Chapter 9

Question 1

deride

Answer 1

v.

To laugh at, speak of, or write about dismissively or contemptuously; to ridicule.

Question 2

loquacious

Answer 2

adj.

Very talkative; garrulous.

Question 3

ordain

Answer 3

v.
1.
a. To invest with ministerial or priestly authority; confer holy orders on: ordain a priest.
b. To authorize as a rabbi.
2. To order or decree by virtue of superior authority: The management ordained that business attire should be worn in the office at all times.
3. To prearrange unalterably; predestine: events that were ordained by fate.

Question 4

precinct

Answer 4

n.
1.
a. A subdivision or district of a city or town under the jurisdiction of or patrolled by a specific unit of its police force.
b. The police station situated in and having jurisdiction over such a district.
2. An election district of a city or town.
3. often precincts
a. A place or enclosure marked off by definite limits, such as walls: the mysterious precincts of the old monastery.
b. A boundary: Hunting is not allowed within the precincts of the estate.
4. The neighborhood or surrounding area; the environs.
5. An area of thought or action; a province or domain: “It was in these spacious precincts that Dryden’s imagination was most at home”

Question 5

sallow

Answer 5

adj.

Of a sickly yellowish hue or complexion.

Question 6

cantankerous

Answer 6

adj.

1. Ill-tempered and quarrelsome; disagreeable: disliked her cantankerous landlord.
2. Difficult to handle e.g. liquid helium

Question 7

derogatory

Answer 7

adj.

1. Disparaging; belittling: a derogatory comment.
2. Tending to detract or diminish.

Question 8

impecunious

Answer 8

adj.

Having little or no money.

Question 9

lucid

Answer 9

adj.

1. Clearly expressed; easily understood: a lucid analysis of the problem.
2. Thinking or expressing oneself clearly, especially between periods of confusion; clearheaded: The feverish patient was lucid now and then.
3. Brightly lit; luminous e.g. moon
4. Clear; transparent: a lucid stream.

Question 10

ornate

Answer 10

adj.

1. Elaborately, heavily, and often excessively ornamented.
2. Elaborate or showy, as in style: ornate rhetoric.

Question 11

salubrious

Answer 11

adj.

Conducive or favorable to health or well-being.

Question 12

capacious

Answer 12

adj.

Capable of containing a large quantity; spacious or roomy: a capacious office building.

Question 13

desecrate

Answer 13

v.

To violate the sacredness of; profane.

Question 14

impious

Answer 14

adj.

1. Lacking reverence; not pious.
2. Lacking due respect or dutifulness: impious toward one’s parents.

Question 15

precipitous

Answer 15

adj.

1. Resembling a precipice; extremely steep.
2. Having several precipices: a precipitous bluff.
3. Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate: a precipitous collapse in prices.

Question 16

salutary

Answer 16

adj.

1. Effecting or designed to effect an improvement; remedial: salutary advice.
2. Favorable to health; wholesome: a salutary climate.

Question 17

capitulate

Answer 17

v.

1. To surrender under specified conditions: The garrison capitulated after the bombardment.
2. To give up all resistance; acquiesce: capitulate to the pressure of public opinion.

Question 18

exonerate

Answer 18

v.

1. To free from blame.
2. To free from a responsibility, obligation, or task.

Question 19

ossify

Answer 19

v.

1. To change into bone; become bony.
2. To become set in a rigidly conventional pattern: “The central ideas of liberalism have ossified”

Question 20

preclude

Answer 20

v.

1. To make impossible, as by action taken in advance; prevent.
2. To exclude or prevent (someone) from a given condition or activity: Modesty precludes me from accepting the honor.

Question 21

sanctimony

Answer 21

n.

Righteousness accompanied by an unwarranted attitude of moral or social superiority; smug or hypocritical righteousness.

Question 22

carping

Answer 22

adj.
Naggingly critical or complaining.
n.
Constant criticism.

Question 23

desist

Answer 23

v.

To cease doing something.

Question 24

lummox

Answer 24

n.
informal.
A clumsy or stupid person.

Question 25

ostentation

Answer 25

n.

Pretentious display meant to impress others; pretentious showiness.