- 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
- cynosure: (n.) the center of attraction, attention, or interest; something that serves to guide or direct
- decorous: (adj.) well behaved, dignified, socially proper
- deign: (v.) to think it appropriate or suitable to one's dignity to do something
- desiccated: (adj.) thoroughly dried out; arid and uninteresting
- efficacy: (n.) the power to produce a desired result
- engender: (v.) to bring into existence, give rise to, produce; to come into existence
- ethereal: (adj.) light, airy, delicate; highly refined; suggesting what is heavenly
- facade: (n.) the front of a building; a surface appearance
- ghoulish: (adj.) revolting in an unnatural or morbid way
- incongruous: (adj.) not in keeping, unsuitable, incompatible
- machination: (n.) a crafty, scheming, or underhanded action designed to accomplish some end
- mesmerize: (v.) to hypnotize, entrance; to fascinate, enthrall, bewitch
- opprobrium: (n.) disgrace arising from shameful conduct; contempt, reproach
- putative: (adj.) generally regarded as such; reputed; inferred