| assuage |
to make less severe or more bearable; alleviate. |
| Byzantine |
characterized by complexity and intrigue. |
| exegesis |
a critical explanation or interpretive analysis, especially of religious texts. |
| gird |
to surround, bind, or encircle, as with a belt. |
| gossamer |
delicately fine, gauzelike, or filmy. |
| highbrow |
one who has or pretends to have highly sophisticated intellectual and cultural interests and tastes (often used disparagingly). |
| insinuate |
to suggest (something derogatory) subtly and indirectly. |
| insipid |
having a bland or uninteresting flavor; tasteless. |
| lacuna |
a gap or omitted part. |
| malingerer |
one who pretends to be ill or injured, especially in order to avoid work or duty. |
| maverick |
a person who thinks and behaves independently, especially one who refuses to adhere to the orthodoxy of the group to which he or she belongs. |
| quadrant |
any of the four parts that result when an area is divided by two lines, real or imaginary, that intersect each other at right angles. |
| revetment |
a facing of stone, masonry, or the like to support or protect a wall, embankment, or mound of earth. |
| sequester |
to remove into protection and isolation; seclude. |
| veneration |
a feeling of great respect; awe; reverence. |