#46 hackneyed ~ hypothetical

Question 1

hackneyed

/ˈhæknid/

Answer 1

adj. overused; trite; stale
- Michael’s book was full of clichés and hackneyed phrases.
- The intelligent design issue had been discussed so much as to become hackneyed.
“As cold as ice” is a hackneyed expression.

Question 2

hapless

/ˈhæplɪs/

Answer 2

adj. unlucky
- Joe’s hapless search for fun led him from one disappointment to another.
- Alex led a hapless existence that made all his friends’ lives seem fortunate by comparison.

Question 3

harbinger

/ˈhɑrbɪndʒər/

Answer 3

n. a forerunner; a signal of
Warm weather is the harbinger of spring.
- A cloud of bad breath and body odor, which preceded him by several yards everywhere he went, was Harold’s harbinger.

Question 4

hedonism

/ˈhidnˌɪzəm/

Answer 4

n. the pursuit of pleasure as a way of life
A hedonist practices hedonism twenty-four hours a day.
- Yoshi’s life of hedonism came to an end when his lottery winnings ran out; his massaging armchair and wide-screen TV were repossessed, he had to eat macaroni and cheese instead of champagne and lobster, and he could no longer pay to have models fan him with palm fronds and feed him grapes.

Question 5

hegemony

/hɪˈdʒɛməni, ˈhɛdʒəˌmoʊni/

Answer 5

n. leadership, esp. of one nation over another
- America once held an unchallenged nuclear hegemony.
- Japan and Germany vie for hegemony in the foreign-car market.

Question 6

heresy

/ˈhɛrəsi/

Answer 6

n. any belief that is strongly opposed to established beliefs
Galileo was tried for the heresy of suggesting that the sun did not revolve around Earth. He was almost convicted of being a heretic, but he recanted his heretical view.

Question 7

heyday

/ˈheɪˌdeɪ/

Answer 7

n. golden age; prime
- In his heyday, Vernon was a world-class athlete; today he’s just Vernon.
- The heyday of the British Navy ended a long, long time ago.

Question 8

hiatus

/haɪˈeɪtəs/

Answer 8

n. a break or interruption, often from work

- Spencer looked forward to spring break as a welcome hiatus from the rigors of campus parties.

Question 9

hierarchy

/ˈhaɪəˌrɑrki, ˈhaɪrɑr-/

Answer 9

n. an organization based on rank or degree; pecking order
- Kendra was very low in the State Department hierarchy. In fact, her phone number wasn’t even listed in the State Department directory.
- There appeared to be no hierarchy in the newly discovered tribe; there were no leaders and, for that matter, no followers.
The adjective is hierarchical.

Question 10

histrionic

/ˌhɪstriˈɒnɪk/

Answer 10

adj. overly dramatic; theatrical
- Adele’s histrionic request for a raise embarrassed everyone in the office. She gesticulated wildly, jumped up and down, pulled out handfuls of hair, threw herself to the ground, and groaned in agony.
- The chairman’s histrionic presentation persuaded no one.
- The young actor’s histrionics made everyone in the audience squirm.
Histrionic behavior is referred to as histrionics.

Question 11

homily

/ˈhɒməli/

Answer 11

n. a sermon

- The football coach often began practice with a lengthy homily on the virtues of clean living.

Question 12

homogeneous

/ˌhoʊməˈdʒiniəs, -ˈdʒinyəs, ˌhɒmə-/

Answer 12

adj. uniform; made entirely of one thing
- The kindergarten class was extremely homogeneous: All the children had blond hair, blue eyes, red shoes, and the same last name.
Homogenized milk is milk in which the cream, which usually floats on top, has been permanently mixed with the rest of the milk. (Skim milk is milk from which the layer of cream has been skimmed off.) When milk is homogenized, it becomes a homogeneous substance - that is, it’s same throughout, or uniform.
The noun is homogeneity.

Question 13

heterogeneous

/ˌhɛtərəˈdʒiniəs, -ˈdʒinyəs/

Answer 13

adj. mixed or varied
- On Halloween the children amassed a heterogeneous collection of candy, chewing gum, popcorn, and cookies.
The noun is heterogeneity.

Question 14

husbandry

/ˈhʌzbəndri/

Answer 14

n. thrifty management of resources; live-stock farming
Husbandry is the practice of conserving money or resources. To husband is to economize.
- Everyone husbanded oil and electricity during the energy crisis of the 1970s.

Question 15

hyperbole

/haɪˈpɜrbəli/

Answer 15

n. an exaggeration used as a figure of speech; exaggeration
- When Joe said, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” he was using hyperbole to convey the extent of his hunger.
- The candidate was guilty of hyperbole; all the facts in his speech were exaggerated.

Question 16

hypothetical

/ˌhaɪpəˈθɛtɪkəl/

Answer 16

adj. uncertain; unproven
- There were several hypothetical explanations for the strange phenomenon, but no one could say for certain what had caused it.
A hypothetical explanation is a hypothesis, the plural of which is hypotheses.