correlate

v.tr.

To put or bring into causal, complementary, parallel, or reciprocal relation.
To establish or demonstrate as having a correlation: correlated drug abuse and crime.

Invariable

adj.

Not changing or subject to change; constant

condescending

adj.

Displaying a patronizingly superior attitude: “The independent investor's desire to play individual stocks may well worry some market veterans, but that smacks a little of Wall Street's usual condescending attitude toward small investors” (Tom Petruno).

con'de·scend'ing·ly adv.

conundrum

n.

A riddle in which a fanciful question is answered by a pun.
A paradoxical, insoluble, or difficult problem; a dilemma: “the conundrum, thus far unanswered, of achieving full employment without inflation” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).

ascerbic

adj.

Sour or bitter tasting; acid. See synonyms at bitter.
Sharp or biting, as in character or expression: “At times, the playwright allows an acerbic tone to pierce through otherwise arid or flowery prose” (Alvin Klein).

Opine

v.tr.
To state as an opinion.

v.intr.
To express an opinion: opined on the defendant's testimony.

[Middle English opinen, from Old French opiner, from Latin opīnārī, to suppose.]

Desiderata

Plural for desideratum, which means something considered necessary or highly desirable. “The point is not that the artist has ‘penetrated the character’ of his sitter, that commonplace desideratum of portraiture” (Robert Hughes).