To fraternize with someone is to be friendly with them or to spend time with them in a friendly way. Fraternize is often, though not always, used in situations where such friendly behavior is considered wrong or improper, as in “fraternizing with the enemy.”

// The boss warned that fraternizing with the junior employees could be a risky career move for a manager.

Something described as chockablock is very full or tightly packed.

// Their mantel is chockablock with knickknacks collected from their travels to all fifty states.

Someone described as ambivalent has or displays very different feelings (such as love and hate) about someone or something at the same time.

// Aya was ambivalent about starting her first year away at college—excited for the new opportunities that awaited but sad to leave her friends and family back home.

Memento is a synonym of souvenir; it refers to something that is kept as a reminder of a person, place, or thing.

// The box on the shelf in her closet is filled with mementos of her basketball career—awards, newspaper clippings, team photographs, and her old uniform.

close in time; about to occur

A gridiron is a football field. The word gridiron is also sometimes used to refer to a grate for broiling food (as in “put the steaks on the gridiron”) or something consisting of or covered with a network (as in “a gridiron of streets and avenues”).

// The book recounts the quarterback’s most glorious moments on the gridiron.

Someone or something ensconced is firmly placed or hidden. Ensconce can be a synonym of shelter and conceal, or of establish and settle.

// The sculpture is safely ensconced behind glass.

// He ensconced himself in the library's back room for the afternoon.

Cronyism is the unfair practice by a powerful person (such as a politician) of giving jobs and other favors to friends without regard for their qualifications.

// City residents are pushing back against cronyism and corruption in their local government.