Favorite words

Question 1

CONTINUUM (CUN-TIN-YOU -UUM)

Answer 1

N. (pl. Continua)

A continuous or non-spatial whole or extent or succession in which no part is distinguishable from adjacent parts

OR

A “continuum” is a series of things that are quite different at each end but without much difference between the individual elements, and with the differences from one element to the next all going in the same direction.

This is a continuum:

1 2 3 5 6 7 9 10 11 13

So is this:

red red-orange orange yellow-orange yellow yellow-green green blue-green blue

Visual Mnemonic: A cro-magnon man is asked to count to ten but just sits there saying “ummm….” while scratching his head. (counting you ummmmm)

Question 2

TAXONOMY (Tax-on-omee) [re: Digital]

Answer 2

Def. - N. “The practice and science of classification”; “a hierarchical classification scheme”

Adj. Taxonomic

Examples:

Media Industry (Topic)

• Print media (Term)
  
  • Newspaper companies
    
    • National
    • Regional
    • Local
• Magazine companies
  
  • consumer
  • B2B
  • Enthusiast

Question 3

TEMPORAL (Tehmp-oruhl)

Answer 3

Adj. - 1.) “Of Earth or this world”; 2.) “Not eternal”; 3.) “of or relating to or limited by time”; 4.) “Opposed to the spiritual world”A

Question 4

OSTENSIBLE (Ah-stensable)

Answer 4

adjective

1. outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended: an ostensible cheerfulness concealing sadness.
2. apparent, evident, or conspicuous: the ostensible truth of their theories.

Question 5

INCREDULOUS (In-creadjoolus)

Answer 5

• adjective
  1. not credulous; disinclined or indisposed to believe; skeptical.
  2. indicating or showing unbelief: an incredulous smile.

“yankee’s fans were incredulous”

Question 6

EFFERVESCENT (ef-or-vesent)

Answer 6

• adjective
  1. effervescing; bubbling.
  2. vivacious; gay; lively; sparkling.

Syn - gleeful, bubbly
Antyn - stale, sober

“For half an hour everything went swimmingly, with plenty of effervescent conversation.”

Question 7

DEFERENCE (deaf-urence)

Answer 7

• noun
  1. respectful submission or yielding to the judgment, opinion, will, etc., of another.
  2. respectful or courteous regard: in deference to his wishes.

“deference and obedience to one’s elders are of the utmost importance, as are ideas of hospitality and social ties.”

“Don’t overdo it with excessive deference to the Secretary of the Treasury, or to the President. Tell them what you think.”

Question 8

DECENTRALIZE (Dee-sentral-eyes)

Answer 8

• verb (used with object)
  1. to distribute the administrative powers or functions of (a central authority) over a less concentrated area: to decentralize the national government.
  2. to disperse (something) from an area of concentration: to decentralize the nation’s industry.
• verb (used without object)
  3. to undergo decentralization: The city government is looking for ways to decentralize.

Question 9

INCIDENTALLY (insident-uhlee)

Answer 9

• adverb
  1. apart or aside from the main subject of attention, discussion, etc.; by the way; parenthetically.
  2. in an incidental manner.

“incidentally [by the way], there is no evidence that this is the case.”

Question 10

APPORTION (uh-pourshun)

Answer 10

• verb (used with object)
  syn: Allocate, partition

1. Divide into shares; to distribute or allocate proportionally; divide and assign according to some rule of proportional distribution: to apportion expenses among the three men.

“It is too soon to point fingers at individuals or apportion blame precisely.”

“He can intrude by asking to be told what no one will volunteer, or he can fairly apportion the wine.”

Question 11

EVENT HORIZON

Answer 11

1. Point of no return
2. the boundary around a black hole on and within which no matter or radiation can escape.

“And interest rates have reached the event horizon of zero.”

Question 12

ETHEREAL (Ithi-real)

Answer 12

• adjective
  1. light, airy, or tenuous: an ethereal world created through the poetic imagination.
  2. extremely delicate or refined: ethereal beauty.
  3. heavenly or celestial: gone to his ethereal home.
  4. of or pertaining to the upper regions of space.

“He later introduced more jazzy, ethereal elements into his music.”

Question 13

DUALISM

Answer 13

• noun
  1. the state of being dual or consisting of two parts; division into two.

Theol.
1. the doctrine that there are two independent divine beings or eternal principles, one good and the other evil.

