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Question 1

euphemism

Answer 1

n. use of agreeable or inoffensive language in place of
unpleasant or offensive language
An illustration of the tendency toward euphemism is the change
(reflecting the political concerns of the day) in the accepted appellation of poor countries from the unambiguous poor, to undeveloped, to
underdeveloped, to less developed, to developing.

Question 2

exacerbate

Answer 2

v. to aggravate; make worse
The release of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels has
increased the amount of this gas in the atmosphere, exacerbating
the naturally occurring “greenhouse effect” that has predominated
in Earth’s recent past.

Question 3

exculpate

Answer 3

v. to clear of blame; vindicate
The report exculpated the FBI of any wrongdoing in its handling
of the investigation.

Question 4

execrable

Answer 4

adj. detestable; abhorrent
When folk artists such as Bob Dylan began to use rock instruments,
many folk music traditionalists considered it an execrable travesty.

Question 5

exigency

Answer 5

n. crisis; urgent requirements
Astronauts must be prepared for exigencies such as damage to
their spacecraft’s life support system.

Question 6

existential

Answer 6

adj. having to do with existence; based on experience;
having to do with the philosophy of existentialism
Existential writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre have argued that
human beings are free, but that this freedom entails a burden of
responsibility that makes them anxious.

Question 7

extant

Answer 7

adj. in existence; not lost
Unfortunately for Bible scholars, there are no extant writings of
Jesus Christ.

Question 8

extraneous

Answer 8

adj. not essential
The encyclopedia editors worked hard to cut out extraneous
material so that readers could find information easily on a given
subject.

Question 9

extrapolation

Answer 9

n. the act of estimation by projecting known information
The economist’s extrapolation suggests that the economy will
grow by 4 percent next year.
The verb is extrapolate.
Strict determinists believe that it is possible, at least theoretically,
to extrapolate the future movement of every atom in the universe
based on present conditions.

Question 10

facetious

Answer 10

adj. humorous
The comedian’s facetious comments about prominent politicians
kept the audience amused.

Question 11

fallacious

Answer 11

adj. based on a false idea or fact; misleading
The belief of the Nazis that they could create a “master race” was
based on the fallacious premise that some races are inherently
superior to others.
The noun fallacy means an incorrect idea.
Critics of the “strong” anthropic principle argue that its proponents
are guilty of a logical fallacy: on the basis of one known case of
intelligent life, they extrapolate the existence of a multitude of such
cases.

Question 12

fatuous

Answer 12

adj. foolishly self-satisfied
The student could not understand why no one took seriously his
fatuous comments.

Question 13

felicitous

Answer 13

adj. suitably expressed; appropriate; well-chosen
The Gettysburg Address is full of felicitous phrases such as
“government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Question 14

fledgeling

Answer 14

n. beginner; novice
The coach said that some of the team’s fledglings would play in
Saturday’s game.
The adjective fledgling means immature or inexperienced.

Question 15

foment

Answer 15

v. to incite; arouse
The government accused the newspaper of fomenting unrest in
the country.

Question 16

forestall

Answer 16

v. to prevent; delay
The government took steps to forestall an economic downturn by
increasing government spending.

Question 17

fractious

Answer 17

adj. quarrelsome; unruly; rebellious
In an effort to unify their divided party, its leaders decided to first
placate the party’s most fractious elements.

Question 18

frugality

Answer 18

n. thrift
In these days of credit card and installment plan buying, frugality
seems to have become a rarely practiced virtue.

Question 19

fulminate

Answer 19

v. to attack loudly; denounce
The senator fulminated against what he termed “foreign meddling
in America’s business.”

Question 20

gainsay

Answer 20

v. to deny; dispute; oppose
No one can gainsay the fact that she put great effort into the
project.

Question 21

garrulous

Answer 21

adj. very talkative; wordy
The garrulous houseguest made it difficult for us to get much
work done on the project.

Question 22

grandiloquent

Answer 22

adj. pompous; bombastic
The orator abandoned grandiloquent phrases and instead uses
simple and direct language.

Question 23

gregarious

Answer 23

adj. sociable
A recent anthropological theory is that human beings are
gregarious creatures that are comfortable living in groups of
around 150 individuals.

Question 24

guileless

Answer 24

adj. free of cunning or deceit; artless
One of the charms of the novel is that the guileless hero manages
to defeat the scheming villain.
Guile is a noun meaning deception or trickery.
Playing poker well requires guile as well as skill.

Question 25

gullible

Answer 25

adj. easily deceived
Gullible members of the audience believed the young performer’s
claim that he had composed “Hey, Jude.”

Question 26

harangue

Answer 26

n. long, pompous speech; tirade
The football team sat silently listening to their coach’s half-time
harangue about poor tackling, dropped passes, and lost opportunities
to score.

Question 27

heterodox

Answer 27

adj. unorthodox; not widely accepted
The orthodox view among scientists is that the ancestors of the
great apes and humans evolved solely in Africa; however, recently a
competing, heterodox view has arisen theorizing that they also may
have evolved in Euroasia.

Question 28

histrionic

Answer 28

adj. relating to exaggerated emotional behavior calculated
for effect; theatrical arts or performances
Whenever the star of the movie does not get her way on the set,
she flies into a histrionic fit.
The noun histrionics means emotional behavior done for effect.
“Cut the histrionics and tell me how you really feel,” the woman
said to her angry husband.

Question 29

homily

Answer 29

n. sermon; tedious moralizing lecture; platitude
The pastor’s homilies have been published in an anthology.

Question 30

homogeneous

Answer 30

adj. composed of identical parts; uniform in composition
Pluralists in America argue that the country’s institutions can
withstand great diversity, and even be strengthened by it, while
those who argue for a more homogeneous society believe that such
a situation results in unhealthy contention and animosity between
groups.

Question 31

hyperbole

Answer 31

n. purposeful exaggeration for effect
The American tradition of the tall tale uses hyperbole to depict a
world in which the inhabitants and their deeds are larger than life,
as befitting a people inhabiting a vast landscape.

Question 32

iconoclastic

Answer 32

adj. attacking cherished traditions
The linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky has been
described as gleefully iconoclastic because of the zeal with which
he attacks many of the central beliefs of American society.
An icon is an image or representation.
The internal combustion engine is a ubiquitous feature of modern
industrial society, helping the automobile to become an icon of
the twentieth century, loved by many people but loathed by
environmentalists.