One ambassador meant to intimate a doubt about the treaty. (intimate: hint, suggest, imply) His translator heard a command to repudiate it. (repudiate: reject, disown, renounce) The other side's bewilderment made the first ambassador hesitate, and his hesitancy seemed to confirm an overt change of policy. (hesitancy: hesitation, reluctance, indecision; overt: open, obvious, explicit) In three lines the play moved from comedy to an impending war. (impending: imminent, approaching, looming)
The director stopped rehearsal. The exchange needed a perceptive translator who might misread a sign in good faith. (perceptive: discerning, insightful, astute; misread: misinterpret, misconstrue, misunderstand) An inept caricature would rob the dilemma of its force. (inept: incompetent, unskilled, clumsy; dilemma: quandary, predicament, bind) She gave the actor two incompatible instructions on little slips and waited to see which one he would obey. (incompatible: conflicting, inconsistent, contradictory)
His irresolute glance at the slips lasted only a second. (irresolute: indecisive, wavering, hesitant) That second made the scene riveting. (riveting: gripping, engrossing, absorbing) By opening night the audience gasped before either ambassador knew the trouble he was in.