| bellicose |
easily incited to quarrel or fight; belligerent. |
| demotic |
of or relating to the common people; popular. |
| festoon |
a decorative chain or strip of ribbons, flowers, leaves, or the like, suspended at the ends and hung in a curve. |
| flak |
(informal) irritating opposition, criticism, or dissent. |
| imbricate |
overlapping in an even sequence, as roof tiles or fish scales. |
| inflection |
change that occurs in the form of words to show a grammatical characteristic such as the tense of a verb, the number of a noun, or the degree of an adjective or adverb. |
| ingenuous |
having or showing simplicity and lack of sophistication; artless. |
| inquest |
a legal investigation, usually involving a jury, especially a coroner's investigation of a suspicious death. |
| lambent |
glowing softly. |
| periphrasis |
an indirect or roundabout way of phrasing something; circumlocution. |
| reconnaissance |
the act or process of examining an area, especially to gain militarily useful information. |
| shibboleth |
a slogan, phrase, or belief that characterizes or is held devotedly by a group. |
| spurn |
to reject, refuse, or treat with scorn; disdain; despise. |
| vitiate |
to harm the quality of; mar; spoil. |
| welter |
to roll about or wallow, as in mud or the open sea. |