| assuage |
to make less severe or more bearable; alleviate. |
| benign |
causing little or no harm. |
| contumacious |
stubbornly disobedient; insubordinate; rebellious. |
| hackneyed |
made trite or commonplace by overuse, as an expression or phrase. |
| heterodox |
deviating from an officially approved belief or doctrine, especially in religion. |
| highbrow |
one who has or pretends to have highly sophisticated intellectual and cultural interests and tastes (often used disparagingly). |
| idyllic |
charmingly simple and natural, as a scene or experience; suggestive of peaceful countryside. |
| ineptitude |
incompetence; lack of skill. |
| naturalism |
in literature, a method of depicting life that reflects a philosophy of determinism. |
| penury |
severe poverty; pennilessness. |
| rapacious |
capable of capturing and eating live prey; predacious. |
| reconnaissance |
the act or process of examining an area, especially to gain militarily useful information. |
| recurve |
to bend or curve back or backward, as the ends of certain shooting bows. |
| stickler |
one who must observe or conform to something (usually followed by "for"). |
| syntax |
the word order or pattern of word order in a sentence. |