| assuage |
to make less severe or more bearable; alleviate. |
| demarcate |
to set apart or separate, as if with boundaries. |
| garble |
to mix up, distort, or confuse (a message, translation, or the like); cause to be disordered or unintelligible. |
| goad |
something that spurs a person to action; stimulus. |
| imprimatur |
any official permission or sanction. |
| insouciant |
having no cares or anxieties; light-hearted; carefree. |
| internecine |
of or pertaining to conflict, discord, or struggle within a group. |
| intersperse |
to place or scatter among other things. |
| intransigence |
refusal to alter one's ideas or position in response to the wishes of others. |
| lattice |
a flat framework made with strips of wood or other material. The strips cross each other and have open spaces in between. A lattice is often used as a screen on a porch or in a garden. |
| maverick |
a person who thinks and behaves independently, especially one who refuses to adhere to the orthodoxy of the group to which he or she belongs. |
| misanthrope |
someone who hates or distrusts humanity. |
| raffish |
carelessly unconventional or disreputable, sometimes appealingly so. |
| schadenfreude |
(often capitalized) pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. |
| stridulate |
to produce a shrill grating, creaking, or chirping sound by rubbing certain parts of the body together, as some insects do. |