| artisan |
a person skilled in making things, especially by using the hands. People such as those who make furniture, quilts, or other crafts are artisans. |
| blasphemy |
disrespect or irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable, especially God. |
| capitulate |
to surrender or acquiesce. |
| contrive |
to plan in a clever way; invent. |
| diminution |
the act, process, or result of decreasing or declining. |
| insidious |
dangerous through cunning, subtlety, and underhandedness. |
| monologue |
a long speech or reading given by a single speaker. |
| penance |
an act of punishment or self-discipline voluntarily undergone to show regret at having done something wrong. |
| rebate |
a part of a payment that is returned. |
| recompense |
payment or action to compensate for the expenditure or loss of time, money, property, or the like. |
| revulsion |
violent dislike and disgust; abhorrence; loathing. |
| stanza |
a group of related lines in a poem that make up one section within the poem. Stanzas often have a regular meter and rhyme pattern. |
| surmise |
to infer without certain knowledge; suppose; guess. |
| surreptitious |
made, performed, or achieved by stealth or in secret. |
| volition |
the act of willing, deciding, or choosing. |