| cantankerous |
irritable, stubborn, and quarrelsome. |
| compunction |
uneasiness about the propriety or suitability of an action; qualm. |
| decedent |
in law, one who has died. |
| demotic |
of or relating to the common people; popular. |
| disallow |
to refuse to allow or admit; reject. |
| humanism |
a doctrine or mode of thought that gives highest importance to human dignity, values, potentials, and achievements. |
| imbricate |
overlapping in an even sequence, as roof tiles or fish scales. |
| insouciant |
having no cares or anxieties; light-hearted; carefree. |
| interdict |
to deter or impede by the steady use of firepower. |
| maunder |
to speak in an aimless or foolish way; babble. |
| peremptory |
not permitting refusal or disobedience. |
| schadenfreude |
(often capitalized) pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. |
| stickler |
one who must observe or conform to something (usually followed by "for"). |
| tamp |
to compress and pack tightly by repeated light taps. |
| uxorious |
excessively or foolishly devoted to one's wife, and often thereby submissive to her. |