| A | B |
|---|
| Cognizant | (adj) aware, knowledgeable, informed |
| Deign | (v) to think it appropriate or suitable to one's dignity to do something; to condescend |
| Contrite | (adj) regretful for some misdeed or sin; plagued by a sense of guilt; thoroughly penitent |
| Abstruse | (adj) extremely difficult to understand |
| Canard | (n) a false rumor, fabricated story |
| Decorous | (adj) well behaved, dignified, socially proper |
| Efficacy | (n) the power to produce a desired result |
| Cynosure | (n) the center of attraction, attention, or interest; something that serves to guide or direct |
| Affront | (n) an open or intentional insult; a slight; (v) to insult to one's face; to face in defiance, confront |
| Desiccated | (adj/part) thoroughly dried out; divested of spirit or vitality; arid and uninteresting |
| Captious | (adj) excessively ready to find fault; given to petty criticism; intended to trap, confuse or show up |
| Machination | (n) a crafty, scheming, or underhanded action designed to accomplish some (usually evil) end |
| Preempt | (v) to seize upon to the exclusion of others; take over or appropriate; to be presented in place of; displace |
| Facade | (n) the front or face of a building; a surface appearance (as opposed to what may lie behind) |
| Ethereal | (adj) light, airy, delicate; highly refined; suggesting what is heavenly (rather than earthbound) |
| Putative | (adj) generally regarded as such; reputed; hypothesized, inferred |
| Opprobrium | (n) disgrace arising from shameful conduct; infamy, comtempt, reproach |
| Simplistic | (adj) highly oversimplified; simpleminded |
| Mesmerize | (v) to hypnotize; to fascinate, enthrall |
| Engender | (v) to bring into existence, give rise to, produce; to come into existence, assume form |
| Ghoulish | (adj) revolting in an unnatural or morbid way; suggestive of someone who robs graves or otherwise preys on the dead |
| Incongruous | (adj) not in keeping, unsuitable, incompatible |
