Imprecation

noun: a curse

Spouting violent imprecations, Hank searched for the person who had vandalized his truck

Synonyms: damnation 

Impecunious

adj: poor; having no money

After the stock market crashed, many former millionairs found themselves impecunious

Synonyms: destitute, impoverished, indigent, needy, penniless

ingratiate

verb: to gain favor with another by deliberate effort; to seek to please somebody so as to gain an advantage

The  new intern tried to ingratiate herself with the managers so that they might consider her for a future job.

Synonyms: curry favor; flatter

Quiescent

adj: motionless

Many animals are quiescent over the winter months, minimizing activity in order to conserve energy.

Deleterious

adj: subtly or unexpectedly harmful

If only we had known the clocks were defective before putting them on the market, it wouldn't have been quite so deleterious to our reputation.

Synonyms: advers, inimical, injurious, hurtful

sinecures

noun: a well-paying job or office that requires little to no work.

The corrupt mayor made sure to set up all his relatives in sinecures within the administration.

Desultory

adj:jumping from one thing to another; disconnected

Athena had a desultory acedemic record; she had changed majors 12 times in 3 years.

Synonyms: aimless, disconnected; erratic; haphazard; indiscriminate; objectless; purposeless; random; stray; unconsidered; unplanned