| accost |
to confront and speak first to, often aggressively. |
| alcove |
a partly enclosed area of a room. |
| alleviate |
to make (trouble or pain) easier to tolerate or accept; ease. |
| assimilate |
to adapt and conform. |
| bilk |
to defraud or swindle, especially by avoiding due or promised payment. |
| exculpate |
to free (a person or group) from guilt or blame, or from the suspicion of guilt or blame. |
| grandeur |
the quality of being majestic or splendid. |
| infatuation |
the condition of being deprived of judgment by an irrational or foolish attachment to someone or something. |
| insubstantial |
lacking firmness or solidity; slight. |
| orator |
a person who delivers a public speech, or one skilled at formal public speaking. |
| ossify |
to become inflexible or rigid, as in thought or behavior. |
| parochial |
narrow or limited in scope or viewpoint; provincial. |
| proxy |
a person who is authorized to act for or on behalf of another, especially as a voter; substitute. |
| stagnate |
to be or become motionless, fouled, or lacking in energy, originality, or development. |
| venal |
capable of acting dishonestly or wrongly in return for money or the like; open to accepting bribes; corrupt. |