Day 27

Question 1

speculate

Answer 1

Contemplate; make a guess or educated guess
about; engage in a risky business transaction,
gamble

He speculated as to whether she would come.

Question 2

sporadic

Answer 2

Occasional, happening irregularly or in
scattered locations

Sporadic cases of the disease were reported.

Question 3

sportive

Answer 3

Playful, merry, joking around, done “in sport”
(rather than intended seriously)

a sportive pastor who began every sermon with a joke

Question 4

squalid

Answer 4

Disgusting, filthy, foul, extremely neglected

“the squalid, overcrowded prison”

Question 5

squelch

Answer 5

Crush, squash; suppress or silence; walk
through ooze or in wet shoes, making a
smacking or sucking sound

“bedraggled/dishevelled guests squelched across the lawns”

Question 6

standing

Answer 6

Status, rank, reputation (noun); existing

indefinitely, not movable (adj)

Question 7

stark

Answer 7

Complete, total, utter; harsh or grim; extremely
simple, severe, blunt, or plain

“he came running back in stark terror”

Question 8

stasis

Answer 8

Equilibrium, a state of balance or inactivity, esp.
caused by equal but opposing forces

The country is in economic stasis.

His art was characterized by bursts of creativity followed by long periods of stasis.

Question 9

status quo

Answer 9

Existing state or condition

“they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo”

He is content with the status quo and does not like change.

Question 10

steeped

Answer 10

Immersed (in), saturated (with)

practices steeped in tradition

Question 11

stentorian

Answer 11

Very loud and powerful (generally of a human
voice)

“a stentorian roar”

Question 12

stigma

Answer 12

Mark of disgrace, a figurative stain or mark on
someone’s reputation

“the stigma of having gone to prison will always be with me”

Question 13

stingy

Answer 13

Not generous with money, reluctant to spend or

give; mean, miserly, parsimonious,niggardly

Question 14

stint

Answer 14

Period of time spent doing something, or a
specific, limited amount of work (noun); to be
frugal, to get by on little (verb)

“his varied career included a stint as a magician”

“he doesn’t stint on wining and dining”

Question 15

stipulate

Answer 15

Specify; make an open demand, esp. as a
condition of agreement

“he stipulated certain conditions before their marriage”

Question 16

stoic or

stoical

Answer 16

Indifferent to pleasure or pain, enduring
without complaint; person indifferent to
pleasure or pain (noun)

a stoic indifference to cold

Question 17

stolid

Answer 17

Unemotional, showing little emotion, not
easily moved,impassive, phlegmatic, unemotional

the butler responded to the duchess’s constant demands with stolid indifference

Question 18

stratagem

Answer 18

Military maneuver to deceive or surprise;
crafty scheme

tried various stratagems to get the cat into the carrier, but the feisty feline was wise to them all

Question 19

stratum

Answer 19

One of many layers (such as in a rock

formation or in the classes of a society)

Question 20

strut

Answer 20

A structural support or brace

swagger, swank, parade, prance, flounce

Question 21

subjective

Answer 21

Existing in the mind or relating to one’s own
thoughts, opinions, emotions, etc.; personal,
individual, based on feelings

Question 22

sublime

Answer 22

Lofty or elevated, inspiring reverence or awe;
excellent, majestic; complete, utter

He composed some of the most sublime symphonies in existence.

sublime ignorance

Question 23

subpoena

Answer 23

A court order requiring a person to appear in

court and give testimony

Question 24

subside

Answer 24

Sink, settle down, become less active; return to
a normal level

After his anger had subsided, he was able to look at things rationally.

The pain will subside in a couple of hours.

Question 25

substantiate

Answer 25

Support with evidence or proof; give a material
existence to

substantiated his claim to local mountaineering fame with a photo of himself on the summit of Mount McKinley

Question 26

sully

Answer 26

Make dirty, stain, tarnish, defile, soiled

a once-gleaming marble interior sullied by decades of exposure to cigarette smoke

Question 27

supplant

Answer 27

Take the place of, displace, especially through

sneaky tactics

Question 28

supplicate

Answer 28

Pray humbly; ask, beg, or seek in a humble
way

the minister reminded his flock that God is a being to be obeyed and worshipped always and not just someone to be supplicated in times of trouble

Question 29

supposition

Answer 29

Assumption, hypothesis, something that has
been supposed

a supposition that proved correct

This is just idle supposition.

Question 30

surfeit

Answer 30

Excess, excessive amount, overindulgence

having surfeited ourselves on raw oysters, we had to decline the rest of the restaurant’s offerings

Question 31

sublimate

Answer 31

to divert the expression of (an instinctual desire or impulse) from its unacceptable form to one that is considered more socially or culturally acceptable

She sublimated her erotic feelings into a series of paintings.