| assuage |
to make less severe or more bearable; alleviate. |
| exegesis |
a critical explanation or interpretive analysis, especially of religious texts. |
| flummox |
(informal) to confuse or puzzle. |
| harbinger |
someone or something that signals or foreshadows a later arrival or occurrence; herald; forerunner. |
| incumbent |
currently holding an office or position. |
| libertine |
acting without restraint; dissolute; amoral. |
| occlude |
to close or obstruct (a passage or opening, one's vision, or the like). |
| pretentious |
assuming or marked by an air of importance or superiority that is unwarranted. |
| pronate |
to turn or rotate (the hand or forearm) so that the palm of the hand faces down or backwards. |
| pungent |
sharp and strong in taste or smell. |
| quiescence |
a state of inaction, rest, or stillness; dormancy. |
| repine |
to express or feel unhappiness; complain; fret. |
| sententious |
using or marked by pompous, high-flown moralizing. |
| transpose |
to exchange the position or order of (two things). |
| travesty |
something so grotesque or inferior as to seem a parody. |