| accost |
to confront and speak first to, often aggressively. |
| chastise |
to punish, often corporally. |
| dossier |
a set of papers or documents that provide detailed information on a particular person or subject. |
| esoteric |
understood or known only by a few persons who have special training, access, or interests. |
| finicky |
exceptionally fussy or hard to satisfy. |
| fraught |
accompanied by; full of, usually something bad or unpleasant. |
| informant |
one who reports or confides what he or she knows to another; source. |
| insular |
closed to new ideas; narrow-minded. |
| lateral |
about, from, or toward a side or sides; sideways. |
| officiate |
to function as a priest or minister in a religious ceremony. |
| orator |
a person who delivers a public speech, or one skilled at formal public speaking. |
| query |
a question. |
| risqué |
very close to indecency or indelicacy; sexually suggestive; racy. |
| simplistic |
excessively simplified, as to be unrealistic. |
| unproductive |
not yielding useful or helpful results; not fruitful. |