Deck 1

Question 1

Malediction

Answer 1

Noun. Words that are intended to bring bad luck to someone or that express the hope that someone will have bad luck.

Usage: one utters, mutters, or heaps maledictions.

“he muttered maledictions to himself as he trod the stone passages”

“He was bleeding and dazed, but not so dazed but what he could heap maledictions upon the head of his superior officer.”

“For every man who tried to rub her head, there were three who muttered maledictions under their breath when she went by.”

“But the old man uttered another tremendous malediction and hurried into the street and away.”

A malediction is a curse. Not like the kind a witch puts on someone, but close. More like what the schoolyard bully says to hurt someone’s feelings. On purpose. Malediction has male in it, but it’s not a slur against men or boys. Mal comes from the Latin for “evil” and “diction,” and as you may remember, has to do with what we say. So a malediction is an evil statement directed at someone else. Pretty nasty, if you ask me.

Malediction (opposed to benediction) is applied chiefly to bitter reproaches or denunciations publicly proclaimed and bringing disgrace or ignominy to their object.

Question 2

Blench

Answer 2

** Verb.** To move back or away suddenly or react physically because something frightens, disgusts (= shocks), or upsets you:

“At the sight of the dead animal, Diana blenched.”

Indeed, again and again, I found myself reading and agreeing with Thomas, however much I blenched at the idea of making novels out of “superobjectives”, “thematic questions” and “seed words.”

To turn pale, as if in fear.
“a shudder shook the boy’s frame and his face blenched.”

Old English blencan ‘deceive’, of Germanic origin; later influenced by blink. blench (sense 2) is a variant of blanch, although in practice the two senses are very difficult to disambiguate.

Question 3

Vouchsafe

Answer 3

Verb.
1. to grant or furnish often in a gracious or condescending manner
“it is a blessing vouchsafed him by heaven.”

2. to give by way of reply
   “refused to vouchsafe an explanation”

Shakespeare fans are well acquainted with vouchsafe, which in its Middle English form vouchen sauf meant “to grant, consent, or deign.” The word, which was borrowed with its present meaning from Anglo-French in the 14th century, pops up fairly frequently in the Bard’s work—60 times, to be exact. “Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love,” beseeches Proteus of Silvia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. “Vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food,” King Lear begs his daughter Regan. But you needn’t turn to Shakespeare to find vouchsafe—today’s writers also find it to be a perfectly useful word.

Question 4

Pertinacious

Answer 4

Adjective.
1 (a). adhering resolutely to an opinion, purpose, or design
1 (b). extremely persistent
“a pertinacious salesman from whom I could not escape.”

2. stubbornly tenacious

“he worked with a pertinacious resistance to interruptions”

Remove the first syllable of pertinacious and say what remains out loud: you’ll hear something that sounds a lot like the word tenacious, meaning “tending to adhere or cling.” The similarity between pertinacious and tenacious isn’t mere coincidence; both words derive from tenax, the Latin word for “tenacious,” and ultimately from the verb tenēre, meaning “to hold.” Another descendant of tenēre is tenure, a word that is typically used of the right to hold a job (especially a teaching position) for as long as desired.

Question 5

Perquisition

Answer 5

Noun. A thorough search
“I have been the subject of police perquisitions before. “

Question 6

Forestall

Answer 6

Verb. To prevent or obstruct (an anticipated event or action) by taking action ahead of time.
“vitamins may forestall many diseases of aging”

Middle English, from forstall act of waylaying, from Old English foresteall, from fore- + steall position, stall

Question 7

Recumbent

Answer 7

Adjective. Lying down (specifically, the posture of one sleeping or resting).
“a patient comfortably recumbent in a hospital bed”

If you’re ready to take your vocabulary lying down, you’ll want to be familiar with the synonyms recumbent, prone, supine, and prostrate, all of which mean “lying down.” Recumbent, which derives from the Latin prefix re- and the verb cumbere, meaning “to lie down,” focuses on the posture or position native to sleeping or resting. Prone describes someone who is lying facedown, as, for example, in doing push-ups. Supine flips it over, suggesting the position of someone lying inert on the back, while prostrate implies a full-scale physical collapse or submission, regardless of the exact position of the defeated body. Recumbent, dating from 17th century, is the newest of the four words; the others all entered English before the 16th century.

