blue book #12

Question 1

effluvia

Answer 1

slight or invisible exhalation or vapor, especially one that is disagreeable or noxious.

Question 2

effrontery

Answer 2

1.
shameless or impudent boldness; barefaced audacity:
She had the effrontery to ask for two free samples.

2.
an act or instance of this.

Question 3

effulgent

Answer 3

shining forth brilliantly; radiant.

Question 4

effusive

Answer 4

1.
unduly demonstrative; lacking reserve:
effusive greetings; an effusive person.

2.
pouring out; overflowing.

Question 5

egalitarian

Answer 5

1.
asserting, resulting from, or characterized by belief in the equality of all people, especially in political, economic, or social life.

2.
a person who adheres to egalitarian beliefs.

Question 6

egocentric

Answer 6

1.
having or regarding the self or the individual as the center of all things:
an egocentric philosophy that ignores social causes.

2.
having little or no regard for interests, beliefs, or attitudes other than one’s own; self-centered:
an egocentric person; egocentric demands upon the time and patience of others.

Question 7

egregious

Answer 7

extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant:

an egregious mistake; an egregious liar.

Question 8

élan

Answer 8

1.
dash; impetuous ardor:
to dance with great élan.

2.
a combination of style and vigor:
He performed the concerto with élan.

Question 9

elation

Answer 9

a feeling or state of great joy or pride; exultant gladness; high spirits; exhilaration.

Question 10

elegy

Answer 10

1.
a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.

2.
a poem written in elegiac meter.

3.
a sad or mournful musical composition.

Question 11

elicit

Answer 11

to draw or bring out or forth; educe; evoke:

to elicit the truth; to elicit a response with a question.

Question 12

elite

Answer 12

1.
the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons with superior status.

2.
persons of the highest class:
Only the elite were there.

3.
a group of persons exercising the major share of authority or influence within a larger group:
the power elite of a major political party.

4.
representing the most choice or select; best:
an elite group of authors.

Question 13

elixir

Answer 13

1.
a sweetened, aromatic solution of alcohol and water containing, or used as a vehicle for, medicinal substances.

2.
an alchemic preparation formerly believed to be capable of prolonging life, or of transmuting base metals into gold.

4.
the quintessence or absolute embodiment of anything.

5.
a panacea; cure-all; sovereign remedy.

Question 14

elliptic

Answer 14

1.
pertaining to or having the form of an ellipse.

2.
pertaining to or marked by grammatical ellipsis.

3.
[of speech or writing] expressed with extreme or excessive economy; relieved of irrelevant matter to the point of being obscure or ambiguous:
to converse in elliptical sentences.

4.
[of a style of speaking or writing] tending to be ambiguous, cryptic, circumlocutory or obscure:
an elliptical prose that is difficult to translate.

Question 15

elocution

Answer 15

1.
a person’s manner of speaking or reading aloud in public:
The actor’s elocution is faultless.

2.
the study and practice of oral delivery, including the control of both voice and gesture.

Question 16

eloquent

Answer 16

1.
having or exercising the power of fluent, forceful, and appropriate speech:
an eloquent orator.

2.
characterized by forceful and appropriate expression:
an eloquent speech.

3.
movingly expressive:
looks eloquent of disgust.

Question 17

elucidate

Answer 17

1.
to make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain; illuminate:
an explanation that elucidated his recent strange behavior.

2.
to provide clarification; explain; illustrate.

Question 18

elude

Answer 18

1.
to avoid or escape by speed, cleverness, trickery, etc.; evade:
to elude capture.

2.
to escape the understanding, perception, or appreciation of:
The answer eludes me.

Question 19

emaciated

Answer 19

marked by abnormal thinness, caused by lack of nutrition or by disease.

Question 20

emancipate

Answer 20

1.
to free from restraint, influence, or the like; to liberate.

2.
to set free (a slave) from bondage.

Question 21

emasculate

Answer 21

1.
to castrate.

2.
to deprive of strength or vigor; weaken; devitalize; debilitate.

3.
deprived of or lacking strength or vigor; effeminate; soft.

Question 22

embark

Answer 22

1.
to board a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle, as for a journey.

2.
to start an enterprise, business, etc.

Question 23

embellish

Answer 23

1.
to beautify by or as if by ornamentation; to ornament; adorn.

2.
to enhance (a statement or narrative) with fictitious additions.

Question 24

embezzle

Answer 24

to appropriate fraudulently to one’s own use, as money or property entrusted to one’s care.

