| A | B |
| lugubrious | doleful; sad; mournful |
| disconsolate | gloomy; without hope |
| coterie | clique; close circle of friends |
| conduit | pipe or tube through which fluid or electricity passes |
| shibboleth | watchword; a slogan; a password |
| evanescent | vanishing; temporary; fleeting |
| parsimonious | stingy; miserly |
| Machiavellian | cunning; deceitful; tricky |
| compendium | brief summary |
| megalomania | passion for grandeur; false impression of one's own greatness; tendency to exaggerate |