Hitchens, Six

Front 1

fatwa

Back 1

noun

a ruling on a point of Islamic law that is given by a recognized authority

Front 2

execrate

Back 2

verb

1. to detest utterly; abhor; abominate.

2. to curse; imprecate evil upon; damn; denounce:
He execrated all who opposed him.

Front 3

anathema

Back 3

noun

1. A vehement denunciation; a curse, esp. an ecclesiastical ban or excommunication
"the sound of a witch's anathemas in some unknown tongue" (Nathaniel Hawthorne).

2. One ( person or thing) that is cursed/damned, detested/reviled, shunned/loathed
"Essentialism—a belief in natural, immutable sex differences—is anathema to postmodernists, for whom sexuality itself, along with gender, is a 'social construct'" (Wendy Kaminer).
That subject is anathema to him.

Front 4

execrate

Back 4

verb

1. to detest utterly; abhor; abominate.

2. to curse; imprecate evil upon; damn; denounce:
He execrated all who opposed him.

Front 5

imprecate

Back 5

verb

To invoke evil upon; curse.

Front 6

malediction

Back 6

noun

An invocation of, or prayer for, harm or injury; a curse

Front 7

sub rosa

Back 7

noun

confidentially; secretly; privately.

Front 8

apologist

Back 8

noun

A person who argues in defense to justify a doctrine, policy, or institution.

Front 9

prefigure

Back 9

verb

to show or represent beforehand by a figure or type; foreshadow.

Front 10

putative

Back 10

adj.

Generally regarded as such; supposed

Front 11

satire

Back 11

noun

the use of irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to expose, denounce, or deride vice or folly

Front 12

oblique

Back 12

adj.

1. Having a slanting or sloping direction, course, or position; inclined; not straight; not perpendicular; not parallel
"the oblique rays of the winter sun"
"acute and obtuse angles are oblique angles"
"the axis of an oblique cone is not perpendicular to its base"

2. indirect in departing from the accepted or proper way; evasive and misleading; devious; dishonest
"used oblique means to achieve success";
"gave oblique answers to direct questions";
"oblique political maneuvers"
gave oblique answers to the questions.

Front 13

rattle

Back 13

verb

To talk rapidly and at length, usually without much thought:

rattled on about this and that.

Front 14

tripe

Back 14

noun

Informal: Something of no value; rubbish.

Front 15

calumnious

Back 15

adjective

(used of statements) harmful and often untrue; tending to discredit or malign

Front 16

scurrilous

Back 16

adj.

1. Given to the use of vulgar, coarse, or abusive language; foul-mouthed.

2. given to or expressed with low humor; buffoonery ()

3. insulting, abusive

Hint 16

buffoonery: noun
a person given to coarse or undignified joking.

Front 17

buffoon:

Back 17

noun

1. A clown; a jester ()
a court buffoon

2. a person given to coarse or undignified joking.

3. A ludicrous or bumbling person; a fool.

Hint 17

clown/jester: a person who amuses others by tricks, jokes, odd gestures and postures, etc.

Front 18

bereave

Back 18

verb

To deprive and make desolate, esp. by death (usually fol. by of):
Illness bereaved them of their mother.

Front 19

pore

Back 19

verb

1. to study with steady attention:
a scholar poring over a rare old manuscript.

2. to gaze earnestly:
to pore over a painting.

3. to meditate or ponder intently (usually fol. by over, on, or upon):
He pored over the strange events of the preceding evening.

Front 20

vapid

Back 20

adj.

insipid

1. Lacking liveliness, animation, or interest; dull:
vapid conversation.

2. Lacking taste, zest, or flavor; flat:
vapid beer.

Front 21

ablution

Back 21

noun

A washing or cleansing of the body, especially as part of a religious rite.

Front 22

aperture

Back 22

noun

an opening, as a hole, slit, crack, gap, etc.

Front 23

suffuse

Back 23

verb

cause to spread or flood through, over, or across, esp. with light
"The sky was suffused with a warm pink color"
"His whole frame suffused with a cold dew"

Front 24

sequester

Back 24

verb

to remove or withdraw into solitude or retirement; seclude; segregate

Front 25

immolate

Back 25

verb

1. To kill as a sacrifice.

2. To kill (oneself) by fire.

3. To destroy.

Front 26

nihilism

Back 26

noun
1. Philosophy: An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence; all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.

2. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.

3. The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.

4. also Nihilism: A diffuse, revolutionary movement of mid 19th-century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society and government through terrorism and assassination.

5. Psychiatry A delusion, experienced in some mental disorders, that the world or one's mind, body, or self does not exist.