| affront |
something that is said or done on purpose to be rude or mean. |
| arrears |
the state of being delinquent in the payment of financial obligations (usually preceded by "in"). |
| backlash |
a strong reaction against some prior development, especially political or social change. |
| betroth |
to pledge or give in marriage. |
| compulsion |
coercion or constraint; act of using force to bring about another's action. |
| conciliatory |
tending to placate or reconcile. |
| conjecture |
the making of a guess or inference, especially with little evidence. |
| empirical |
based on or verifiable by experience or experiment, rather than on or by theory. |
| fulsome |
offensive, especially because of excessiveness or insincerity. |
| intimacy |
the condition of being close in friendship or otherwise intimate. |
| machination |
(usually plural) elaborate or devious schemes. |
| pellucid |
extremely clear in meaning. |
| poignant |
deeply touching; arousing strong emotion, especially sadness or sympathy; piercing; penetrating. |
| populist |
a person, especially a political leader, who represents, or claims to represent, the interests and concerns of the common people rather than the privileged, the politically powerful, or the intelligentsia. |
| quintessence |
that which most perfectly describes or typifies something; essence. |