| conclave |
a secret, private, or confidential meeting or gathering. |
| declivity |
a downward or descending slope. |
| disaffection |
an absence or loss of good will, faith, or loyalty, especially toward a government, principle, or the like. |
| hypocrisy |
the practice or an instance of stating or pretending to hold beliefs or principles that one does not actually live by; insincerity. |
| incessant |
never stopping; constant. |
| innocuous |
not capable of causing damage; harmless. |
| intersperse |
to place or scatter among other things. |
| lenitive |
mitigating pain, discomfort, or distress; soothing. |
| lorgnette |
eyeglasses, such as opera glasses, that have a short handle by which one holds them in position. |
| otiose |
having no purpose or use; unnecessary or futile. |
| parvenu |
a person who has suddenly acquired wealth or status, without acquiring the tastes, manners, customs, or the like of his or her new station. |
| pastiche |
a work of visual art, music, or literature that consists mostly of materials and techniques borrowed from other works, sometimes done as an exercise to learn the technique of others. |
| Saturnalia |
an occasion of unrestrained revelry. |
| sequester |
to remove into protection and isolation; seclude. |
| topography |
the shape of the earth's surface across an area or region. The topography of an area includes the size and location of hills and dips in the land. |