| asperity |
harshness or roughness, especially of tone or manner. |
| banal |
lacking originality or liveliness; disappointingly ordinary; commonplace; trite. |
| despoil |
to forcefully take belongings or goods from; plunder. |
| devolve |
of a duty or the like, to be passed on to someone else. |
| élan |
enthusiasm or vigor. |
| expiation |
the act or the means of making amends, as for a sin or crime. |
| exponent |
one that expounds or interprets. |
| extrude |
to force out; expel. |
| gadfly |
a persistent critic, especially of established institutions and policies. |
| indolence |
the tendency to avoid exertion or effort; laziness. |
| linguistics |
(used with a singular verb) the scientific and historical study of the form and structure of human language. |
| malaise |
a state or condition of feeling generally unwell, mentally depressed, sluggish, or uneasy. |
| pedantic |
making or characterized by an excessive display of learnedness, or overly insistent on scholarly details and formalities. |
| putrefaction |
the act or process of rotting or decomposing. |
| stately |
dignified. |