Question 25

emblem

Answer 25

1.
an object or its representation, symbolizing a quality, state, class of persons, etc.; symbol:
The olive branch is an emblem of peace.

2.
a sign, design, or figure that identifies or represents something:
the emblem of a school.

3.
an allegorical picture, often inscribed with a motto supplemental to the visual image with which it forms a single unit of meaning.

Question 26

embodiment

Answer 26

1.
a person, being, or thing giving concrete form to a spirit, principle, abstraction, etc; incarnation.

2. a bodily form, as of a spirit or an idea:
   Technology is the embodiment of human imagination; it is the manifestation of our mental models.

Question 27

embroil

Answer 27

1.
to involve in discord or conflict; to bring into contention or strife.

2.
to throw into confusion; complicate; entangle.

Question 28

eminent

Answer 28

1.
high in station, rank, or repute; prominent; distinguished:
eminent statesmen.

2.
conspicuous, signal, or noteworthy:
eminent fairness.

3.
lofty; high:
eminent peaks.

4.
prominent; projecting; protruding:
an eminent nose.

Question 29

emollient

Answer 29

1.
having the power of softening or relaxing, as a medicinal substance; soothing, especially to the skin:
emollient lotions for the face.

2.
relieving; palliative; healing.

2.
an emollient medicine, lotion, salve, etc.

Question 30

emolument

Answer 30

profit, salary, or fees from office or employment; compensation for services:
Tips are an emolument in addition to wages.

Question 31

emotive

Answer 31

1.
characterized by or pertaining to emotion:
the emotive and rational capacities of humankind.

2.
tending or designed to arouse emotion.

3.
productive of or directed toward the emotions:
Artistic distortion is often an emotive use of form.

Question 32

empathy

Answer 32

1.
the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

2.
the imaginative ascribing to an object, as a natural object or work of art, feelings or attitudes present in oneself:
By means of empathy, a great painting becomes a mirror of the self.

Question 33

emphatic

Answer 33

1.
uttered, or to be uttered, with emphasis; strongly expressive.

2.
forceful; insistent:
a big, emphatic man; I must be emphatic about this particular.

3.
very impressive or significant; strongly marked; striking:
the emphatic beauty of sunset.

4.
clearly or boldly outlined:
It stands, like a great, stone dagger, emphatic against the sky.

Question 34

empirical

Answer 34

1.
derived from or guided by experience or experiment.

2.
depending upon experience or observation alone, without using scientific method or theory, especially as in medicine.

3.
provable or verifiable by experience or experiment.

Question 35

emporium

Answer 35

1.
a large retail store, especially one selling a great variety of articles.

2.
a place, town, or city of important commerce, especially a principal center of trade:
New York is one of the world’s great emporiums.

Question 36

emulate

Answer 36

1.
to imitate, in an attempt to equal or surpass:
to emulate one’s father as a concert violinist.

2.
to rival with some degree of success:
Some smaller cities now emulate the major capitals in their cultural offerings.

Question 37

encipher

Answer 37

to convert a message or communication into cipher (a secret method of writing, e.g. transposition or substitution of letters, specially formed symbols, etc.)

Question 38

enclave

Answer 38

1.
a country, or especially, an outlying portion of a country, entirely or mostly surrounded by the territory of another country.

2.
any small, distinct area or group enclosed or isolated within a larger one:
a Chinese-speaking enclave in London.

3.
to isolate or enclose (especially territory) within a foreign or uncongenial environment; make an enclave of:
The desert enclaved the little settlement.

Question 39

encroach

Answer 39

1.
to advance beyond proper, established, or usual limits; make gradual inroads:
A dictatorship of the majority is encroaching on the rights of the individual.

2.
to trespass upon the property, domain, or rights of another, especially stealthily or by gradual advances.

Question 40

encumber

Answer 40

1.
to impede or hinder; hamper; retard:
Red tape encumbers all our attempts at action.

2.
to block up or fill with what is obstructive or superfluous:
a mind encumbered with trivial and useless information.

3.
to burden or weigh down:
She was encumbered with a suitcase and several packages.

4.
to burden with obligations, debt, etc.

Question 41

endeavor

Answer 41

1.
to exert oneself to do or effect something; make an effort; strive:
We must constantly endeavor if we are to succeed.

2.
to attempt; try to achieve or gain:
He endeavors to keep things neat in his apartment.

3.
a strenuous effort; attempt.