Question 8

Sough

Answer 8

Verb. (of the wind in trees, the sea, etc.) to make a moaning, whistling, or rushing sound.
“the soughing of the wind in the canopy of branches”

Pronounced “suf”

Question 9

Waspish

Answer 9

Adjective. Readily expressing anger or irritation.
“he had a waspish tongue”

Question 10

Implacable

Answer 10

**Verb. ** Not capable of being appeased, significantly changed, or mitigated

“an implacable enemy”
“the snow was falling implacably.’

Implacable is rooted in Latin placare, meaning “to soothe,” but its im- prefix is a variant of the negating prefix in- (as in inactive) and it signals that there’s nothing warm and fuzzy here. Someone or something described as implacable cannot be soothed, which usually means trouble: implacable is most often attached to words like foe, enemy, hatred and hostility. The opposite of implacable is, of course, placable; it means “easily soothed,” but sadly isn’t called upon very often. Another placare word is likely more familiar. Placate means “to soothe or appease”; it’s frequently applied when an angry person is made to feel less so.

Question 11

Disquisition

Answer 11

Noun. A formal inquiry into or discussion of a subject.
“He launched into a disquisition on the technicality of the sport.

Question 12

Loquacious

Answer 12

Verb. To be excessively talkative.

“never loquacious, Sarah was now totally lost for words”

When you hear or say loquacious, you might notice that the word has a certain poetic ring. In fact, poets quickly snatched up loquacious soon after it made its first appearance in English in the 17th century and, with poetic license, stretched its meaning to include such things as the chattering of birds and the babbling of brooks. In less poetic uses, loquacious usually means “excessively talkative.” The ultimate source of all this chattiness is loqui, a Latin verb meaning “to speak.” Other words descended from loqui include colloquial, eloquent, soliloquy, and ventriloquism.

Question 13

Parthian

Answer 13

Adjective. Relating to, being, or having the effect of a shot fired while in real or feigned retreat

The adjective Parthian, which often shows up in the phrase “Parthian shot,” has its roots in the military strategies of the ancient Parthians. One of the fighting maneuvers of Parthian horsemen was to discharge arrows while in real or feigned retreat. The maneuver must have been memorable because “Parthian shot” continues to be used for a “parting shot,” or a cutting remark made by a person who is leaving, many centuries after the dissolution of the Parthian empire.

Question 14

Deprecate

Answer 14

Verb.
1. To express disapproval of.
“what I deprecate is persistent indulgence”

2. To belittle or disparage.
   “He deprecates the value of children’s television.”

Latin deprecatus, past participle of deprecari to avert by prayer, from de- + precari to pray

Question 15

Colloquy

Answer 15

Adjective. A conversation or dialogue.

“A colloquy between senators.”
“Evidently, a colloquy between the son of the house and a policeman was not a tradition of Warbeck Hall.”

Colloquy may make you think of colloquial, and there is indeed a connection between the two words. As a matter of fact, colloquy is the parent word from which colloquial was coined in the mid-18th century. Colloquy itself, though now the less common of the two words, has been a part of the English language since the 15th century. It is a descendant of Latin loquī, meaning “to speak.” Other descendants of loquī in English include eloquent, loquacious, ventriloquism, and soliloquy, as well as elocution and interlocutor.

Question 16

Truculent

Answer 16

Adjective.
1: aggressively self-assertive : belligerent
2: scathingly harsh : vitriolic
“truculent criticism”
3: feeling or displaying ferocity : cruel, savage

**Truculent derives from truculentus, a form of the Latin adjective trux, meaning “savage.” It has been used in English since the 16th century to describe people or things that are cruel and ferocious, such as tyrannical leaders, and has also come to mean “deadly or destructive” (as in “a truculent disease”). In current use, however, it has lost much of its etymological fierceness. It now frequently serves to describe speech or writing that is notably harsh (as in “truculent criticism”) or a person who is notably self-assertive and surly (“a truculent schoolboy”). Some usage commentators have criticized these extended uses because they do not match the savagery of the word’s original sense, but they are well-established and perfectly standard.

