1. Amiable - Assuage - (Adj.) Friendly, kind, agreeable (V.) To lessen; to make milder; to relieve The sweet, new neighbor was very amiable when he greeted us at his front door. You can assuage the feelings of guilt from doing something bad by doing something nice for someone.

2. Circumstantial -(Adj.) Referring to indirect evidence or accompanying events that lead someone to believe that something actually happened Cantankerous -(Adj.) Hard to get along with; ill-natured; quarrelsome Stalter and Waldorf are cantankerous old men who heckle the other Muppets by making many sarcastic remarks. The evidence was circumstantial and not enough to prove any guilt.

3. Contentious - (Adj.) Fond of arguing; quarrelsome Contemptuous -(Adj.) Scornful; showing an attitude that something is worthless or beneath notice The mysterious man next door is very contemptuous towards young children who he refers to as rotten trouble makers. The lawyer is of a contentious nature in the courtroom when he is trying to prove his case.

4. Corroborate - Deportment - (V.) To support; to make more certain (N.) The way a person acts or behaves The children must corroborate their innocence if they wish to escape punishment from the principal. His sudden change in deportment lead us to suspect that something had happened to him.

5. Diminutive - (Adj.) Small; tiny Eccentric -(Adj.) Acting in a way that is unusual, peculiar, or out of the ordinary Even the most diminutive detail in a trial can lead to a change in the jury’s verdict. She was a very eccentric woman who enjoyed expressing her creativity, but we never considered her to be a threat to anyone.

6. Edification - Exodus - (N.) Moral or spiritual instruction or improvement (N.) A going out; a departure or emigration The lady claims that she attends church every single Sunday for some edification. The coming of summer results in a great exodus of people in our town to the beach.

7. Furtive -(Adj.) Stealthy; done in secret Fractious -(Adj.) Inclined to cause trouble; cranky; peevish The teacher placed the fractious student at the front of the room to keep an eye on him. The suspects had to be very furtive to pull off this crime in the middle of the day!

8. Malevolent -(Adj.) Evil; harmful; malicious Hypocrisy -(N.) Claiming to hold beliefs or virtues that one does not really possess The police officer was accused of hypocrisy when he was caught speeding down the highway. When Gru revealed his freeze ray, the people at the coffee shop knew he had malevolent intentions to ensure he was first in line.

9. Mollify - Mortification - (V.) To calm; pacify; to soften in temper (N.) Shame; humiliation The student felt mortification when he heard the principal call his mother on the phone. The young mother had to mollify her toddler when he threw a temper tantrum in the grocery store.

10. Obstreperous - (Adj.) Noisy; unruly; difficult to control Taciturn -(Adj.) Inclined to silence; quiet and stern in manner Because the class was being so obstreperous, they all received lunch detention for the entire week. Kelly was known to be taciturn and would not talk to the other students in the class.