CHAPTER 8 AND 9

accolade

Praise

assuage

To relieve; lessen

cacophony

Harsh, discordant sounds

censure

Blame; a rebuke

diatribe

A bitter, abusively critical speech or piece of writing; denunciation

edifice

a building, especially of large, imposing size

gravity

Severity; weighty importance

infraction

A breaking of a law or rule

profane

showing disrespect or contempt for sacred things; irreverent

somber

Solemn; sad and depressing; melancholy

obtuse

slow to understand; dull

affable

friendly; easy to get along with

apocryphal

of doubtful authenticity; not genuine

desultory

moving from one thing to another in an unplanned way

recapitulate

to summarize; to repeat briefly

irascible

easily angered, irritable

loquacious

very talkative

opaque

difficult to understand or explain; obscure; incomprehensible

paucity

a scarcity; an insufficiency

garbled

mixed up to such an extent as to be misleading or incomprehensible