Question 17

Diffident

Answer 17

Adjective.

1. hesitant in acting or speaking through lack of self-confidence.

“He replied diffidently.”

2. Reserved or unassertive.

“Earl is quiet and diffident, except to express surprisingly right-wing politics.”

Diffident and confident are etymologically related antonyms, perched at opposite ends of a scale of self-assurance. Both words trace back to the Latin verb fīdere, which means “to trust.” Diffident arose from a combination of fīdere and the prefix dis-, meaning “the absence of”; it has been used to refer to individuals lacking in self-trust since the 15th century. Confident arose from confīdere, a term created by combining fīdere with the intensifying prefix con-. That term has been used for self-trusting folks since at least the late 16th century. Fīdere puts the trust in several other English words too, including fidelity and fiduciary.

Question 18

Didactic

Answer 18

Adjective. Designed or intended to teach
“The first part of the book is more didactic, with lengthy descriptions of how the operating system actually works.”

“one does not perish merely of cold, so long as food is available, he replied didactically.

Pronounced: DIE-DACTIC

Didaktikós is a Greek word that means “apt at teaching.” It comes from didáskein, meaning “to teach.” Something didactic does just that: it teaches or instructs. Didactic conveyed that neutral meaning when it was first borrowed in the 17th century, and still does; a didactic piece of writing is one that is meant to be instructive as well as artistic. Parables are generally didactic because they aim to teach a moral lesson. Didactic now sometimes has negative connotations, too, however. Something described as “didactic” is often overburdened with instruction to the point of being dull. Or it might be pompously instructive or moralistic.

Question 19

Insolent

Answer 19

Adjective. boldly rude or disrespectful; contemptuously impertinent; insulting:

“an insolent reply.”

“They were extremely insolent to the police officers who tried to get them to leave.”

Question 20

Asperity

Answer 20

Adjective. roughness of manner or of temper : harshness of behavior or speech that expresses bitterness or anger
“He asked with some asperity just what they were implying.”

“Mrs. Carstairs took him up with some asperity.”

The etymology of asperity is “rough.” It is adapted from Middle English asprete, which was borrowed from the Anglo-French aspreté, and ultimately derives from the Latin word asper, which means “rough.” Not only is asper the source of asperity, but it also underlies the English word exasperate (in fact, you can see asper nestled in the midst of that word). Although it is far less common than asperity and exasperate, the word asper itself is still occasionally used in English—it functions as a synonym of harsh, bitter, and stern.

Question 21

Sinecure

Answer 21

Noun. An office or position that requires little or no work and that usually provides an income.

“It should certainly be a sinecure in this house, I agree.”

Pronounced SIGN-a-cure

Sinecure comes from the Medieval Latin phrase sine cura, which literally means “without cure.” No, the first sinecures were not cushy jobs for those suffering with incurable maladies. The word sinecure first referred to “an ecclesiastical benefice without cure of souls”—that is, a church position in which the job-holder did not have to tend to the spiritual care and instruction of church members. Such sinecures were virtually done away with by the end of the 19th century, but by then the word had acquired a broader sense referring to any paid position with few or no responsibilities.

Question 22

Efface

Answer 22

1: to eliminate or make indistinct by or as if by wearing away a surface
“coins with dates effaced by wear”

also : to cause to vanish
“daylight effaced the stars”

“The fact that their lives also contained sources of fulfillment doesn’t efface this fact.”

Question 23

Interlineate

Answer 23

Verb. To insert between lines already written or printed.

“These crabbed, truncated interlineations”

Question 24

Protempore

Answer 24

Adverb. Temporarily; for the time being.

Adjective. Temporary (often used postpositively): “She is serving as a judge pro tempore.”

