| Term | Definition |
|---|
| accost | to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or aggressive way (syn) buttonhole, approach, confront (syn) evade, avoid, shun |
| animadversion | a comment indication strong criticism or disapproval (syn) rebuke, reproof (ant) praise, compliment |
| avid | desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager (syn) keen, enthusiastic, grasping (ant) reluctant, indifferent, unenthusiastic |
| brackish | having a salty taste and unplasant to drink (syn) briny, saline (ant) fresh, clear, sweet |
| celerity | swiftness, rapidity of motion or action (syn) promptnes, alacrity, speed (ant) slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness |
| devious | straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way (syn) roundabout, indirect, tricky, sly, artful (ant) direct, straightforward, open, aboveboard |
| gambit | in chess an opening move that involves rish or sacrifice of aminor piece in orde to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type (syn) ploy, stratagem, ruse, maneuver |
| halcyon | a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; calm, peaceful; happy folden; prosperous, affluent (syn) tranquil, serene, placid, palmy (ant) turbulent, chaotic, tumultous |
| histrionic | pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial; melodramatic (syn) affected, stagy (ant) low keyed, muted, untheatrical, subdued |
| incendiary | deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist, one who causes strife (syn) inflammatory, provocative, firebrand (ant) soothing, quieting, peacemaker |
| maelstrom | a whirlpool of great size and violence; situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction (syn) vortex, chaos, turbulence, tumult |
| myopic | nearsighted, lacking a broad, realistic view of a situation lacking foresight or discernment (syn) shortsighted (ant) farsighted |
| overt | open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way thats easily recognized (syn) clear, obvious, manifest, patent (ant) secret, clandestine, covert, concealed |
| pejorative | tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogatory, deprecatory, belittling (ant) complimentary, ameliorative |
| propriety | the state of being rpoper, appropriateness, standrds of what is proper or socially acceptable (syn) fitnes, correctness, decorum (ant) unseemliness, inappropriateness |
| sacrilege | improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred (syn) desecration, profanation, defilement |
| summarily | without delay or formality; brief, concisely (syn) promptly, peremptorily, abruptly |
| suppliant | asking humbly and earnestly; one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor |
| talisman | an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers; amulet, fetish |
| undulate | to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form (syn) ripple, fluctuate, rise and fall |
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