The invitation was unconditional. (unconditional: unqualified, absolute, unrestricted) In practice the club had a hierarchy of tables, and one needed the right acquiescence from a steward to get past the door. (hierarchy: ranking, ranked order, pecking order; acquiescence: assent, acceptance, compliance) A newcomer who tried to ingratiate himself by praising the chairman's waistcoat looked like a sycophant. (ingratiate: curry favor, court favor, win over; sycophant: toady, flatterer, yes-person) Another, unfamiliar with the local vernacular, mistook the steward's offhand joke for an order to leave. (vernacular: local speech, everyday language, common parlance; offhand: casual, offhanded, cursory)
Ruth had the audacity to turn the place cards facedown. (audacity: boldness, daring, temerity) It was an audacious gesture for the person paid to wash the dishes. (audacious: bold, daring, intrepid) The chairman called it an intrusion. (intrusion: encroachment, interference, invasion) His normally compliant nephew called it an opportunity. (compliant: obedient, cooperative, acquiescent) Their most reserved member had brought an extra chair from home. (reserved: reticent, restrained, quiet) He unfolded it beside the newcomers and asked whether they played dominoes.
What angered the steward was the absence of any rule he could invoke. (invoke: cite, appeal to, call upon) A tradition of deference had hardened into an imaginary stricture. (deference: respect, regard, respectfulness; stricture: restriction, constraint, limitation) When the dessert arrived, the chairman moved his own chair to hear the domino players. They told him the seat was free. He had only to wash his own dish.