321-360

Question 1

marred

Answer 1

adj. damaged; disfigured.
v. mar
She had to refinish the marred surface of the table.

Question 2

materialism

Answer 2

n. preoccupation with physical comforts and things.
By its nature, materialism is opposed to idealism, for where the materialist emphasizes the needs of the body, the idealist emphasizes the needs of the soul.

Question 3

meander

Answer 3

v. wind or turn in its course.
Needing to stay close to a source of water, he followed every twist and turn of the stream as it meandered through the countryside.

Question 4

mercurial

Answer 4

adj. capricious; changing; fickle.

Quick as quicksilver to change, he was mercurial in nature and therefore unreliable.

Question 5

methodical

Answer 5

adj. systematic.

An accountant must be methodical and maintain order among his financial records.

Question 6

misanthrope

Answer 6

n. one who hates mankind.
Swift portrays an image of humanity as vile, degraded beasts: for this reason, various critics consider him a misanthrope.

Question 7

miserly

Answer 7

adj. stingy, mean.

Transformed by his vision on Christmas Eve, mean old Scrooge ceased being miserly and became a generous, kind old man.

Question 8

misnomer

Answer 8

n. wrong name; incorrect designation.

His tyrannical conduct proved to all that his nickname, King Eric the Just, was a misnomer.

Question 9

mitigate

Answer 9

v. appease; moderate.

Nothing Jason did could mitigate Medea’s anger; she refused to forgive him for betraying her.

Question 10

mollify

Answer 10

v. soothe.

The airline customer service representation tried to mollify the angry passenger by offering her a seat in first class.

Question 11

morose

Answer 11

adj. ill-humored; sullen; melancholy.
Forced to take early retirement, Bill acted morose for months; then, all of a sudden, he shook off his sullen mood and was his usual cheerful self.

Question 12

mosaic

Answer 12

n. picture made of colorful small inlaid tiles.

The mayor compared the city to a beautiful mosaic made up of people of every race and religion on earth.

Question 13

mundane

Answer 13

adj. worldly as opposed to spiritual; everyday.
Uninterested in philosophical or spiritual discussions, Tom talked only of mundane matters such as the daily weather forecast or the latest basketball results.

Question 14

munificent

Answer 14

adj. very generous.
n. munificence
Shamelessly fawning over a particularly generous donor, the dean kept on referring to her as “our munificent benefactor.”

Question 15

nonchalance

Answer 15

n. indifference; lack of concern

Cool, calm, and collected under fire, James Bond shows remarkable nonchalance in the face of danger.

Question 16

notoriety

Answer 16

n. disrepute; ill fame.
adj. notorious.
To the starlet, any publicity was good for publicity: if she couldn’t have a good reputation, she’d settle for notoriety.

Question 17

nuance

Answer 17

n. shade of difference in meaning or color; subtle distinction.
Jody gazed at the Monet landscape for an hour, appreciating every subtle nuance of color in the painting.

Question 18

obdurate

Answer 18

adj. stubborn.

He was obdurate in his refusal to listen to our complaints,

Question 19

oblivion

Answer 19

n. obscurity; forgetfulness.

After a decade of popularity, Hurston’s work had fallen into oblivion.

Question 20

odious

Answer 20

adj. hateful; vile.

Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters had the odious habit of popping their zits in public.

Question 21

opaque

Answer 21

adj. dark; not transparent.
n. opacity
The opaque window shade kept the sunlight out of the room.

Question 22

opportunist

Answer 22

n. individual who sacrifices principles for expediency by taking advantage of circumstances.
Joe is such an opportunist that he triples the price of bottled water at his store as soon as the earthquake struck.

Question 23

opulence

Answer 23

n. extreme wealth; luxuriousness.
adj. opulent
The glitter and opulence of the ballroom took Cinderella’s breath away.

Question 24

orator

Answer 24

n. public speaker.
The abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a brilliant orator whose speeches brought home to his audience the evils of slavery.

Question 25

ornate

Answer 25

adj. excessively or elaborately decorated.

With its elaborately carved, convoluted lines, furniture of the Baroque period was highly ornate.

Question 26

ostentatious

Answer 26

adj. showy; pretentious
n. ostentation
Donald Trump’s latest casino in Atlantic City is the most ostentatious gambling palace in the East: it easily out-glitters its competitors.