning school teachers who didn't have college degrees, he lost the election.
pompous, using a lot of big, fancy words in an attempt to sound impressive; Even if you are being facetious, you may be accused of being ______ if you use the word _______.
golden age, prime; In his ________ , some people thought he was just being grandiloquent, but the fact was, he was a genius.
to hint, allude; Because of her sudden fame in her heyday, many people used to ________ that she had more than one lover.