- atone: to make up for
- bondage: slavery; any state of being bound or held down
- credible: believable
- defray: to pay for
- diligent: hardworking, industrious, not lazy
- doleful: sad; dreary
- ghastly: frightful, horrible; deathly pale
- hamper: to hold back
- hew: to shape or cut down with an ax; to hold to
- impoverished: poor, in a state of poverty; depleted
- incessant: never stopping, going on all the time
- intricate: complicated; difficult to understand
- lucid: easy to understand, clear; rational, sane
- posthumous: occurring or published after death
- prim: overly neat precise, proper, or formal; pruddish
- sardonic: grimly or scornfully mocking, bitterly sarcastic
- superfluous: exceeding what is sufficient or required, excess
- supplant: to take the place of, supersede
- taunt: to jeer at, mock; an insulting or mocking remark
- tenacious: holding fast; holding together firmly; persistent