Deck 0

Question 1

abate

Answer 1

to decrease

NASA announced that it would delay the launch of the manned spacecraft until the radiation from the solar flares abated.

Question 2

abdicate

Answer 2

to give up a position, right, power, or responsibility

The appeals judge has abdicated his responsibility to review the findings of the high court.

Question 3

aberrant

Answer 3

deviating from what is normal

When a person’s behavior becomes aberrant, his or her peers may become concerned that the individual is becoming a deviant.

Question 4

abeyance

Answer 4

temporary suppression or suspension

A good judge must hold his or her judgement in abeyance until all the facts in a case have been presented.

Question 5

abject

Answer 5

miserable; pitiful

The novel portrays the abject poverty of many people during the Great Depression.

Question 6

abjure

Answer 6

to reject; abandon formally

Most members of the Religious Society of Friends abjure the use of violence to settle disputes between nations.

Question 7

abscission

Answer 7

the act of cutting; the natural separation of a leaf or other part of a plant

Premature leaf abscission is an adaptive plant response to herbivorous attack.

Question 8

abscond

Answer 8

to depart secretly

A warrant is out for the arrest of a person believed to have absconded with three million dollars.

Question 9

abstemious

Answer 9

moderate in appetite

Some research suggests that people with an abstemious lifestyle tend to live longer than people who indulge their appetites.

Question 10

abstinence

Answer 10

the giving up of certain pleasures

The monk’s vow of abstinence includes all intoxicating substances.

Question 11

abysmal

Answer 11

very bad

The abysmal failure of the free market system in Russia has led some people to argue that …

Question 12

accretion

Answer 12

growth in size or increase in amount

a steady accretion of the crust

Question 13

accrue

Answer 13

to accumulate; grow by additions

Regulating the growth of large companies when they begin to become monopolistic is a difficult task for government in a capitalist country; if it limits monopolies too much, the nation’s firms could become less competitive than foreign companies that enjoy the advantages accruing from greater monopolies.

Question 14

adamant

Answer 14

uncompromising; unyielding

Despite widespread opposition to his plan, the political party’s leader is adamant that the party must move to the center to appeal to moderate voters.

Question 15

adjunct

Answer 15

something added, attached, or joined

Speed walking, cross-country running, and marathons are normally regarded as adjuncts of track and filed athletics since races in these sports are not normally held on a track.

Question 16

admonish

Answer 16

to caution or reprimand

The judge admonished the jury to discount testimony that had been ruled inadmissible.

Question 17

adulterate

Answer 17

to corrupt or make impure

The unscrupulous company sells an adulterated version of the drug, and doesn’t inform consumers that they are getting a less efficacious drug than they think they are getting.

Question 18

scrupulous

Answer 18

having or showing a strict regard for what one considers right; principled; 実直な

Question 19

affected

Answer 19

acted upon; influenced in a harmful way; impaired, harmed, or attacked, as by climate or disease.

It has been argued that the emphasis on so-called “proper-English” leads to unnatural and affected speech.

Question 20

affinity

Answer 20

fondness, liking; similarity

The female students in the class felt an affinity for the ancient Greek playwright Euripides because he sympathized with women, slaves, and other despised members of his society.

Question 21

aggrandize

Answer 21

to make larger or greater

One of the concerns of the framers of the U.S. Constitution was that one branch of government would try to aggrandize itself at the expense of the others.

Question 22

aggregate

Answer 22

amounting to a whole; total

The aggregate wealth of a country includes private as well as public resources and possessions.

Question 23

alacrity

Answer 23

cheerful willingness; eagerness; speed

The football coach was pleased to see the team get to work on the task of improving its tackling skills with alacrity.

Question 24

allay

Answer 24

to lessen; ease; soothe

Improvements in antivirus software have allayed many people’s fears of having their computers “infected” with malicious software.

Question 25

alleviate

Answer 25

to relieve; improve partially

Capitalism is very efficient at increasing absolute wealth but it is not as successful at alleviating relative poverty.

Question 26

alloy

Answer 26

a combination; a mixture of two or more metals

Scientists formulate alloys to create properties that are not possessed by natural metals or other substances.

Question 27

allure

Answer 27

n.v. the power to entice by charm;
to entice by charm

Political groups in the United States often lobby Congress to use the allure of America’s vast market as an incentive for countries to pursue policies in accordance with American policies.

Question 28

amalgamate

Answer 28

to combine into a unified whole

In early 1999, six municipalities were amalgamated into an enlarged city of Toronto, Canada.

Question 29

ambivalence

Answer 29

the state of having conflicting emotional attitudes

Johne felt some ambivalence about getting married before finishing college.

Question 30

ambrosia

Answer 30

something delicious; the food of the gods

The combination of flavors in the Moroccan backed eggplant was pure ambrosia.

Question 31

ameliorate

Answer 31

to improve

Knowing they could not stop the spread of a contagion in a few days, health authorities worked to inhibit its spread and to ameliorate its effects by issuing warnings to the public and initiating immunization programs.

Question 32

amenable

Answer 32

agreeable; cooperative; suited

The young writer is amenable to suggestions for improving her prose style to make it more interesting.

Question 33

amenity

Answer 33

something that increases comfort

Many amenities considered normal and necessary by people in developed countries, such as indoor plumbing, were luxuries only a few generations ago.

Question 34

anachronism

Answer 34

something out of the proper time

Some experts regard the retirement age of 65 as an anachronism at a time when people in the developed world have much longer life expectancies than previously.

Question 35

analgesic

Answer 35

medication that reduces or eliminates pain

Aspirin is a powerful analgesic that was introduced in 1899 and is still one of the most effective medicines available to alleviate pain, fever, and inflammation.

Question 36

anodyne

Answer 36

something that calms or soothes pain

Some people use alcohol as an anodyne to numb their emotional pain.

Question 37

anomalous

Answer 37

irregular; deviating from the norm

The psychologist discounted the anomalous behavior of the soldier, saying it was merely a short-term effect of the stress of battle.

Question 38

antecedent

Answer 38

something that comes before

an antecedent event

Question 39

antediluvian

Answer 39

prehistoric

Most of our knowledge of antediluvian times has been built up as a result of one of humanity’s grandest collaborative endeavors - the gathering, identification, dating, and categorization of fossils as they are discovered.

Question 40

antipathy

Answer 40

dislike; hostility

Heathcliff feels great antipathy for Edgar, the man who marries the woman he loves.

Question 41

apathy

Answer 41

indifference

Apathy was high in the election because there was no major controversy or issue to arouse voter interest.

Question 42

apex

Answer 42

the highest point

In English literature, classicism reached its apex in the poertry of Alexander Pope and the other Augustans.

Question 43

apogee

Answer 43

the point in an orbit most distant from the body being orbited; the highest point

The Ottoman Empire reached its apogee in the seventeenth century, when it controlled a territory running from Budapest to North Africa.

Question 44

apothegm

Answer 44

a terse, witty saying

One of the best-known political apothegms was written by the British historian Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Question 45

appease

Answer 45

to calm; pacify; placate

Many historians have criticized British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for trying to appease Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.