Day 10

Question 1

canto

Answer 1

division of a long poem. Dante’s poetic masterpiece The Divine Comedy is divided
into cantos.

Question 2

Canvass

Answer 2

/determine votes, etc. After canvassing the sentiments of his constituents, the
congressman was confident that he represented the majority opinion of his district. also N.

Question 3

Capacious

Answer 3

/spacious. In the capacious rotunda of the railroad terminal, thousands of travelers lingered
while waiting for their train.

Question 4

Capitulate

Answer 4

/surrender. The enemy was warned to capitulate or face annihilation.

Question 5

Cardinal

Answer 5

/chief. If you want to increase your word power, the cardinal rule of vocabulary-building is
to read.

Question 6

Careen

Answer 6

/lurch; sway from side to side. The taxicab careened wildly as it rounded the corner

Question 7

Carping

Answer 7

finding fault. A carping critic is a nit-picker: he loves to point out flaws. If you don’t
like this definition, feel free to carp.

Question 8

cataclysm

Answer 8

/upheaval; deluge. A cataclysm such as the French Revolution affects all countries.
cataclysmic,ADJ.

Question 9

Catechism

Answer 9

/book for religious instruction; instruction by question and answer. He taught
by engaging his pupils in a catechism until they gave him the correct answer.

Question 10

caucus

Answer 10

/private meeting of members of a party to select officers or determine policy. At
the opening of Congress, the members of the Democratic Party held a caucus to elect the Majority
Leader of the House and the Party Whip.

Question 11

caulk

Answer 11

/make watertight by filling in cracks. Jack had to caulk the tiles in the shower stall to stop
the leak into the basement below.

Question 12

cavil

Answer 12

make frivolous objections. It’s fine when you make sensible criticisms, but it really bugs me
when you cavil about unimportant details. also N.

Question 13

celerity

Answer 13

speed; rapidity. Hamlet resented his mother’s celerity in remarrying within a month after his
father’s death.

Question 14

centripetal

Answer 14

tending toward the center. Does centripetal force or the force of gravity bring orbiting bodies
to the earth’s surface?

Question 15

centurion

Answer 15

Roman army officer. Because he was in command of a company of one hundred soldiers,
he was called a centurion.

Question 16

cession

Answer 16

/yielding to another; ceding. The cession of Alaska to the United States is discussed in
this chapter.

Question 17

chaff

Answer 17

worthless products of an endeavor. When you separate the wheat
from the chaff, be sure you throw out the chaff.

Question 18

chaffing

Answer 18

/bantering; joking. Sometimes Chad’s flippant, chaffing remarks annoy us. Still, Chad’s
chaffing keeps us laughing. also N.

Question 19

chary

Answer 19

/cautious; sparing or restrained about giving. A prudent, thrifty, New Englander, DeWitt
was as chary of investing money in junk bonds as he was chary of paying people unnecessary
compliments.

Question 20

chasm

Answer 20

abyss. They could not see the bottom of the chasm.

Question 21

chassis

Answer 21

framework and working parts of an automobile. Examining the car after the accident, the
owner discovered that the body had been ruined but that the chassis was unharmed.

Question 22

chauvinist

Answer 22

/blindly devoted patriot. A chauvinist cannot recognize any faults in his country, no
matter how flagrant they may be. Likewise, a male chauvinist cannot recognize his bias in favor of his
own sex, no matter how flagrant that may be. chauvinistic,ADJ.

Question 23

checkered

Answer 23

/marked by changes in fortune. During his checkered career he
had lived in palatial mansions and in dreary boardinghouses.

Question 24

cherubic

Answer 24

/angelic; innocent-looking. With her cheerful smile and rosy cheeks, she was a
particularly cherubic child.

Question 25

chicanery

Answer 25

/trickery; deception. Those sneaky lawyers misrepresented what occurred, made
up all sorts of implausible alternative scenarios to confuse the jurors, and in general depended on chicanery to win the case.

Question 26

chide

Answer 26

/scold. Grandma began to chide Steven for his lying

Question 27

chimerical

Answer 27

/fantastically improbable; highly unrealistic; imaginative. As everyone expected, Ted’s
chimerical scheme to make a fortune by raising ermines in his back yard proved a dismal failure.

Question 28

choleric

Answer 28

hot-tempered. His flushed, angry face indicated a choleric nature.

Question 29

chrulish

Answer 29

/boorish; rude. Dismayed by his churlish mapners at the party, the girls vowed never to
invite him again.

Question 30

circumlocution

Answer 30

/indirect or roundabout expression. He was afraid to call a spade a spade
and resorted to circumlocutions to avoid direct reference to his subject.

Question 31

cistern

Answer 31

/reservoir or water tank. The farmers were able to withstand the dry season by using
rainwater they had stored in an underground cistern.

Question 32

clangor

Answer 32

/loud, resounding noise. The blacksmith was accustomed to the clangor of hammes on steel

Question 33

clapper

Answer 33

striker (tongue) of a bell. Wishing to be

Question 34

cleave

Answer 34

split or sever; cling to; remain faithful to. With her heavy cleaver, Julia Child can
cleave a whole roast duck in two. Soaked through, the soldier tugged at the uniform that cleaved
annoyingly to his body. He would cleave to his post, come rain or shine.

Question 35

cleft

Answer 35

/split. Trying for a fresh handhold, the mountainclimber grasped the edge of a cleft in the
sheer rockface. alsoADJ.

Question 36

clime

Answer 36

region; climate. His doctor advised him to move to a milder clime.

Question 37

cloister

Answer 37

/monastery or convent. The nuns lived a secluded life in the cloister.

Question 38

coalesce

Answer 38

/combine; fuse. The brooks coalesce into one large river. When minor political parties
coalesce, their coalescence may create a major coalition.

Question 39

codicil

Answer 39

/supplement to the body of a will. Miss Havisham kept her lawyers busy drawing up
codicils to add to her already complicated will.

Question 40

cogent

Answer 40

convincing. It was inevitable that David chose to go to Harvard: he had several cogent
reasons for doing so, including a full-tuition scholarship. Katya argued her case with such cogency
that the jury had to decide in favor of her client.