| attenuate |
to cause to be thin, rarefied, or fine. |
| benign |
causing little or no harm. |
| declivity |
a downward or descending slope. |
| diatribe |
a bitter, abusive attack in speech or writing. |
| ensconce |
to position (oneself) firmly or comfortably. |
| gadfly |
a persistent critic, especially of established institutions and policies. |
| hagiography |
an admiring and uncritical biography of anyone. |
| 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. |
| intelligentsia |
the elite class of highly learned people within a society, or those who consider themselves part of such a class. |
| malaise |
a state or condition of feeling generally unwell, mentally depressed, sluggish, or uneasy. |
| mendicant |
living on charity; begging. |
| misanthrope |
someone who hates or distrusts humanity. |
| perquisite |
a payment or benefit in addition to the wages or salary associated with a position. |
| reprise |
repetition of a musical phrase or theme in an identical or slightly altered way. |
| shyster |
a person, usually a lawyer, who uses underhanded, unethical methods. |