Question 42

endemic

Answer 42

1.
natural to or characteristic of a specific people or place; native; indigenous:
endemic folkways; countries where high unemployment is endemic.

2.
belonging exclusively or confined to a particular place:
a fever endemic to the tropics.

3.
an endemic disease.

Question 43

enervate

Answer 43

to exhaust; deprive of force or strength; destroy the vigor of; weaken, enfeeble.

Question 44

enfranchise

Answer 44

1.
to grant a privilege, right, or license to; admit to citizenship, especially to the right of voting.

2.
to endow (a city, constituency, etc.) with municipal or parliamentary rights.

3.
to set free; liberate, as from slavery.

Question 45

engender

Answer 45

1.
to produce, cause, or give rise to; bring about:
Hatred engenders violence.

2.
to beget; procreate.

3.
to be produced or caused; come into existence:
Conditions for a war were engendering in Europe.

Question 46

enigmatic

Answer 46

resembling an enigma, or a puzzling occurrence, situation, statement, person, etc.; perplexing; mysterious:
She has a perpetually enigmatic expression on her face.
This is the most enigmatic book I have ever read!

Question 47

enjoin

Answer 47

1.
to prescribe (a course of action) with authority or emphasis:
The doctor enjoined a strict diet.

2.
to direct or order to do something; urge:
He was enjoined to live more frugally.

3.
in law, to prohibit or restrain by an injunction.

Question 48

enlightened

Answer 48

to give intellectual or spiritual light to; instruct; impart knowledge to:
We hope the results of our research will enlighten the public.

Question 49

enmity

Answer 49

a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity; antagonism.

Question 50

ennui

Answer 50

a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom:
The endless lecture produced an unbearable ennui.

Question 51

ensconce

Answer 51

1.
to settle securely or snugly:
I found her in the library, ensconced in an armchair.

2.
to cover or shelter; hide securely:
He ensconced himself in the closet in order to eavesdrop.

Question 52

ensemble

Answer 52

1.
all the parts of a thing taken together, so that each part is considered only in relation to the whole.

2.
the entire costume of an individual, especially when all the parts are in harmony:
She was wearing a beautiful ensemble by one of the French designers.

3.
a set of furniture.

4.
the united performance of an entire group of singers, musicians, etc. or the group so performing:
a string ensemble.

5.
a group of supporting entertainers, as actors, dancers, and singers, in a theatrical production.

Question 53

enshroud

Answer 53

to cover with a cloth or garment; conceal.

Question 54

entail

Answer 54

1.
to cause or involve by necessity or as a consequence:
a loss entailing no regret.

2.
to impose as a burden:
Success entails hard work.

Question 55

enthrall

Answer 55

1.
to captivate or charm:
a performer whose grace, skill, and virtuosity enthrall her audiences.

2.
to put or hold in slavery; subjugate:
to be enthralled by illusions and superstitions.

Question 56

entice

Answer 56

to lure; lead on by exciting hope or desire; inveigle:

They were enticed westward by dreams of gold.

Question 57

entity

Answer 57

1.
something that has a real existence; thing:
corporeal entities.

2.
being or existence, especially when considered as distinct, independent, or self-contained:
He conceived of society as composed of particular entities requiring special treatment.

3.
essential nature:
The entity of justice is universality.

Question 58

entomology

Answer 58

the branch of zoology dealing with insects.

Question 59

entourage

Answer 59

1.
a group of attendants or associates, as of a person of rank or importance:
The opera singer traveled with an entourage of 20 people.

2.
surroundings; environment:
a house with a charming entourage of trees and flowers.

3.
in architecture. the landscaping and other nearby environmental features shown on a rendering of a building.

Question 60

entreat

Answer 60

1.
to make an earnest request or petition.

2.
to ask (a person) earnestly; beseech; implore; beg:
to entreat the judge for mercy.

3.
to ask earnestly for something:
He entreated help in his work.

Question 61

entrench

Answer 61

1.
to place in a position of strength; establish firmly or solidly:
safely entrenched behind undeniable facts.

2.
to dig trenches for defensive purposes around (oneself, a military position, etc.).

3.
to encroach; trespass; infringe on:
to entrench on the domain or rights of another.

Question 62

entrepreneur

Answer 62

1.
a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

2.
an employer of productive labor; contractor.

3.
to deal with or initiate as an entrepreneur; to act as an entrepreneur.

Question 63

entropy

Answer 63

1.
lack of pattern or organization; disorder; decay.

