| A | B |
|---|
| agnostic | noun: A person who doubts the existence of God but is not an atheist As an _agnostic_, Tristan did not attend church but would sometimes pray just in case a God was listening. |
| anomalous | adj: Deviating from the norm; abnormal; irregular Napoleon's parents were puzzled by his _anomalous_ decision to spend the day studying instead of playing. |
| arcane | adj: Requiring secret or hidden knowledge; understood only by a few; occult Alaska Clark was willing to risk anything to uncover the _arcane_ mysteries of lost Atlantis. |
| auspicious | adj: Favorable; promising success; fortunate Pippa and Poppy considered the order for 100 whirligigs an _auspicious_ beginning for their toy business. |
| consecrated | adj: Sacred; made or declared holy; dedicated to a goal or purpose Biggles _consecrated_ his life as an archeologist to the search for the fabled Fountain of Youth. |
| conviction | noun: A firm belief, without need of proof; a legal finding of guilt in a criminal case Babs could not shake Beau's _conviction_ that their neighbor was in the Witness Protection program. |
| debunk | verb: To expose as false; ridicule Tyler and his friends gathered their courage and spent the night in the old abandoned house to _debunk_ the rumor that it was haunted. |
| exalt | verb: To raise in status or power; to praise or honor To reward his long hours of hard work, Ariel was _exalted_ to the rank of junior assistant window-washer and paid a nickel more per hour. |
| foreshadow | verb: To indicate beforehand; presage When the star quarterback broke his wrist during the first game of the season, it _foreshadowed_ how the rest of the year would go for the lowly Sea Otters. |
| heresy | noun: A belief or opinion at variance with official opinion, especially that of a church Wearing a Yankees jersey in Fenway Park is an act of heresy. |
| inscrutable | adj: Difficult to understand or fathom; obscure or impenetrable Westerners once referred to the collective culture of the Pacific Rim as the _inscrutable_ East, but time and familiarity have led to openness and understanding. |
| invoke | verb: To appeal or pray to a higher power for help: to declare to be binding; to conjure When caught in the corridors without a hall pass, Alexa chose to _invoke_ her fifth-amendment rights and refused to incriminate herself further by talking. |
| mystify | verb: To make mysterious or obscure; to bewilder Watching the surfers ride high up on the waves, little Audrey was _mystified_ by how the boys were able to remain standing for such long periods of time. |
| myth | noun: A traditional story dealing with gods, ancestors or heroes; an imaginary person or thing; a popular belief that has become associated with a person or thing; an invented story On the first day of high school, Hayden was dissapointed to learn that the stories he heard about coed locker rooms were only myths. |
| omen | noun: A sign of something about to happen; prophetic or foreboding import The dark clouds massing overhead seemed to Vitta to be an _omen_ of doom. |
| profound | adj: Coming from a great depth; showing intellectual or emotional depth; having a far-reaching affect The worker rights seminar Sydney attended in college had a _profound_ effect on her ideas about exploitation. |
| prophetic | adj: foretelling events Abebe likes to believe that fortune cookies are _prophetic_, since she never gets a fortune she doesn't like. |
| rite | noun: A ceremonial act, especially a religious one; ritual Tourists in Japan enjoy experiencing the _rite_ of the traditional tea ceremony. |
| sanctity | noun: The quality of being sacred; inviolability or saintliness The debate over euthanasia pits dignity and choice against the _sanctity_ of human life. |
| secular | adj: Having to do with worldly things as opposed to religious matters; relating to a doctrine that rejects religion The major refused to discuss his religious beliefs, asking reporters to stick to questions of a _secular_ nature. |
