Emerson Vocab

Question 1

firmament

Answer 1

n. the heavens or the sky, esp. when regarded as a tangible thing

Question 2

sage

Answer 2

n. a profoundly wise man, esp. one who features in ancient history or legend

Question 3

bard

Answer 3

n. a poet, traditionally one reciting epics and associated with a particular oral tradition.

Question 4

piquancy

Answer 4

n. a pleasantly sharp and appetizing flavor

Question 5

conciliate

Answer 5

v.stop (someone) from being angry or discontented; placate; pacify

Question 6

phlegmatic

Answer 6

adj. having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition

Question 7

capitulate

Answer 7

v. cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand; surrender

Question 8

éclat

Answer 8

n. brilliant display or effect

Question 9

Lethe

Answer 9

n. a river in Hades whose water when drunk made the souls of the dead forget their life on earth.

Question 10

disconcert

Answer 10

v. disturb the composure of; unsettle

Question 11

metaphysics

Answer 11

n. the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.

Question 12

squalid

Answer 12

adj. extremely dirty and unpleasant, esp. as a result of poverty or neglect

Question 13

contrite

Answer 13

adj. feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected by guilt

Question 14

iconoclasm

Answer 14

n. the action of attacking or assertively rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices.

Question 15

ephemeral

Answer 15

adj. lasting for a very short time

Question 16

mendicant

Answer 16

adj. given to begging

Question 17

sycophant

Answer 17

n. a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage

Question 18

rabble

Answer 18

n. a disorderly crowd; a mob

Question 19

churlish

Answer 19

adj. rude in a mean-spirited and surly way

Question 20

ameliorate

Answer 20

v. make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better

Question 21

deprecate

Answer 21

v. express disapproval of

Question 22

aboriginal

Answer 22

adj. inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or from before the arrival of colonists; indigenous.

Question 23

soliloquy

Answer 23

n. an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, esp. by a character in a play.

Question 24

jubilant

Answer 24

adj. feeling or expressing great happiness and triumph

Question 25

gaudy

Answer 25

adj. extravagantly bright or showy, typically so as to be tasteless