(v) to smile in a silly, false, or self-conscious way

She simpered at the boss as he made another corny joke. 

(n) an interval of time between the close of a sovereign's reign and the accession of his or her normal or legitimate successor; 

any period during which a state has no ruler or only a temporary executive; 

any pause or interruption in continuity

inter- : between

regnum: reign

(n) a small or narrow space between things or parts, especially when one of a series of alternating uniform spaces and parts; an interval of time

The vine was growing in the interstices between the slates of a fence. 

(adj) having or showing great generosity; extremely liberal in giving

(adj) complete and given willingly

His unstinting help, given willingly, was much appreciated.

(adj) very stingy; extremely poor; parsimonious; miserly; lacking in means or resources

The rich old curmudgeon's donation was penurious; not much was given. 

(adj) overly grasping, greedy, predatory, extortionate

The greedy Scrooge had a rapacious disposition. 

(adj) willing to accept bribery or to be corrupt; able to be purchased, as by a bribe

Trump's venal administration, by accepting bribes, lessened respect for the presidency. 

(adj) menacing, threatening evil; full of malign influences; wretched, miserable

The dying licentious old man in Outlander was a baleful person; he tortured his wife until he got his comeuppance. 

(adj) treacherous, untrustworthy, deceitful

The thief was a perfidious person; you couldn't trust him. 

(v) to act without will, to be hesitant

(n) a state of excitement or agitated fear

The woman was in a dither about what to do with the dead body. 

He was dithering and wouldn't make up his mind unless forced to. 

(adj) grouchy, bad-tempered, rude and impolite

He was spoken to by a churlish clerk who looked like he had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.

(adj) offensive to good taste; overdone; excessively or insincerely lavish

The fulsome decor was offensive to the eye. 

There was table heaped with fulsome mounds of greasy foods that turned her stomach.

(adj) showing a false or pretended concern or interest; excessively smooth, suave or smug; 

of the nature of characteristic or an unguent or ointment; oily, greasy, soapy

The employee gave the new boss an unctuous greeting. 

(v) to see (something unclear or distant) by looking carefully; discern; discover; perceive

The lookout descried land. 

(adj) inactive or sluggish; unwilling to move much or be active; apathetic; lethargic

The patient was torpid from pain and drugs. 

(n) fate, destiny

(from Arabic/Persian: qismah: division, portion, lot, fate)

(v) to cause to look with favor on oneself; appease; conciliate

Early humans may have tried to propitiate what they thought of as the angry gods. 

(adj) presenting or indicating favorable conditions, suggesting that good may follow

There was propitious weather for a vacation. 

(v) to raise unimportant objections

Let's not cavil at details now; we are in agreement. 

(n) an unimportant objection

She raised a few cavils just to show resistance. 

(n) someone who demands overly strict discipline, especially a military person; someone who sticks to rules and demands this of others

Her teacher was a martinet, a stickler for the rules. 

(n) the act of criticizing, blaming, or correcting, censuring, rebuking

The disciplinarian mother showed great reproof of her mischievous son.

(v) to hit and rebound (off something) 

(n) a shot (in billiards, etc.) that hits and rebounds off something

The ball caromed off the wall. 

The carom went in the side pocket. 

(adj) endlessly talkative, especially about unimportant matters; loquacious; talkative in a rambling, roundabout manner, especially about trivial matters

It was a garrulous and boring speech that the speaker gave; he talked too long about unimportant things. 

(adj) circumlocutory, roundabout

The speaker took a periphrastic approach when saying "the son of Mr. Smith" instead of "Mr. Smith's son".

(adj) too long or wordy; loquacious; (of a person): given to speaking or writing at great or tedious length

Alexander Hamilton was known for being prolix in his writing of the Federalist Papers; he wrote such long pieces that it bothered his readers. 

(adj) swollen; (of language): pompous, overblown, bombastic

The writer's turgid prose showed his self-importance and loquaciousness, and no one was impressed. 

(v) to satisfy (thirst, hunger, etc.)

The marooned man would slake his thirst with rum. 

(adj) hungry, greedy

The esurient man would stop at nothing in order to get more money. 

(adj) having little or no money; penniless

The impecunious poor man begged on the streets for coins. 

(n) a formal expression of high praise; eulogy

An encomium by the president greeted the returning hero. 

(n) someone claiming to foretell future events; prophet

(v) to divine or predict, as if from omens; to be a sign of good or bad tidings; bode well or badly

The economist could not augur the future of the economy. 

The movement of troops augurs poorly for peace.

The decline in prices augurs well for the economy. 

(adj) whimsical, strange

The unwilling time traveler arrived and behaved in a fey manner, since he didn't know how to behave in such times. 

(adj) doomed; fated to die; appearing to be under a spell;

supernatural, unreal, enchanted (e.g. elves, fairies, and other fey creatures)

The doomed passenger was fey because of lack of food and water on the island.

(adj) having a sharp ability to understand something; discerning

The wise judge exercised perspicacious judgment. 

(adj) mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially in an exaggerated manner

The old widower sang lugubrious songs of his lost love. 

(n) a poem, speech, or song of lamentation, especially for the dead; a dirge, a funeral song

The mourning parishners sang a threnody for the dead man as they marched through the streets. 

(adj) not easily managed, stubborn; 

hard to treat, relieve, or cure

The mother punished the intractable child for stubbornly protesting to do his chores.

Herpes is an intractable disease. 

(adj) refusing to agree or compromise; inflexible

The army general was intransigent; his pride and anger forced him to refuse to compromise.

(adj) resisting pressure; resistant; persistently opposing, recalcitrant

(adj) like a compendium, concise, summary, succinct, packed

The encyclopedia presents a compendious history of the world. 

(adj) using few words, terse, concise

His laconic reply to our appeal for help was "Look elsewhere."

(adj) showing a shameful lack of courage; cowardly

He gave in cravenly to whatever the boss asked for. 

(adj) lacking courage or the will to go on; cowardly; faint-hearted; timid

Roger Mackenzie at first displayed a pusillanimous disposition because he didn't like fighting and was fearful of being shot at.

(adj) cowardly or craven; unfaithful, disloyal, traitorous

(n) a coward, traitor, or renegade

(adj) walking or traveling about; itinerant

(n) an itinerant person

(v) to enlarge in discourse or writing; to be copious in description or discussion

The author expatiated upon the theme of democracy. 

(v) to love or wander about intellectually, imaginatively, without restraint

(v) to think about something ahead of time and prevent or make unnecessary

Their plan to go south will obviate the need for warm clothes.

(v) to ruin or reduce the quality of; make faulty; spoil; 

to reduce the effectiveness of: 

The weather vitiated his best efforts.

(n) a short clever saying which carries a general truth

e.g. "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Lord Acton)

(n) a drug formerly used to calm/sedate patients; a meaningless expression, a platitude

The leader gave his followers the same old bromides.

(n) in a state of temporary inactivity

Let's hold that problem in abeyance for a while. 

The estate was in abeyance while the paperwork was finished.

(v) to abolish by official means; to annul by an authoritarian act

The dictator abrogated the treaty. 

(v) to withdraw, take back, or disavow (a statement, opinion, etc.), especially formally

He recanted his testimony. 

The prisoners must recant and promise to reform themselves.

(n) repeatedly falling back into bad habits; relapse, as into crime

The rate of recidivism regarding alcohol abuse is high.