| acquisitive | (adj.) able to get and retain ideas or information; concerned with acquiring wealth or property |
| Arrogate | seize and take control without authority and possibly with force |
| Banal | hackneyed; commonplace; trite; lacking originality; clich\'ed |
| Belabor | to work at or to absurd length |
| Carping | fault finding, petty criticism |
| Murky | so shaded as to be dark or gloomy |
| Nefarious | extremely wicked |
| Piquant | stimulating to the taste or mind; spicy, pungent; appealingly provocative |
| Primordial | first created or developed, existing in or from the very beginning |
| Propinquity | nearness in time or place, affinity of nature |
| unwonted | (adj.) not usual or expected; not in character |
| utopian | (adj.) founded upon or involving a visionary view of an ideal world; impractical |
| verbiage | Use of many words without necessity. |
| verdant | (adj.) green in tint or color; immature in experience or judgment |
| viscous | having a gelatinous or gluey quality, lacking in easy movement or fluidity |
| Articulate | speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way |
| Cavort | to bound or prance about. |
| Credence | acceptance as true or valid, belief, trustworthyness |
| decry | condemn: express strong disapproval of |
| dissemble | disguise; pretend |
| distraught | (adj.) very much agitated or upset as a result of emotion or mental conflict |
| Invidious | causing animosity or resentment, hateful; offensive |
| Largesse | (n.) generosity in giving; lavish or bountiful contributions |
| reconnaissance | survey of enemy by soldiers; reconnoitering; V. reconnoiter: make a preliminary inspection of (esp. to gather military information) |
| substantiate | establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts |
| taciturn | habitually silent, talking little |
| temporize | to stall |
| tenable | (adj.) capable of being held or defended |
| Accost | approach and speak first to a person |
| animadversion | (n) a comment indicating strong criticism or dissaproval |
| avid | (adj) desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager...like enthusiastic |
| brackish | somewhat salty; also, distasteful. |
| celerity | (n) swiftness, rapidity of motion or action |
| devious | (adj) straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way |
| gambit | a chess move early in the game in which the player sacrifices minor pieces in order to obtain an advantageous position |
| halcyon | (n) a legendary bird identifid with the kingfisher (adj) of or relating to the halcyon;calm,peaceful; happy golden prosperous |
| histrionic | characteristic of acting or a stage performance |
| incendiary | capable of catching fire spontaneously or causing fires or burning readily |
| maelstrom | (n) a whirlpool or great size and violence; a situation resmebling a whirlpool in violence and destruction |
| myopic | (adj) nearsighted; lacking a broad, realistic view of the situation; lacking foresight |