| banal |
lacking originality or liveliness; disappointingly ordinary; commonplace; trite. |
| baneful |
causing or leading to death, destruction, or ruin; harmful or deadly. |
| blatant |
completely obvious or undisguised, sometimes offensively so. |
| constrict |
to pull or squeeze in; make smaller or more narrow; tighten. |
| epigraph |
a pertinent quotation or motto, especially found at the beginning of a literary work or of a chapter. |
| lenitive |
mitigating pain, discomfort, or distress; soothing. |
| maladroit |
not skillful; clumsy; tactless. |
| parlance |
manner of speaking or writing, especially word choice; vernacular. |
| parvenu |
a person who has suddenly acquired wealth or status, without acquiring the tastes, manners, customs, or the like of his or her new station. |
| pretentious |
assuming or marked by an air of importance or superiority that is unwarranted. |
| rapacious |
capable of capturing and eating live prey; predacious. |
| recidivism |
chronic return to bad habits, especially criminal relapse. |
| refulgent |
shining brilliantly; radiant. |
| stative |
in grammar, of or designating a category of verbs that express state or condition. |
| welter |
to roll about or wallow, as in mud or the open sea. |