#35 dormant ~ duplicity

Question 1

dormant

/ˈdɔrmənt/

Answer 1

adj. inactive; as though asleep; asleep
Dormant, like dormitory, comes from a root meaning sleep.
- Mt. Vesuvius erupted violently and then fell dormant for several hundred years.
Many plants remain dormant through the winter; that is, they stop growing until spring.
- Frank’s interest in playing the piano was dormant and, quite possibly, dead.
- The snow fell silently over the dormant village, which became snarled in traffic jams the following morning.
The noun is dormancy.

Question 2

dubious

/ˈdubiəs, ˈdyu-/

Answer 2

adj. full of doubt; uncertain
- I was fairly certain that I would be ably to fly if I could merely flap my arms hard enough, but Mary was dubious; she said I’d better flap my legs as well.
- We were dubious about the team’s chance of success and, as it turned out, our dubiety was justified: The team lost.
Dubious and doubtful don’t exactly mean the same thing. A dubious person is a person who has doubts. A doubtful outcome is an outcome that isn’t certain to occur.
- Sam’s chances of getting the job were doubtful because the employer was dubious of his claim that he had been president of the United States while in high school.

Question 3

indubitable

/ɪnˈdubɪtəbəl, -ˈdyu-/

Answer 3

adj. cannot be doubted; unquestionable

- Sth. beyond doubt is indubitable. A dogmatic person believes his opinions are indubitable.

Question 4

duplicity

/duˈplɪsɪti, dyu-/

Answer 4

n. the act of being two-faced; double-dealing; deception
- Dave, in his duplicity, told us that he wasn’t going to rob the bank and then went right out and robbed it.
- Liars engage in duplicity all the time; they say one thing and do another.
- The duplicitous salesman sold the red sports car to someone else even though he had promised to sell it to us.