100 Words

Question 1

abhor

Answer 1

abhor
(v.) to hate, detest (Because he always wound up getting hit in the head when he tried to play cricket, Marcin began to abhor the sport).

Question 2

acquiesce

Answer 2

acquiesce
(v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Pospieszny wanted to stay outside and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner, he acquiesced to her demands.)

Question 3

alacrity

Answer 3

alacrity
(n.) eagerness, speed (For some reason, Simon loved to help his girlfriend whenever he could, so when his girlfriend asked him to set the table he did so with alacrity.)

Question 4

amiable

Answer 4

amiable
(adj.) friendly (An amiable fellow, Neil got along with just about everyone.)

I’m

Question 5

appease

Answer 5

appease

v.) to calm, satisfy (When Jerry cries, his mother gives him chocolate to appease him.

Question 6

arcane

Answer 6

arcane

adj.) obscure, secret, known only by a few (The professor is an expert in arcane Kashubian literature.

Question 7

avarice

Answer 7

avarice

n.) excessive greed (The banker’s avarice led him to amass an enormous personal fortune.

Question 8

brazen

Answer 8

brazen
(adj.) excessively bold, brash, clear and obvious (Critics condemned the writer’s brazen attempt to plagiarise Frankow-Czerwonko’s work.)

Question 9

brusque

Answer 9

brusque

adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive (Simon’s brusque manner sometimes offends his colleagues.

Question 10

cajole

Answer 10

cajole

v.) to urge, coax (Magda’s friends cajoled her into drinking too much.

Question 11

callous

Answer 11

callous

adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling (The murderer’s callous lack of remorse shocked the jury.

Question 12

candor

Answer 12

candor
(n.) honesty, frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the politician’s speech because she is usually rather evasive.)

Question 13

chide

Answer 13

chide

v.) to voice disapproval (Hania chided Gregory for his vulgar habits and sloppy appearance.

Question 14

circumspect

Answer 14

circumspect
(adj.) cautious (Though I promised Marta’s father I would bring her home promptly by midnight, it would have been more circumspect not to have specified a time.)

Question 15

clandestine

Answer 15

clandestine
(adj.) secret (Announcing to her boyfriend that she was going to the library, Maria actually went to meet George for a clandestine liaison.)

Question 16

coerce

Answer 16

coerce
(v.) to make somebody do something by force or threat (The court decided that David Beckham did not have to honor the contract because he had been coerced into signing it.)

Question 17

coherent

Answer 17

coherent
(adj.) logically consistent, intelligible (William could not figure out what Harold had seen because he was too distraught to deliver a coherent statement.)

Question 18

complacency

Answer 18

complacency
(n.) self-satisfied ignorance of danger (Simon tried to shock his friends out of their complacency by painting a frightening picture of what might happen to them.)

Question 19

confidant

Answer 19

confidant

n.) a person entrusted with secrets (Shortly after we met, he became my chief confidant.

Question 20

connive

Answer 20

connive

v.) to plot, scheme (She connived to get me to give up my plans to start up a new business.

Question 21

cumulative

Answer 21

(adj.) increasing, building upon itself (The cumulative effect of hours spent using the World English website was a vast improvement in his vocabulary and general level of English.)

Question 22

debase

Answer 22

(v.) to lower the quality or esteem of something (The large raise that he gave himself debased his motives for running the charity.)

Question 23

decry

Answer 23

(v.) to criticize openly (Andrzej Lepper, the leader of the Polish Self Defence party decried the appaling state of Polish roads.)

Question 24

deferential

Answer 24

(adj.) showing respect for another’s authority (Donata is always excessively deferential to any kind of authority figure.)

Question 25

demure

Answer 25

(adj.) quiet, modest, reserved (Though everyone else at the party was dancing and going crazy, she remained demure.)

Question 26

deride

Answer 26

deride | v.) to laugh at mockingly, scorn (The native speaker often derided the other teacher’s accent.

Question 27

despot

Answer 27

(n.) one who has total power and rules brutally (The despot issued a death sentence for anyone who disobeyed his laws.)

Question 28

diligent

Answer 28

(adj.) showing care in doing one’s work (The diligent researcher made sure to double check her measurements.)

Question 29

elated

Answer 29

elated | adj.) overjoyed, thrilled (When he found out he had won the lottery, the postman was elated.

Question 30

eloquent

Answer 30

(adj.) expressive, articulate, moving (The best man gave such an eloquent speech that most guests were crying.)

Question 31

embezzle

Answer 31

(v.) to steal money by falsifying records (The accountant was fired for embezzling €10,000 of the company’s funds.)

Question 32

empathy

Answer 32

(n.) sensitivity to another’s feelings as if they were one’s own (I feel such empathy for my dog when she’s upset so am I!)

Question 33

aberration

Answer 33

aberration (n.) something that differs from the norm (In 1974, Poland won the World Cup, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and Poland have not won a World Cup since).