#70 qualify ~ quixotic

Question 1

qualify

/ˈkwɒləˌfaɪ/

Answer 1

v. to modify or restrict
- Susan qualified her praise of Judith by saying that her kind words applied only to Judith’s skillful cooking and not to her abhorrent personality. Judith was upset by Susan’s qualification.
- The library trustees rated their fund-raiser a qualified success; many more people expected had come, but virtually no money had been raised.

Question 2

unqualified

/ʌnˈkwɒləˌfaɪd/

Answer 2

adj. complete; unrestricted

Question 3

qualitative

/ˈkwɒlɪˌteɪtɪv/

Answer 3

adj. having to do with the quality or qualities of sth.
If a school achieves a qualitative improvement in enrollment, it means the school is being attended by better students. If the school achieves a quantitative improvement, it means the school is being attended by more students.
- The difference between the two restaurants was quantitative rather than qualitative. Both served the same dreadful food, but the second restaurant served more of it.

Question 4

querulous

/ˈkwɛrələs, ˈkwɛryə-/

Answer 4

adj. complaining; grumbling; whining
Although a query is a question, querulous does not mean questioning.
- The exasperated mother finally managed to hush her querulous child.
- The querulous voices of the students, who believed that their quizzes had been graded too harshly, could be heard all the way at the other end of the school building.

Question 5

quixotic

/kwɪkˈsɒtɪk/

Answer 5

adj. romantic or idealistic to a foolish or impractical degree
The word quixotic is derived from the name of Don Quixote, the protagonist of Miguel de Cervantes’s classic seventeenth-century novel. Don Quixote read so many romances about the golden age of chivalry that he set out to become a knight himself and have chivalrous adventures. Instead, his romantic idealism almost invariably got him into trouble. To be quixotic is to be as foolish or impractical as Don Quixotic in pursuing an ideal.
- For many years Mr. Morris had led a quixotic effort to repeal the federal income tax.
- The political organization had once been a powerful force in Washington, but its membership had dwindled, and its causes had become increasingly quixotic.