1. Bantering: an exchange of light, playful, teasing remarks; good-natured raillery.
2. Contemptuous: showing or expressing contempt or disdain; scornful; disrespectful.
3. Cynical: showing contempt for accepted standards of honesty or morality by one's actions, especially by actions that exploit the scruples of others; distrustful.
4. Disconcerted: bewildered or confused, as by something unexpected.
5. Exacerbated: to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill feeling, etc.) ; aggravate.
6. Melancholic: disposed to or affected with melancholy; gloomy.
7. Staid: of settled or sedate character; not flighty or capricious.
1. A clever boy who had skipped several years in school and liked to draw attention to himself, George always had a knack for bantering with his professors during class.
2. The elephant, a shy creature that had spent his childhood hiding from an abusive ringmaster with an alcohol problem and a capricious temper, had a cynical view of any human who tried to build a relationship with him.
3. Her bad mood was exacerbated by her little brother, a trouble maker who thought it would be a good idea to replace her calculator with a cardboard replica.
4. An impulsive, boisterous girl who had just moved to a sleepy town, Priscilla made it her new occupation to light up the life of Jeremiah, a staid young man who had worked at the same corner store for three years and had not done anything rebellious in his entire life.
5. The cat, a healthy feline who had only experienced illness once in all his years of being alive, was disconcerted when he came down with a stomach illness, a virus that kept him off the streets for what seemed like forever.
6. The contemptuous old man grudgingly gave the young girls money, after hearing them beg and plead in the blazing sun about how they had been trying to sell lemonade all day, and realizing these hooligans were not going to let him go