| apposite |
fitting; pertinent; appropriate. |
| bellicose |
easily incited to quarrel or fight; belligerent. |
| benign |
causing little or no harm. |
| castellated |
constructed with turrets and battlements like a castle. |
| cognoscente |
someone who has exceptional knowledge in a given area, especially of fashion, literature, or the fine arts; connoisseur. |
| derision |
mockery or ridicule. |
| desideratum |
something that is needed or wanted. |
| extirpate |
to get rid of completely, as if by pulling up the roots; root out. |
| garble |
to mix up, distort, or confuse (a message, translation, or the like); cause to be disordered or unintelligible. |
| goad |
something that spurs a person to action; stimulus. |
| hagiography |
an admiring and uncritical biography of anyone. |
| mahatma |
(sometimes capitalized) in Buddhism and theosophy, any of a class of persons revered for their wisdom and love of humanity. |
| paroxysm |
a sudden strong outburst of feelings or actions. |
| penumbra |
an indefinite, borderline area. |
| reprisal |
injury inflicted in retaliation for injury received, as in war; revenge. |