2.
a doctrine of inevitable social decline and degeneration.

Question 64

enumerate

Answer 64

1.
to mention separately as if in counting; name one by one; specify, as in a list:
Let me enumerate the many flaws in your hypothesis.

2.
to ascertain the number of; count.

Question 65

enunciate

Answer 65

1.
to utter or pronounce (words, sentences, etc.), especially in an articulate or a particular manner:
He enunciates his words distinctly.

2.
to state or declare definitely, as a theory.

3.
to announce or proclaim:
to enunciate one’s intentions.

Question 66

envisage

Answer 66

to contemplate; visualize:

He envisages an era of great scientific discoveries.

Question 67

envoy

Answer 67

1.
a diplomatic agent.

2.
any accredited messenger, agent, or representative.

Question 68

ephemeral

Answer 68

1.
lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory:
the ephemeral joys of childhood.

2.
lasting but one day:
an ephemeral flower.

Question 69

epicure

Answer 69

a person who cultivates a refined taste, especially in food and wine; connoisseur.

Question 70

epigram

Answer 70

1.
any witty, ingenious, or pointed saying tersely expressed.

2.
epigrammatic expression:
Oscar Wilde had a genius for epigram.

3.
a short, often satirical poem dealing concisely with a single subject and usually ending with a witty or ingenious turn of thought.

Question 71

epilogue

Answer 71

1.
a concluding part added to a literary work, as a novel.

2.
a speech, usually in verse, delivered by one of the actors after the conclusion of a play.

Question 72

epiphany

Answer 72

1.
a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

2.
a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.

3.
an appearance or manifestation, especially of a deity.

Question 73

epistle

Answer 73

a letter, especially a formal or didactic one; written correspondence.

Question 74

epistolary

Answer 74

1.
contained in or carried on by letters:
an epistolary friendship.

2.
of, relating to, or consisting of letters.

Question 75

epitaph

Answer 75

1.
a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument about the person buried at that site.

2.
a brief poem or other writing in praise of a deceased person.

Question 76

epitome

Answer 76

1.
a person or thing that is typical of or possesses to a high degree the features of a whole class:
He is the epitome of goodness.

2.
a condensed account, especially of a literary work; abstract.

Question 77

epoch

Answer 77

1.
a particular period of time marked by distinctive features, events, etc.:
The treaty ushered in an epoch of peace and good will.

2.
the beginning of a distinctive period in the history of anything:
The splitting of the atom marked an epoch in scientific discovery.

3.
a point of time distinguished by a particular event or state of affairs; a memorable date:
His coming of age was an epoch in his life.

Question 78

eponymous

Answer 78

giving one’s name to a tribe, place, etc.:

Romulus, the eponymous founder of Rome.

Question 79

equanimity

Answer 79

mental or emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain; calmness; equilibrium.

Question 80

equestrian

Answer 80

1.
of or relating to horseback riding or horseback riders:
equestrian skill.

2.
mounted on horseback:
equestrian knights.

3.
representing a person mounted on a horse:
an equestrian statue.

4.
pertaining to or composed of knights or mounted warriors:
an equestrian code of honor.

Question 81

equine

Answer 81

1.
of, relating to, or resembling a horse:
a bold, equine face.

2.
a horse.

Question 82

equitable

Answer 82

characterized by equity or fairness; just and right; fair; reasonable; impartial:
equitable treatment of all citizens.

Question 83

equivocal

Answer 83

1.
allowing the possibility of several different meanings, as a word or phrase, especially with intent to deceive or misguide; susceptible of double interpretation; deliberately ambiguous:
an equivocal answer.

2.
of doubtful nature or character; questionable; dubious; suspicious:
aliens of equivocal loyalty.

3.
of uncertain significance; not determined:
an equivocal attitude.

Question 84

eradicate

Answer 84

1.
to remove or destroy utterly; extirpate:
to eradicate smallpox throughout the world.

2.
to erase by rubbing or by means of a chemical solvent:
to eradicate a spot.

3.
to pull up by the roots:
to eradicate weeds.

Question 85

erode

Answer 85

to eat into or away; corrode; destroy by slow consumption or disintegration:
Battery acid had eroded the engine.
Inflation erodes the value of our money.

Question 86

epigraph

Answer 86

1.
an inscription, especially on a building, statue, or the like.

2.
an apposite (suitable, pertinent, relevant, apt) quotation at the beginning of a book, chapter, etc.