“We accept pro tempore that the hypothesis is consistent with the facts.”

“…designated him as counsel pro tempore.”

Question 25

Chary

Answer 25

Verb.
1. discreetly cautious: such as
(a) hesitant and vigilant about dangers and risks

“a government chary of getting involved in foreign entanglements.”

“he was chary of investing in oil wells.”

“he was growing chary of being too communicative about them.”

(b) slow to grant, accept, or expend
“a person very chary of compliments”
“a young girl can never be too chary of her lips.” - Hawthorne

It was sorrow that bred the caution of chary. In Middle English chary meant “sorrowful,” a sense that harks back to the word’s Old English ancestor caru (an early form of care, and another term that originally meant “sorrow” or “grief”). In a sense switch that demonstrates that love can be both bitter and sweet, chary later came to mean “dear” or “cherished.” That’s how 16th-century English dramatist George Peele used it: “the chariest and the choicest queen, That ever did delight my royal eyes.” Both sorrow and affection have largely faded from chary, however, and in Modern English the word is most often used as a synonym of either careful or sparing.

Question 26

Discommode

Answer 26

Verb. To cause inconvenience to.

“Then, again, one could legalize certain narcotics to discommode the drug dealers and adopt Steve Forbes’s flat tax to fill up the Treasury.”

“It enacts the experience, purposefully discommoding that part of the audience that has long expected plays to gratify their emotional pleasures and endorse their sense of moral righteousness.”

First recorded in 1650–60; from French discommoder, equivalent to dis- dis + -commoder, verbal derivative of commode “convenient.”

Question 27

Bilk

Answer 27

Verb.
1.to block the free development of: frustrate
“fate bilks their hopes”
2.
(a)
to cheat out of something valuable : defraud
“bilking investors out of their life savings.”
(b)
to evade payment of or to
“bilks his creditors”
(c)
to obtain (something) by defrauding someone
“The Tampa couple sent out phony sonograms and bilked money from couples wanting children, authorities say.”

Question 28

Hebdomadal

Answer 28

Adjective. of or occurring every seven days.

“the hebdomadal treat to which we all looked forward.” (Bronte)
“hebdomadal meeting”

Question 29

Moiety

Answer 29

Noun. A half.

“Assigning one a moiety to himself and a friend, and the other to Nelly and her grandfather.”

“reserved a moiety of this bounteous repast.”

Moiety is one of thousands of words that English speakers borrowed from French. The Anglo-French moité (meaning “a half” or “part of something”) comes from Late Latin medietat-, meaning “a half.” Around the same time that moiety was borrowed from Anglo-French, medietat- was also borrowed directly from Latin as mediety, a word which can also mean “a half.” Medietat- comes from Latin medius (meaning “middle”), which has contributed to such English words as medium, meridian, and milieu.

Question 30

Approbation

Answer 30

Noun. Approval, commendation. (Approbation and approval have the same general meaning, but approbation is stronger and more positive)

“submitted for her approbation before presenting the book.”
“the desire for approbation”
“a smaile of approbation.”
“burst into an expression of enthusiastic approbation.”

Approbation is similar in meaning to approval, and it is also very close to approval etymologically. Both words trace back to the Latin verb approbare, which means “to prove” or “to approve.” Approbation meant “proof” when it first appeared in English in the 14th century, and by the early 1500s it had come to mean “formal or official approval,” a sense it still retains in certain ecclesiastical contexts. Today, however, we mostly use approbation in the looser sense of “approval, admiration, or praise.” The related verb approbate means “to approve or sanction,” and the adjective approbatory means “expressing approval or commendation.”

Question 31

Barmecidal

Answer 31

Adjective. Providing only the illusion of abundance
“a Barmecidal feast”

(Usage note: almost always used in the context of food)

Barmecide is the name of a family of princes in a tale from The Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment). One prince in the family torments a beggar by inviting him to a fabulous feast, at which all the dishes are imaginary. The poor man plays along with his malicious host, pretending to get drunk on the imaginary wine; he then gets even by knocking down the patronizing royal.

