| Term | Definition |
|---|
| astute | (adj.) keen in understanding and judgement; shrewd |
| beguile | (v) to deceive or cheat using guile / to cause to be distarcted, as by charm, flattery, or the like / to give pleasure by charming |
| buffoon | (n) someone who behaves comically; clown |
| compel | (v) to affect or influence forcefully / to force or drive to some action or attitude; pressure / to make necessary; exact |
| compulsion | (n) constraint or coercion; act of compelling / the state of being compelled or coerced / an irresistible impulse, usu. to do or say something opposed by one's rational mind |
| cunning | (n) subtle or deceptive planning or action; craftiness; shrewdness / skill, dexerity, or ingenuity (adj.) adept at subtle or deceptive planning or action; crafty; shrewd / done with skill, dexerity, or ingenuity |
| deface | (v) to damage or deform the surface or appearance of; disfigure / to erase, blot out, or otherwise obliterate; make indistinct, illegible, or valueless |
| enshrine | (v) to put in or as if in place reserved for holy objects / to treat as if holy; cherish |
| flaunt | (v) to display ostentatiously; show off / to display oneself ostentatiously; show oneself off (n) an act of flaunting |
| flout | (v) to show scorn or contempt for, esp. by openly or deliberately disobeying / to be mocking or scornful (n) a contemptuous act or remark; act of mockery |
| forthright | (adj.) outspoken and to the point (adv.) frankly and without evasion |
| frippery | (n) ostentation in dress or manner, or an instance of such ostentation / something unnecessary and unimportant; trifle |
| genteel | (adj.) displaying traits such as refinement and politeness that traditionally associated with wealth and education / exaggeratedly or affectedly polite and refined |
| gentility | (n) the quality or state of one who is genteel; refinement of manners and behavior / the quality or state of one who is a member of the upper class |
| gravitate | (v) to move toward or be attracted to something by or as if by force of gravity |
| gravitation | (n) the force of mutual attraction, as between planets, stars, or particles / the act or process of moving in response to this force / a movement toward something attractive |
| insidious | (adj.) dangerous though cunning, subtlety, and underhandedness / seemingly or outwardly harmless, but actually very dangerous |
| larder | (n) a storage place or room for food, or the supply of food so stored |
| luminary | (n) a body that radiates or reflects light, such as the sun or moon / a famous, important, or inspirational person (adj.) of, concerning, or radiating light |
| luminous | (adj.) giving off light; glowing / easy to understand; lucid; clear / intellectually brilliant; enlightened |
| pillory | (n) in former times, a wooden structure that had holes for fastening the head and hands of someone who had violated the law and had been sentenced to public ridicule (v) to lock up and exhibit in a pillory / to mock or criticize strongly, as in public speech or in writing |
| precocious | (adj.) having the skills or mental capacity of a much older person / demonstraiting such skills or capacity |
| recoil | (v) to draw or start back, as in disgust or horror / to move sharply in the opposite direction from an extended force, as a rifle moves against one's shoulder when fired / to cause damage by an uvexpected return of negative effect (n) the movement that is an object's reaction to its own action, such as the kick of a firearm / the act or an instance of recoiling |
| repel | (v) to drive away or foce backwards / to resit integration or absorption / to refuse acceptance of / to cause revultion or distaste / to reject the advances of / to act with force to keep something away / to cause aversion, repulsion, or distaste |
| repellent | (adj.) causing distaste, aversion, or repultion / having the effect of driving away (n) something that repels or drives away / a substance added to cloth that causes it to repel water, used esp. for raincoats |
| ruse | (n) a trick, pretense, or diversion intended to decieve or mislead |
| sage | (n)a person honored as very wise or experienced / one of a group of herbs of the mint family, grown as ornamentals or for the leaves, which are used as a food seasoning and for medicinal purposes / the leaves of this plant / sagebrush (adj.) having or showing good judgement; wise; prudent |
| shrine | (n) a place or object, such as an altar or tomb, considered sacred and devoted to some holy person or deity / any place or object venerated as a memorial to some important person or historic event / a contianer holding sacred relics, or the site of such a container |
| spurn | (v) to reject, refuse, or treat with scorn; disdain; despise / to show scorn; reject somethin scornfully (n) a scornful rejection or contemptuous treatment |
| threshold | (n) the sill underneath a door; doorway / the beginning of an occurence, undertaking, or the like / the point at which a stimulus produces a response |
| tycoon | (n) a rich, powerful person in business or industry; magnate |
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