| bibulous |
addicted to alcohol; alcoholic. |
| dissimulate |
to hide one's true feelings, intentions, or the like by pretense or hypocrisy. |
| distraught |
mentally or emotionally unbalanced; crazed. |
| erratic |
not expected or predicted; not regular. |
| espouse |
to take up, hold, or commit oneself to (a cause, idea, or belief); embrace. |
| extenuate |
to reduce the magnitude or seriousness of (a fault or offense) by offering partial excuses. |
| extrude |
to force out; expel. |
| inquest |
a legal investigation, usually involving a jury, especially a coroner's investigation of a suspicious death. |
| insularity |
the condition of being closed to new ideas or outside influences; narrow-mindedness. |
| lattice |
a flat framework made with strips of wood or other material. The strips cross each other and have open spaces in between. A lattice is often used as a screen on a porch or in a garden. |
| oligarchy |
a government or state in which only a relatively few people or members of a family have real power. |
| reprisal |
injury inflicted in retaliation for injury received, as in war; revenge. |
| savor |
to give an impression; hint (usually followed by "of"). |
| stickler |
one who must observe or conform to something (usually followed by "for"). |
| tort |
in law, any civil rather than criminal harm or injury that violates the implicit duty of each citizen not to harm others, and for which one may bring a civil suit and collect compensation. |