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a • gen • cy n., force or power. Was it the agency of a meteor that ended the age of the dinosaurs?

sec • u • lar adj., of the world; not sacred or religious. Hild gave up her secular concerns and worldly possessions in exchange for a monastic life.

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lit • er • al adj., word-for-word; true to the actual or original meaning. Some jokes are funny because of the difference between the literal and the common meanings of a phrase: “He said ‘I’d sure like a bite,’ so I bit him.”