Vocabulary 13 AP Lang

Abstruse

Abstruse

(adj.) difficult to understand; obscure.

Syn: esoteric, arcane, recondite, occult

Affront

(n.) an open or intentional insult; a slight; (v.) to insult to one's face; to face in defiance , confront

Syn: (n.) offense; (v.) offend

Canard

(n.) a false rumor, fabricated story

Syn: Hoax

Captious

(adj.) excessively ready to find fault; given to petty criticism; intended to trap, confuse, or show up

Syn: Fault-finding, nit-picking, carping

Cognizant

(adj.) aware, knowledgeable, informed; having jurisdiction

Syn: Conscious, acquanited

Contrite

(adj.) regretful for some misdeed or sin; plagued by a sense of guilt; thoroughly penitent

Syn: remorseful, rueful

Cynosure

(n.) the center of attraction, attention, or interest; something that serves to guide or direct

Syn: focus

Decorous

(adj.) well behaved, dignified, socially proper

Syn: seemly, becoming, tasteful

Deign

(v.) to think it appropriate or suitable to one's dignity to do something; to condescend

Syn: deem, stoop

Desiccated

(adj, part.) Thoroughly dried out, divested of spirit or vitality, arid and uninteresting

Syn: dehydrated, shriveled, parched

Efficacy

(n.) the power to produce a desired result

Syn: effectiveness, potency, reliability

Engender

(v.) to bring into existence, give rise to, produce; to come into existence, assume form

Syn: beget, generate, cause, form

Ethereal

(adj.) light, airy, delicate; highly refined; suggesting what is heavenly (rather than earthbound)

Syn: heavenly, celestial, gossamer

Facade

(n.) the front or face of a building; a surface appearance (as opposed to what may lie behind)

Syn: exterior, surface, mask, pretense

Ghoulish

(adj.) revolting in an unnatural or morbid way; suggestive of someone who robs graves or otherwise preys on the dead

Syn: fiendish, barbarous, monstrous

Incongruous

(adj.) not in keeping, unsuitable, incompatible

Syn: discordant, jarring

Machination

(n.) a crafty, scheming, or underhanded action designed to accomplish some (usually evil) end

Syn: plot, scheme, manuever

Mesmerize

(v.) to hypnotize, entrance; to fascinate, enthrall, bewitch

Opprobrium

(n.) disgrace arising from shameful conduct; contempt, reproach

Syn: infamy, dishonor, odium, shame

Putative

(adj.) generally regarded as such; reputed; hypothesized, inferred

Syn: Supposed, presumed