| manifold | having many different parts or applications |
| cudgel | a stout stick used as a weapon |
| limpid | transparent |
| invidious | causing envy or ill feeling |
| persiflage | light or bantering speech |
| obsequious | subservient, fawning, groveling, insincere |
| obstreperous | unruly, boisterous, uncontrollably |
| obviate | prevent, preclude, take away |
| pastiche | mixture, patchwork, blend |
| pathos | feeling, pity, emotion, sadness, tragedy |
| specious | deceptive, misleading |
| talisman | charm, fetish, mascot |
| punctilious | precisce in behavior, attentive to formality and etiquette |
| pusillanimous | lacking courage, timidity |
| postprandial | after dinner or lunch |
| obfuscate | obscure, confuse, stupefy, bewilder |
| obdurate | hardened against influence, stubborn |
| obloquy | the state of being generally ill spoken of, abuse |
| obsequies | funeral rites, a funeral |
| patois | dialect of the common people in a region differing fundamentally from the literary language |
| pellucid | transparant, clear, mentally clear |
| pedagogue | a schoolmaster, especially a pedantic one |
| pedagogy | the science of teaching |
| sarcophagus | stone coffin |
| abrogate | abolish, do away with |
| peccadillo | slight flaw, sin or transgression |
| parvenu | one suddenly risen in class not yet accepted by others on that level |
| panegyric | a formal eulogistic composition intended as a public compliment; elaborate praise |
| meretricious | pertaining to or resembling a prostitute; attracting attention in a vulgar manner; lacking sincerity |
| tendentious | marked bya strong implicit point of view; written or spoken to promote a cause; biased |
| perspicuous | clearly expressed or presented; easy to comprehend |
| calumniate | to slander; to say knowingly malicious falsehoods about |
| cachinnate | to laugh loudly, immoderately, resoundingly, convulsively |
| cicerone | a guide who conducts sightseers |
| inveigh | speak or write with strong hostility |
| inveterate | habitual, usually a bad habit; long standing; established |
| copse | a hedge |
| inscrutable | mysterious; impenatrable |
| piebald | usually describing a horse; having two colors, especially black and white |
| plutocracy | government by the wealthy; the ruling class |
| piker | a cautious, timid or cheap person |
| plaintive | expressing sorrow; mournful |
| portentous | serving as a sign of something to come, usually bad; pompously solemn |
| elemental | of the powers of nature; comparable to a force of nature |
| nihilistic | the rejection of all religious and moral principles; skepticism manintining that nothing has any real existence |
| frisson | emotional thrill; i.e. anticipatory frisson |
| epigraph | an inscription |
| sardonic | grimly jocular; bitterly mocking or cynical |
| sanguine | optimistic; confindent |
| sanguinary | bloody; bloodthirsty |
| sang-froid | composure; coolness; especially in dangerous circumstances |
| vitiate | impair the quality of or effectiveness of; debase |
| miscegenous | pertaining to the interbreeding of races, especially white and non-white |
| compunctious | feeling slight regret |
| compendium | summary or abstract of a larger work |
| presentiment | a vague expectation; especially of misfortune |
| treacle | a syrup produced from refined sugar; molasses; cloying sentimentality or flattery |
| importune | solicit pressingly; solicit for an immoral purpose |
| imprecation | a spoken curse |
| immure | enclose within walls; imprison |
| motility | capable of motion |
| scabrous | indecent; salacious; behaving licentiously |
| terra-cotta | unglazed, brownish red earthenware used as ornamental building material; a statuette made of this |
| taciturn | not inclined to talk |