| assuage |
to make less severe or more bearable; alleviate. |
| austerity |
a tightened or stringent economy, as when there are high taxes, frozen wages, and shortages of consumer goods. |
| cachet |
prestige. |
| compunction |
uneasiness about the propriety or suitability of an action; qualm. |
| conclave |
a secret, private, or confidential meeting or gathering. |
| effete |
marked by excessive refinement or delicateness of taste. |
| festoon |
a decorative chain or strip of ribbons, flowers, leaves, or the like, suspended at the ends and hung in a curve. |
| gadfly |
a persistent critic, especially of established institutions and policies. |
| insularity |
the condition of being closed to new ideas or outside influences; narrow-mindedness. |
| lacuna |
a gap or omitted part. |
| pedantic |
making or characterized by an excessive display of learnedness, or overly insistent on scholarly details and formalities. |
| stanch1 |
to cause (a liquid, especially blood) to stop flowing. |
| trabeated |
using horizontal beams or lintels as supports instead of arches. |
| travesty |
something so grotesque or inferior as to seem a parody. |
| voluble |
characterized by a steady flow of words; fluent; talkative. |