| amity |
friendly and peaceful relations; good will. |
| apprise |
to inform (often followed by "of"). |
| dearth |
a shortage or scarcity of something; lack. |
| derision |
mockery or ridicule. |
| effluvium |
an outflow of usually invisible, foul-smelling vapor or gas. |
| encomium |
a formal expression of praise. |
| gadfly |
a persistent critic, especially of established institutions and policies. |
| 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. |
| knurled |
having small ridges. |
| lenitive |
mitigating pain, discomfort, or distress; soothing. |
| opprobrious |
expressing condemnation or scorn; accusing of shameful behavior. |
| pedantic |
making or characterized by an excessive display of learnedness, or overly insistent on scholarly details and formalities. |
| regicide |
the murderer of a king. |
| salacious |
excited by lust; lecherous. |
| stickler |
one who must observe or conform to something (usually followed by "for"). |