Page 173 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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Essential Vocabulary
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mystifying (MIS ti FY ing) adj. 1. puzzling; bewildering; perplexing; 2. made
obscure or difficult to understand
• There is something mystifying about a man wearing a cape and carrying a
walking stick.
• Many claim that the income tax code is mystifying by design rather than
circumstance.
[-ly adv., mystification n.]
mythical (MITH i kil) adj. 1. imaginary; fictitious; not scientifically proven;
2. existing only in myths
• The fact that the refrigerator’s light goes out when the door is closed is
considered mythical by some children (and by some adults).
• A dragon is a mythical creature, which never really existed.
naive (nah EEV) adj. 1. innocent; unworldly; childlike; unsophisticated;
2. unsuspicious; credulous
• Lara was too naive to know what to order at the French restaurant, so she
trusted Buddy to order for her.
• Vic left his portable DVD player on the front seat of his open convertible
and was naive enough to expect that it would still be there when he
returned.
narcissistic (NAHR si SIS tik) adj. loving one’s self; having an excessive interest
in one’s own appearance, comfort, importance, etc.
• Nancy is narcissistic enough to spend 6 hours every day in front of a full-
length mirror.
• Hector is wealthy enough to be able to afford his narcissistic nature, having
hired six full-time servants to see to his every need.
[-ally adv., narcissism n.]
narrative (NA ruh TIV) adj. 1. in story form; taking the nature of a narration;
2. occupied with narration —n. a story; tale
• H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine is a narrative told from the vantage point of
the machine’s inventor.
• “Call me Ishmael” is the opening sentence of Melville’s Moby Dick and
introduces the reader to the identity of the narrative’s teller.
• In Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, it is unclear whose narrative the
tale is.
[Syn. story]
nefarious (ni FAER ee uhs) adj. very wicked; underhanded; most villainous;
iniquitous
• The Spanish Inquisition used nefarious means to identify so-called heretics.
• Joseph McCarthy was nefarious in his “red baiting” tactics during the 1950s
communist witch hunts.
[-ly adv., -ness n.]