| abeyance |
temporary suspension or cessation. |
| aleatory |
pertaining to or depending on luck, chance, or contingency. |
| assuage |
to make less severe or more bearable; alleviate. |
| baneful |
causing or leading to death, destruction, or ruin; harmful or deadly. |
| Byzantine |
characterized by complexity and intrigue. |
| debauch |
to lead or seduce into immorality or intemperance; corrupt. |
| doyen |
the senior or highest-ranking male member of a group. |
| epicure |
a person who has cultivated tastes, as in food or wine; connoisseur. |
| espouse |
to take up, hold, or commit oneself to (a cause, idea, or belief); embrace. |
| extort |
to extract or obtain (money or the like) by force, threats, or abuse of authority. |
| facetious |
not serious; humorous or frivolous. |
| festoon |
a decorative chain or strip of ribbons, flowers, leaves, or the like, suspended at the ends and hung in a curve. |
| hagiography |
an admiring and uncritical biography of anyone. |
| recurve |
to bend or curve back or backward, as the ends of certain shooting bows. |
| remonstrate |
to say in opposition, protest, or objection. |