Chapter 18

Question 1

insipid

Answer 1

adj.

1. Lacking flavor or zest; not tasty: insipid soup.
2. Lacking qualities that excite, stimulate, or interest; dull.

Question 2

mire

Answer 2

n.

1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog.
2. Deep slimy soil or mud.
3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty.

Question 3

penury

Answer 3

n.

Extreme want or poverty; destitution.

Question 4

pusillanimous

Answer 4

adj.

Lacking courage; cowardly.

Question 5

staid

Answer 5

adj.

1. Characterized by sedateness and often a strait-laced sense of propriety; serious and conventional; sober; dull.
2. Fixed; permanent.

Question 6

vestige

Answer 6

n.
A visible trace, evidence, or sign of something that once existed but exists or appears no more: a building that is the area’s last vestige of its colonial era.

Question 7

asylum

Answer 7

n.
1. Protection and immunity from extradition granted by a government to a political refugee from another country.
2.
a. A place offering protection and safety; a shelter.
b. Protection or shelter; refuge: viewed her friend’s apartment as a place of asylum.
c. A place, such as a church, formerly constituting an inviolable refuge for criminals or debtors.
3. An institution for the care of people, especially those with physical or mental impairments, who require organized supervision or assistance.

Question 8

dolt

Answer 8

n.

A stupid person; a dunce.

Question 9

misanthrope

Answer 9

n.

One who hates or mistrusts humankind.

Question 10

pyromania

Answer 10

n.

The irresistible urge to start fires.

Question 11

vignette

Answer 11

n.
1. A decorative design placed at the beginning or end of a book or chapter of a book or along the border of a page.
2. An unbordered picture, often a portrait, that shades off into the surrounding color at the edges.
3.
a. A short, usually descriptive literary sketch.
b. A short scene or incident, as from a movie.

Question 12

colloquial

Answer 12

adj.

1. Characteristic of or appropriate to the spoken language or to writing that seeks the effect of speech; informal.
2. Relating to conversation; conversational.

Question 13

dotage

Answer 13

n.

A deterioration of mental faculties associated with aging.

Question 14

misnomer

Answer 14

n.
1. An error in naming a person or place.
2.
a. Application of a wrong name.
b. A name wrongly or unsuitably applied to a person or object.

Question 15

percipient

Answer 15

adj.

Having the power of perceiving, especially perceiving keenly and readily; insightful.

Question 16

quaff

Answer 16

v.
To drink (a beverage) heartily: quaffed the ale with gusto.

Question 17

vilify

Answer 17

v.

To attack the reputation of (a person or thing) with strong or abusive criticism

Question 18

atrophy

Answer 18

n.

1. A wasting or decrease in size of a body organ, tissue, or part owing to disease, injury, or lack of use: muscular atrophy
2. A wasting away, deterioration, or diminution: intellectual atrophy.

Question 19

misogynist

Answer 19

n.

One who hates or mistrusts women.

Question 20

perdition

Answer 20

n.
1.
a. Loss of the soul; eternal damnation.
b. Hell
2. Utter ruin.

Question 21

quagmire

Answer 21

n.

1. Land with a soft muddy surface.
2. A difficult or precarious situation; a predicament.

Question 22

vindicate

Answer 22

v.

1. To clear of accusation, blame, suspicion, or doubt with supporting arguments or proof: vindicate their reputations
2. To defend, maintain, or insist on the recognition of (e.g. one’s rights).
3. To demonstrate or prove the value or validity of; justify: The results of the experiment vindicated her optimism.

Question 23

attenuate

Answer 23

v.

1. To make slender, fine, or small: The drought attenuated the river to a narrow channel.
2. To reduce in force, value, amount, or degree; weaken: Medicine attenuated the fever’s effect.

Question 24

commandeer

Answer 24

v.

1. To seize for military or police use; confiscate.
2. To take arbitrarily or by force; appropriate.
3. To force into military service.

Question 25

drivel

Answer 25

n.

1. Saliva flowing from the mouth.
2. Stupid or senseless talk.