| assail |
to attack with vigor or violence; assault. |
| conversant |
familiar; acquainted; practiced (usually followed by "with" or "in"). |
| cynosure |
a thing or person that is the center of attention and admiration. |
| diatribe |
a bitter, abusive attack in speech or writing. |
| extrude |
to force out; expel. |
| highbrow |
one who has or pretends to have highly sophisticated intellectual and cultural interests and tastes (often used disparagingly). |
| inchoate |
partially or imperfectly developed. |
| inflection |
change that occurs in the form of words to show a grammatical characteristic such as the tense of a verb, the number of a noun, or the degree of an adjective or adverb. |
| irrefragable |
impossible to refute or dispute; undeniable. |
| malaise |
a state or condition of feeling generally unwell, mentally depressed, sluggish, or uneasy. |
| prerogative |
an exclusive right or privilege derived from one's office, position, age, citizenship, birth, or the like. |
| raffish |
carelessly unconventional or disreputable, sometimes appealingly so. |
| recidivism |
chronic return to bad habits, especially criminal relapse. |
| relict |
a plant, animal, or geological feature that has survived in a considerably changed environment. |
| sotto voce |
in a low voice or undertone, so as not to be overheard; softly (often used as a musical direction). |