| appellation |
a name, title, or other designation. |
| asperity |
harshness or roughness, especially of tone or manner. |
| assail |
to attack with vigor or violence; assault. |
| canard |
a deliberately false story or rumor, usually defamatory to someone. |
| condign |
well-deserved or fitting, especially of punishment or reprimand. |
| elide |
to leave out or slur, as a syllable or letter, in pronunciation. |
| entreat |
to beg for something, or to do something. |
| frangible |
easy to break; breakable; fragile. |
| invidious |
tending to arouse feelings of resentment or animosity, especially because of a slight; offensive or discriminatory. |
| lenitive |
mitigating pain, discomfort, or distress; soothing. |
| macerate |
to soften (food or the like) by soaking, as in digestion. |
| nostrum |
a favorite but unproven scheme or theory, offered as a remedy for social or political problems; panacea. |
| recurve |
to bend or curve back or backward, as the ends of certain shooting bows. |
| reprisal |
injury inflicted in retaliation for injury received, as in war; revenge. |
| shibboleth |
a slogan, phrase, or belief that characterizes or is held devotedly by a group. |