Sentence:  All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill....Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion&mdash;or <WSD>rather</WSD> as a transition from the subject that started their conversation&mdash;such talk had been distressingly out of place. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (Introducing a qualification or clarification); more precisely. (Now usually preceded by '''or'''.) (from 15th c.)