Chapter 13

Question 1

sequester

Answer 1

v.

1. To remove or set apart; segregate or hide; isolate
2. To cause to withdraw into seclusion: students who sequester themselves in libraries.

Question 2

upbraid

Answer 2

v.

To reprove sharply; reproach.

Question 3

antediluvian

Answer 3

adj.

Extremely old or old-fashioned; outdated; prehistoric.

Question 4

fastidious

Answer 4

adj.

1. Showing or acting with careful attention to detail: a fastidious scholar; fastidious research.
2. Difficult to please; exacting
3. Excessively scrupulous or sensitive, as in taste, propriety, or neatness; finicky.

Question 5

indolence

Answer 5

n.

Habitual laziness; sloth.

Question 6

prodigious

Answer 6

adj.

1. Impressively great in size, force, or extent; enormous: a prodigious storm.
2. Extraordinary; marvelous: a prodigious talent.

Question 7

serendipity

Answer 7

n.

1. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.
3. An instance of making such a discovery.

Question 8

uproarious

Answer 8

adj.

1. Causing or accompanied by an uproar: an uproarious New Year’s party.
2. Loud and full; boisterous: uproarious laughter.
3. Causing hearty laughter; hilarious: uproarious tales.

Question 9

chicanery

Answer 9

n.

Deception by trickery or sophistry.

Question 10

dilettante

Answer 10

n.

One who dabbles in an art or a field of knowledge without serious study.

Question 11

fatuous

Answer 11

adj.

Foolish or silly, especially in a smug or self-satisfied way.

Question 12

upshot

Answer 12

n.

1. The final result; the outcome.
2. The central idea or point; gist.

Question 13

anthropocentric

Answer 13

adj.

1. Regarding humans as the central element of the universe.
2. Interpreting reality exclusively in terms of human values and experience.

Question 14

chimerical

Answer 14

adj.

Highly improbable or illusory: “a chimerical quest for unlimited social mobility”

Question 15

pariah

Answer 15

n.

A social outcast

Question 16

urbane

Answer 16

adj.

Polite, refined, and often elegant in manner.

Question 17

antiquated

Answer 17

adj.

1. Too old to be fashionable, suitable, or useful; outmoded.
2. Very old; aged.

Question 18

choleric

Answer 18

adj.

1. Easily angered; bad-tempered.
2. Showing or expressing anger: choleric remarks.

Question 19

diorama

Answer 19

n.

1. A three-dimensional miniature or life-size scene in which figures, stuffed wildlife, or other objects are arranged in a naturalistic setting against a painted background; a model of a scene.
2. A scene reproduced on cloth transparencies with various lights shining through the cloths to produce changes in effect, intended for viewing at a distance through an aperture.

Question 20

fecund

Answer 20

adj.

1. Capable of producing offspring or vegetation; fruitful; fertile.
2. Characterized by intellectual productivity: a fecund mind.

Question 21

inebriate

Answer 21

v.

1. To make drunk; intoxicate.
2. To exhilarate or stupefy.

Question 22

marshal

Answer 22

v.

1. To arrange or place (e.g. troops) in line for a parade, maneuver, or review; to gather together
2. To arrange, place, or set in methodical order: marshal facts in preparation for an exam.
3. To enlist and organize: trying to marshal public support.
4. To guide ceremoniously; conduct or usher.

Question 23

parity

Answer 23

n.

Equality, as in amount, status, or value.

Question 24

servile

Answer 24

adj.
1. Abjectly submissive; slavish.
2.
a. Of or suitable to a slave or servant.
b. Of or relating to servitude or forced labor.

Question 25

dirge

Answer 25

n.

1. Music
   a. A funeral hymn or lament.
   b. A slow, mournful musical composition.
2. A mournful or elegiac poem or other literary work.