Here are some words I had to look up during my recent reading of Andrew Roberts’s Napoleon: A Life:
- peculation, an embezzlement
- manque, having failed to become what one might have been
- otiose, serving no practical purpose or result
- oleaginously, marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or quality
- histrionics, exaggerated dramatic behavior designed to attract attention
- stentorian, loud and powerful (voice)
- chivvied, told repeatedly to do something
- obsequies, funeral rites
- escarpment, a long, steep slope, especially one at the edge of a plateau or separating areas of land at different heights
- lacuna, an unfilled space or interval
- prorogued, discontinue a session of (a parliament or other legislative assembly) without dissolving it
- debouching, emerge from a narrow or confined space into a wide, open area
- auto-da-fe, act of faith; public penance
- proscenium, the part of a theater stage in front of the curtain
- lachrymose, tearful or given to weeping
- avuncular, of or relating to an uncle; kind and friendly toward a younger person
- morganatic, of or denoting a marriage in which neither the spouse of lower rank nor any children have any claim to the possessions or title of the spouse of higher rank
A House Rises 