| A | B |
|---|
| abstruse | (adj.) extremely difficult to understand |
| affront | (n.) an open or intentional insult; a slight; (v.) to insult to one's face; to face in defiance, confront |
| canard | (n.) a false rumor, fabricated story |
| captious | (adj.) excessively ready to find fault; given to petty criticism; intended to trap, confuse, or show up |
| cognizant | (adj.) aware, knowledgeable, informed; having jurisdiction |
| contrite | (adj.) regretful for some misdeed or sin; plagued by a sense of guilt; thoroughly penitent |
| cynosure | (n.) the center ot attraction, attention, or interest; something that serves to guide or direct |
| decorous | (adj.) well behaved, dignified, socially proper |
| deign | (v.) to think it apporpriate or suitable to one;s dignity to do something; to condescend |
| desiccated | (adj.,part.) thoroughly dried out; divested of spirit or vitality; arid and uninteresting |
| efficacy | (n.) the power to produce a desired result |
| engender | (v.) to bring into existence, give rise to , proeduce; to come into existence, assume form |
| ethereal | (adj.) light, airy, delicate; highly refined; suggesting what is heavenly (rather than earthbound) |
| facade | (n.) the front or face of a building; a surface appearance (as opposed to what may lie behind) |
| 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 |
| machination | (n.) a crafty, scheming, or underhanded action designed to accomplish some (usually evil) end |
| mesmerize | (v.) to hynotize, entrance; to fascinate, entrhall, bewitch |
| opprobrium | (n.) disgrace arising from shameful conduct; contempt, reproach |
| putative | (adj.) generally regarded as such; reputed; hypothesized, inferred |
| beatific | (adj.) blissful; rendering or making blessed |
| behemoth | (n.) a creature of enormous size, power, or appearance |
| blandishment | (n. often pl.) anything designed to flatter or coax; sweet talk, apple-polishing |
| cacophonous | (adj.) harsh-sounding, raucous, discordant, dissonant |
| chicanery | (n.) trickery, deceptive practices or tactics, double-dealing |
| consign | (v.) to give over to another's care, charge, or control; to entrust, deliver; to set apart for a special use |
| coup | (n.) a highly successful stroke, masterstroke, tour de force, act, plan, or strategem; a sudden takeover of power or leadership |
| euphemism | (n.) a mild or inoffensive expression used in place of a harsh or unpleasant one; a substitute |
| febrile | (adj.) feverish; pertaining to or marked by fever; frenetic |
| gainsay | (v.) to deny, contradict, controvert; to dispute, oppose |
| imminent | (adj.) about to happen, threatening |
| innate | (adj.) natural, inborn, inherent; built-in |
| loath | (adj.) unwilling reluctant, disinclined |
| manifest | (adj.) clear, evident to the eyes or mind; (v.) to show plainly, exhibit, evince; (n.) a list of cargo and/or passengers |
| minutiae | (pl. n.) small or trivial details, trifling matters |
| moratorium | (n.) a suspension of activity; an official waitin period; an authorized period of delay |
| nostrum | (n.) an alleged cure-all; a remedy or scheme of questionable effectiveness |
| pariah | (n.) one who is rejected by a social group or organization |
| visionary | (adj.) not practical, lacking in realism; having the nature of a fantasy or dream; (n.) one given to far-fetched ideas; a dreamer or seer characterized by vision or foresight |
| wizened | (adj., part.) dry, shrunken, and wrinkled (often as the result of aging) |
| amenity | (n.) that which is pleasant or agreeable; (pl.) attractive features, customs, etc. |
| aperture | (n.) an opening, gap, hole; orifice |
| dissidence | (n.) a difference of opinion; discontent |
| epicurean | (adj.) devoted to the pursuit of pleasure; fond of good food, comfort, and ease; with discriminating tastes; (n.) a person with discriminating tastes |
| improvident | (adj.) not thrifty; failing to plan ahead |
| iniquity | (n.) wickedness, sin; a grossly immoral act |
| inviolable | (adj.) sacred; of such a character that it must not be broken, injured, or profaned |
| mutable | (adj.) open to or capable of change, fickle |
| nascent | (adj.) just beginning to exist or develop; having just come into existence |
| obeisance | (n.) a deep bow or other body movement indicating respect or submission; deference, homage |
| panegyric | (n.) formal or elaborate praise; a tribute |
| pillory | (n.) a device for publicly punishing offenders; a means for exposing one to public contempt or ridicule; (v.) to expose to public contempt or ridicule |
| pittance | (n.) a woefully meager allowance, wage, or portion |
| presage | (v.) to foreshadow or point to a future event; to predict; (n.) a warning or indication of the future |
| progeny | (n.) descendants, offspring, children, followers, disciples |
| promulgate | (v.) to proclaim or issue officially; to make known far and wide |
| rectitude | (n.) uprightness, righteousness; correctness |
| restive | (adj.) restless, hard to manage, balky |
| seraphic | (adj.) angelic, heavenly, celestial |
| subsist | (v.) to have existence; to remain alive, manage to make a living or maintain life; to persist or continue |
