A vocab

Question 1

Abash

Answer 1

to make ashamed; to embarrass

Meredith felt abashed by her inability to remember her lines in the school chorus of “Old McDonald had a Farm.”

Question 2

Abate

Answer 2

to subside; to reduce

George spilled a cup of hot coffee on his leg. It quite hurt a bit. Then, gradually, the agony abated.

Question 3

Abdicate

Answer 3

to step down the position of power or responsibility

When King Eduard VIII of England decided he would rather be married to Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American divorcee, than be king of England, he turned in his crown and abdicated

Question 4

Aberration

Answer 4

something not typical, a deviation from the standard

Soren’s bad behavior was an aberration. So was harry’s good behavior. That is, Soren’s was usually good, and Harry’s was usually bad.

Question 5

Abhor

Answer 5

to hate very, very much; to detest

Emanuel abhorred having to wake up before dawn.

Question 6

Abject

Answer 6

hopeless; extremely sad and servile; defeated

While most people would quickly recover from a stumble on stage, Mia felt abject humiliation.

Question 7

Abnegate

Answer 7

to deny oneself things; to reject; to renounce

Ascetics practice self-abnegation because they believe it will bring them closer to spiritual purity.

Question 8

Abortive

Answer 8

unsuccessful

Marie and Elizabeth made an abortive effort to bake a birthday cake; that is, their effort did not result in a birthday cake.

Question 9

Abridge

Answer 9

to shorten; to condense

The thoughtful editor abridged the massive book by removing the boring parts.

Question 10

Absolute

Answer 10

total; unlimited

An absolute ruler is one who is ruled by no one else. An absolute mess is a total mess. An absolute rule is one that has no exceptions and that you must follow, no two ways about it.

Question 11

Absolve

Answer 11

to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation

The priest absolved the sinner who had come to church to confess.

Question 12

Abstinent

Answer 12

abstaining; voluntarily not doing something, especially something pleasant that is bad for you or has a bad reputation

Beulah used to be a smoker; now she’s abstinent

Question 13

Abstract

Answer 13

theoretical; impersonal

He liked oysters in the abstract, but when he actually tried one he became nauseated.

Question 14

Abstruse

Answer 14

hard to understand

The professor’s article, on the meaning of meaning, was abstruse. Michael couldn’t even pronounce the words in it.

Question 15

Abysmal

Answer 15

extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless

An abyss is a bottomless pit, or something so deep that it seems bottomless. Abysmal despair is despair so deep that no hope seems possible.

Question 16

Accolade

Answer 16

an award; an honor

The first break-dancing troupe to perform in Carnegie hall, the Teflon Toughs, received accolades from the critics as from the fans.

Question 17

Accost

Answer 17

to approach and speak to someone aggressively

Amanda karate-chopped the stranger who accosted her in the street and was embarrassed to find he was an old, blind man.

Question 18

Acerbic

Answer 18

sour; severe; like acid in temper, mood, or tone

Barry sat silently as his friends read the teacher’s acerbic comments on his paper.

Question 19

Aquiesce

Answer 19

to comply passively; to accept; to assent; to agree

The pirates asked Pete to walk the plank; he took one look at their swords and acquiesced.

Question 20

Acrid

Answer 20

harshly pungent; bitter

The cheese we had at the party had an acrid taste; it was harsh and unpleasant.

Question 21

Acrimonious

Answer 21

full of spite; bitter; nasty

George and Elizabeth’s discussion turned acrimonious when Elizabeth introduced the subject of George’s perennial(continuous), incorrigible(고질적인) stupidity.

Question 22

Acumen

Answer 22

keenness of judgement; mental sharpness

A woman who knowns how to turn one dollar into a million overnight might be said to have a lot of business acumen.

Question 23

Acute

Answer 23

sharp; shrewd

If your eyesight is acute, you can see things that other people can’t

Question 24

Adamant

Answer 24

stubborn; unyielding; completely inflexible

Candice was adamant; she would never go out with Paul again.

Question 25

Address

Answer 25

to speak to; to direct one’s attention to

To address a convention is to give a speech to the convention. To address a problem is to face it and set about solving it.

Question 26

Adherent

Answer 26

follower; supporter; believer

The king’s adherents threw a big birthday party for him, just to show how much they liked him.

Question 27

Admonish

Answer 27

to scold gently; to warn

The boys’ father admonished them not to eat the pie he had just baked. When they did so anyway, he admonished them.

Question 28

Adroit

Answer 28

skilfull; dexterous

Julio was an adroit salesperson; his highly skilled pitch, backed up by extensive product knowledge, nearly always resulted in a sale.

Question 29

Adulation

Answer 29

wild or excessive admiration; flattery

The boss thrived on the adulation of his scheming secretary.

Question 30

Adulterate

Answer 30

to contaminate; to make impure

We discovered that the town’s drinking water had radioactive waste in it; we discovered, in other words, that it had been adulterated.

Question 31

Adverse

Answer 31

unfavorable; antagonistic

We had to play our soccer match under adverse conditions: it was snowing, and only three members of our team had bothered to show up.

Question 32

Aesthetic

Answer 32

having to do with artistic beauty; artistic

Our art professor had a highly developed aesthetic sense; he found things to admire in paintings that, to us, looked like garbage.

Question 33

Affable

Answer 33

easy to talk to; friendly

Susan was an affable girl; she could strike up a pleasant conversation with almost everyone.

Question 34

Affectation

Answer 34

unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress
Becky’s English accent is an affectation. She spent only a week in England, and that was several years ago.

Question 35

Affinity

Answer 35

sympathy; attraction; kinship; similarity

Ducks have an affinity for water; that is, they like to be in it.

Question 36

Affluent

Answer 36

rich; prosperous

A person can be affluent; all it takes is money. A country can be affluent, too, if it’s full of affluent people.

Question 37

Agenda

Answer 37

program; the things to be done

What’s on the agenda for the board meeting? A little gossip, then lunch.

Question 38

Aggregate

Answer 38

sum total; a collection of separate things mixed together

Chili is an aggregate of meat and beans.

Question 39

Agnostic

Answer 39

one who believes that the existence of a god can be neither proven nor disproven

An atheist is someone who does not believe in god. An agnostic, on the other hand, is not sure. He or she doesn’t believe but doesn’t not believe, either.

Question 40

Agrarian

Answer 40

relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land

Agrarian usually has to do with farming. Think of agriculture.

Question 41

Alacrity

Answer 41

cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond

David could hardly wait for his parents to leave; he carried their luggage out to the car with great alacrity.

Question 42

Allege

Answer 42

to assert without proof

If I say “Cedrick alleges that I stole his hat,” I am saying two things:

1. Cedrick says I stole his hat.
2. I say I didn’t do it.

Question 43

Alleviate

Answer 43

to relieve, usually temporarily or incompletely; to make bearable; to lessen

Visiting the charming pet cemetery alleviated the woman’s grief over the death of her canary.

Question 44

Allocate

Answer 44

to distribute; to assign; to allot

The event had been a big failure, and David, Aaliyah, and Jan spent several hours attempting to allocate the blame. In the end, they decided it had all been Jan’s fault.