futile	useless
sporadic	from time to time
furtive	slight and secret
inconsequential	of no consequences
folly	foolishness
modesty	an instance of being modest, self-effacing
admonishment	reprimending, scolding
invigorating	refreshing
to overrate	to value too much
innocuous	harmless
derogatory	insulting
beautician	sb who works in a beauty saloon
artisan	a skilled worker
adulatory	flattering
to make sb redundant	to dismiss, to fire
reprehensible	critical
to reprehend	to criticise, to rebuke sb's behaviour
to repent	to feel regret
inherent	innate, belonging naturally
inexplicable	that cannot be explained
philistines	uncultural people are called this
paragons	people who can serve as an example
an apologist	sb who defends sth by logical arguments
intrusive	that wants to know too much about others' affairs
urbane	well-mannered
belligerent	aggressive, ready to fight
remorseless	without mercy or pity
intermittently	stopping and beginning again
heterogeneous	of many kinds
homogeneous	of one kind
fragmentary	not covering the whole thing
to ostracise	to exclude from a group
to harass sb	to do things to make sb stressed
a war of atrition	a process of gradually weakening sb's strength
subversion	revenge
sycophant	sb who flatters excessively
novice	sb who has just started working in a firm
zealot	enthusiast
dilletante	sb who is not interested in learning things thoroughly
to allot	to assign, to apportion, to allocate
parsimony	an instance of being tight-fisted
equivocal	dubious, ambiguous
self-opinionated	holding strong views and unlikely to change them
maelstrom	a state of violent confusion
torpor	an instance of being sluggish, inactive, dull
conflagration	a great, destructive fire
indolent	lazy
iridescent	changing colours
obdurate	stubborn
unwonted	not customary
veracious	truthful
to distort	to misrepresent
to nurture	to bring up and educate
truculence	defiance
unbiased	neutral
acquiescence	an instance of accepting without protesting
impartial	not taking sides
precarious	happening by chance
negligible	that can be ignored
to dwindle	to become fewer or less
formidable	challenging/ imposing, great, large