| abstruse |
difficult to comprehend or understand; esoteric; arcane. |
| apotheosis |
a perfect or ideal example; epitome. |
| assail |
to attack with vigor or violence; assault. |
| belie |
to give a false impression of. |
| chary |
not dispensing freely. |
| demotic |
of or relating to the common people; popular. |
| etiolate |
to weaken, especially through deprivation of normal development. |
| expiation |
the act or the means of making amends, as for a sin or crime. |
| garble |
to mix up, distort, or confuse (a message, translation, or the like); cause to be disordered or unintelligible. |
| impugn |
to call into question; challenge or try to discredit. |
| intelligentsia |
the elite class of highly learned people within a society, or those who consider themselves part of such a class. |
| liminal |
of or at the threshold of a physiological or psychological response or change of state. |
| modular |
designed with standardized units that may be arranged or connected in a variety of ways. |
| oligarchy |
a government or state in which only a relatively few people or members of a family have real power. |
| pinchbeck |
false, sham, or counterfeit. |