| agog |
highly excited and full of anticipation. |
| askance |
with distrust or suspicion. |
| beatify |
to admire or exalt as superior. |
| bellicose |
easily incited to quarrel or fight; belligerent. |
| canard |
a deliberately false story or rumor, usually defamatory to someone. |
| cavalier |
carefree and offhand; nonchalant. |
| constrict |
to pull or squeeze in; make smaller or more narrow; tighten. |
| duress |
intimidation or coercion. |
| expound |
to discuss or explain in detail (usually followed by "on" or "upon"). |
| gloaming |
late evening; dusk; twilight. |
| guru |
in a cult or religious movement, a spiritual guide or leader, sometimes believed to be divine. |
| insularity |
the condition of being closed to new ideas or outside influences; narrow-mindedness. |
| malinger |
to pretend illness or injury, especially in order to be excused from duty or work. |
| naturalism |
in literature, a method of depicting life that reflects a philosophy of determinism. |
| peroration |
the concluding part of a speech in which there is a summing up of the principal points. |