| animus |
a feeling or attitude of enmity. |
| apropos |
appropriate; relevant; opportune. |
| calumny |
a harmful statement, known by the maker to be false. |
| Draconian |
(often lower case) harshly cruel or rigorous. |
| élan |
enthusiasm or vigor. |
| epigraph |
a pertinent quotation or motto, especially found at the beginning of a literary work or of a chapter. |
| equivocal |
having at least two plausible alternative meanings, often intentionally so in order to deceive or avoid commitment; ambiguous. |
| glean |
to gather or discover (facts, information, or the like) a little at a time. |
| gnomic |
short and pithy, as an aphorism. |
| idiosyncrasy |
a characteristic of temperament, habit, or physical structure particular to a given individual or group; peculiarity. |
| impromptu |
without advance plan or preparation; spontaneously. |
| 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. |
| neophyte |
a beginner or novice at any activity. |
| ontogeny |
the process of biological growth and development of a particular living organism. |
| quiescence |
a state of inaction, rest, or stillness; dormancy. |