| A | B |
| adage | a traditional saying; a proverb |
| circumspection | watchfulness; caution; care |
| credibility | trustworthiness; believability |
| decipher | to decode; to make out; to make sense of |
| defraud | to take away a right, money, or property by deception; to cheat |
| lax | not strict; careless; loose; vague |
| ordeal | a harsh or trying test or experience |
| phishing | the practice of luring innocent Internet users to a fake Web site by using real-looking e-mail with the intent to steal personal information or introduce a virus |
| spam | junk e-mail; unasked for e-mail, often advertising, sent to multiple individuals |
| validity | authenticity; legal soundness; strenght; authority |
| acronym | a word or abbreviation formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of the words in a name or phrase |
| bewilder | to confuse, baffle, or puzzle |
| cliche' | a commonplace or overused expression or idea |
| colloquialism | an expression used in conversational or informal language, not usually appropriate for formal writing |
| concise | expressing much in a few words; brief |
| euphemism | the substitution of a mild or vague expression for one considered harsh |
| homonym | one of two or more words that have the same sound and sometimes the same spelling but differ in meaning |
| irony | a clash between what is expected to happen and what really does, often used humorously in literature; the use of words to state the opposite of their precise meaning |
| scrutinize | to examine carefully, expecially looking for errors; to inspect |
| synopsis | a brief statement that gives a general idea; a summary |