Chapter 23

Question 1

niggardly

Answer 1

adj.

1. Grudging and petty in giving or spending.
2. Meanly small; scanty or meagre: left the waiter a niggardly tip.

Question 2

capricious

Answer 2

adj.
Characterized by, arising from, or subject to caprice; impulsive or unpredictable: capricious decisions; capricious weather.

Question 3

contrite

Answer 3

adj.

1. Feeling regret and sorrow for one’s sins or offences; penitent.
2. Arising from or expressing contrition: contrite words.

Question 4

emancipate

Answer 4

v.

1. To free from bondage, oppression, or restraint; liberate.
2. Law: To release (a child) from the control of parents or a guardian.

Question 5

philistine

Answer 5

n.

1. A member of a people, perhaps of Aegean origin, who settled ancient Philistia around the 12th century BC.
2. A person who is smugly indifferent or hostile to art and culture; uncultured person

Question 6

redolent

Answer 6

adj.

1. Having or emitting an odor or fragrance; aromatic
2. Suggestive; reminiscent: a campaign redolent of machine politics.

Question 7

surreptitious

Answer 7

adj.

Obtained, done, or made by clandestine or stealthy means; sneaky; secret.

Question 8

wilful

Answer 8

adj.

1. Said or done on purpose; deliberate: wilful disregard of the rules.
2. Obstinately bent on having one’s own way; stubborn: exasperated by his wilful child.

Question 9

jingoism

Answer 9

n.

Extreme nationalism characterized especially by a belligerent foreign policy; chauvinistic patriotism.

Question 10

phlegmatic

Answer 10

adj.

1. Of or relating to phlegm; phlegmy.
2. Having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional or apathetic imperturbable.

Question 11

redress

Answer 11

v.

1. To set right (an undesirable situation, for example); remedy or rectify.
2. To make amends to: felt he should be redressed for the loss.

Question 12

benign

Answer 12

adj.
1.
a. Having little or no detrimental effect; harmless: a benign chemical; benign indifference.
b. Of no danger to health; not malignant or disease-causing: a benign tumour.
2. Tending to exert a beneficial influence; favourable: a policy with benign consequences for the economy.
3.
a. Gentle or kind
b. Showing gentleness or kindness: a benign smile.

Question 13

contumacious

Answer 13

adj.

Obstinately disobedient or rebellious; insubordinate.

Question 14

embroil

Answer 14

v.

1. To involve in argument, contention, or hostile actions.
2. To throw into confusion or disorder; entangle.

Question 15

guileless

Answer 15

adj.

Free of guile; artless; frank; straightforward; honest.

Question 16

jocular

Answer 16

adj.

1. Characterized by joking.
2. Given to joking.

Question 17

pillage

Answer 17

v.

1. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war; plunder.
2. To take as spoils.

Question 18

benignity

Answer 18

n.

1. The quality or condition of being kind and gentle.
2. A kindly or gracious act.

Question 19

contusion

Answer 19

n.

An injury in which the skin is not broken; a bruise.

Question 20

jollity

Answer 20

n.

Convivial merriment or celebration.

Question 21

nonentity

Answer 21

n.

1. A person regarded as being of no importance or significance.
2. Nonexistence.
3. Something that does not exist or that exists only in the imagination.

Question 22

bequeath

Answer 22

v.

1. Law: To leave or give (personal property) by will.
2. To pass (something) on to another; hand down: bequeathed to their children a respect for hard work.

Question 23

conundrum

Answer 23

n.

1. A riddle in which a fanciful question is answered by a pun.
2. A paradoxical, insoluble, or difficult problem; a dilemma.

Question 24

pious

Answer 24

adj.
1.
a. Earnestly compliant in the observance of religion; reverent or devout; very religious: a pious nun.
b. Showing or characterized by religious devotion: pious observance.
c. Expressive of or used in religious devotion; devotional: pious readings.
2.
a. Done for the benefit of others or with the intention of encouraging good: practicers of the noble lie and the pious fraud.
b. Sincere but wishful or far-fetched: a pious hope that the new method will work.
3. Self-righteous or sanctimonious: pious denunciations of sexual harassment.

Question 25

sybarite

Answer 25

n.

1. A person devoted to pleasure and luxury; a voluptuary.
2. A native or inhabitant of Sybaris.