Quizlet Unit 13 English Vocab

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  1. abstruse: (adj) extremely difficult to understand
  2. affront: (n) an open or intentional insult; a slight; (v) to insult to one's face; to face in defiance, confront
  3. canard: (n) a false rumor, fabricated story
  4. captious: (adj) excessively ready to find fault; given to petty criticism; intended to trap, confuse, or show up
  5. cognizant: (adj) aware, knowledgeable, informed
  6. contrite: (adj) regretful for some misdeed or sin; plagued by a sense of guilt; thoroughly penitent
  7. cynosure: (n) the center of attraction, attention, or interest; something that serves to guide or direct
  8. decorous: (adj) well behaved, dignified, socially proper
  9. deign: (v) to think it appropriate or suitable to one's dignity to do something; to condescend
  10. desiccated: (adj. part.) thoroughly dried out; divested of spirit or vitality; arid and uninteresting
  11. efficacy: (n) the power to produce a desired effect
  12. engender: (v) to bring into existence, give rise to, produce; to come into existence, assume form
  13. ethereal: (adj) light, airy, delicate, highly refined, suggesting what is heavenly (rather than earthbound)
  14. facade: (n) the front or face of a building; a surface appearance (as opposed to what may lie behind)
  15. ghoulish: (adj) revolting in an unnatural or morbid way; suggestive of someone who robs graves or otherwise preys on the dead
  16. incongruous: (adj) not in keeping, unsuitable, incompatible
  17. machination: (n) a crafty, scheming, or underhanded action designed to accomplish some (usually evil) end
  18. mesmerize: (v) to hyptonize, to fascinate, enthrall
  19. opprobrium: disgrace arising from shameful conduct; contempt, infamy, reproach
  20. preempt: (v) to seize upton to the exclusion of others, take over or appropriate; to be presented in place of, displace
  21. putative: (adj) generally regarded as such; reputed; hypothesized, inferred
  22. simplistic: (adj) highly oversimplified, simpleminded