Question 32

Privation

Answer 32

Noun. Lack of the usual comforts or necessaries of life.
“the life of privation began to affect his health.”
(Usage note: the act of depriving, ot an instance thereof”)

“the constant privation of sleep was starting to affect my work.”

“endured terrible privations in wartime Japan.”

Privation has become a rather old-fashioned word, and these days the word is often used with irony: present day privations are usually of the order of not having wireless Internet or video games. It’s interesting to compare privation with the similar word deprivation, which is used more commonly now. Deprivation usually suggests that someone or something has actually caused the privation.

Question 33

Asunder

Answer 33

Adjective and Adverb.

1: into parts
torn asunder

“lightening split the old oak asunder.”

2: apart from each other
“… he staggered away, with his legs very wide asunder.”
“the snow might justify their being asunder at present.”

“One of the painful paradoxes of running a family restaurant is the way immigration tears the nuclear unit asunder.”

(Usage: usually used as “torn asunder.”)

Asunder is an adverb that means “into separate pieces.” So if you’ve torn your ex’s love letter asunder, you’ve forcefully ripped it into separate pieces — and rightly so.

Asunder comes from the Old English phrase on sundran, which means “into separate places.” It is a somewhat archaic and uncommon word and many people know it only from religious marriage ceremonies: “What God has joined together let no man put asunder.” In most cases, you can use its more common synonym “apart” and convey the same meaning, unless you want to express a particularly violent or forceful ripping.

Question 34

Cachinnate

[kak-in-ate]

Answer 34

Verb. To laugh loudly or immoderately
“cachinnated till his sides must have ached.”

“No circumstance of ghostliness accompanied the curious cachination.”

“Yeah, me either, but Hardwick apparently did, ’cause we can still hear her cachinnating, so I guess my job’s done.”

“She cachinnated at her absurdity, which caused Mouse to jump on top of the washer and stare at this mad woman inquisitively.”

Cachinnate sounds like what it is: it’s what you do when you laugh loudly, guffaw, or cackle, and probably embarrass or annoy everyone around you.

Cachinnate isn’t an everyday word, and you’re most likely to come across it in literature — or on vocabulary tests. Cachinnate, comes from the Latin verb cachinnare, which also means “guffaw.” Despite the word’s ancient pedigree, it doesn’t appear in English until 1824.

Question 35

By dint of

Answer 35

Idion. By means of.

“One went to Charley Hoffman, not for his performance — just one top-20 finish in almost two years — but by dint of his commercial relationship with WM.”

“In this claustrophobic high-concept thriller, the possibility of a big climatic reveal isn’t lurking somewhere in the background like a twist waiting to happen, implied by dint of the name on the byline.”

The word dint is used to indicate that something came about through a particular force or means. So if you make a lot of money, that’s probably by dint of hard work.

Dint and dent sound an awful lot alike. The good news is that they are actually related. Dint comes from an Old English word meaning “a hit or strike,” often with a sword, and dent later came about as a regional variation in pronunciation. By dint of time, however, dent has come to mean the banged-in place where something hit, and dint is only used in the expression “by dint of” to mean “through the means of.”

Question 36

Indissoluble

Answer 36

Adjective. Unable to be destroyed; lasting.

“an indissoluble friendship”

Question 37

Uxurious

Answer 37

adjective. doting upon, foolishly fond of, or affectionately submissive toward one’s wife.

“She did find happiness in her family: Frederick’s calm, uxorious smiles.”

A man who dotes on or really adores his wife is uxorious. Your uxorious grandfather, for example, might plan your grandmother’s surprise birthday party months in advance.

Uxorious goes back to the Latin root ūxor, “wife,” and it came into English in the 16th century. Uxorious is usually negative, a way to show that a husband has too much concern for his wife or is submissive to her desires. It’s also an increasingly dated, old fashioned word, as a husband is considered uxorious if he lets his wife “control” him. There’s no corresponding adjective you can use of a wife “controlled” by her husband.