“Descartes formulated a philosophy of mind/body dualism, similar to Greek and Asian thinkers before him”

Question 14

UNDULY (unn-doolee)

Answer 14

• adverb
  syn: Disproportionately, inordinately, unjustly

1. excessively: unduly worried.
2. in an inappropriate, unjustifiable, or improper manner: unduly critical.

“It has come to our attention that certain persons feel that executive-compensation packages have been unduly awarded.”

Question 15

CONGENIAL (Cun-jeeneal)

Answer 15

• adjective
  Syn: Friendly, compatible, harmonious

1. agreeable, suitable, or pleasing in nature or character: congenial surroundings.
2. suited or adapted in spirit, feeling, temper, etc.; compatible: a congenial couple.

“Being too congenial can actually be detrimental to your progress.”

Question 16

Cipher (SIGH-FUR)

Answer 16

Noun -

1. Zero
2. Something of no value or importance
3. A person of no influence; a nonentity
4. A secret method of writing (see cryptography)

Question 17

WHEREUPON

Answer 17

• conjunction
  1. upon what or upon which.
  2. at or after which.

“On one such occasion, the husband returns home a bit earlier than usual, whereupon the lover hides himself in a packing trunk.”

Question 18

SYNDICATE (Sin-di-Kate) or (Sin-di-cut)

Answer 18

• noun
  1. a group of individuals or organizations combined or making a joint effort to undertake some specific duty or carry out specific transactions or negotiations: The local furniture store is individually owned, but is part of a buying syndicate.
• verb (used with object)
  7. to combine into a syndicate.
  8. to publish simultaneously, or supply for simultaneous publication, in a number of newspapers or other periodicals in different places: Her column is syndicated in 120 papers.
  9. Television. to sell (a program, series, etc.) directly to independent stations.
  10. to sell shares in or offer participation in the financial sharing of (a risk venture, loan, or the like): to syndicate a racehorse among speculators; to syndicate a loan among several banks.

“The syndicate serves as a clearinghouse, distributing to its subscribing newspapers the comics that occupy space on their pages.”

Question 19

Divestiture or Divestment (Die-vestmeant)

Answer 19

• noun
  1. the act of divesting.
  2. the state of being divested.
  3. something, as property or investments, that has been divested: to reexamine the company’s acquisitions and divestitures.
  4. Also, di·ves·ture the sale of business holdings or part of a company, especially under legal compulsion.

“Students kicked off a campaign to decrease the University’s carbon footprint on Thursday, recruiting new members to join a national effort to convince universities to divest from fossil fuel companies.”

Question 20

ASYNCHRONOUS (Aye-sink-rownus)

Answer 20

• adjective

1. not occurring at the same time.
2. (of a computer or other electrical machine) having each operation started only after the preceding operation is completed.
3. Computers, Telecommunications. of or pertaining to operation without the use of fixed time intervals (opposed to synchronous).

“Research indicates that a complicated sales pitch is less likely to succeed using asynchronous methods.”

“One of the challenges in online teaching is the asynchronous format.”

“Pantheon features social play and a fresh new spin on asynchronous battling.”

Question 21

SYNCHRONOUS (Sink-crow-nus)

Answer 21

• adjective
  Syn: Simultaneous

1. occurring at the same time; coinciding in time; contemporaneous; simultaneous.
2. going on at the same rate and exactly together; recurring together.
3. Physics, Electricity having the same frequency and zero phase difference.
4. Computers, Telecommunications. of, pertaining to, or operating using fixed-time intervals controlled by a clock (opposed to asynchronous).

“As the lights came up, the crowd burst into the synchronous cacophony otherwise known as applause.”

Question 22

DISINCLINED (Dis-incline)

Answer 22

• verb (used with object), verb (used without object), -clined, -clin·ing.
  1. to make or be averse or unwilling: Your rudeness disinclines me to grant your request.

“…Star Spangled Banner” at President Barack Obama’s inauguration, but the country’s executive branch seems disinclined to find out.”

Question 23

COLLOQUIAL (KU-LOW-QWHEEL)

Answer 23

• adjective
  Syn: Informal, particular to an area

1. characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing; informal.
2. involving or using conversation.

“Perhaps my more colloquial understanding of random is different from the mathematical meaning.”

Question 24

DELIMIT (Diii-limit)

Answer 24

• verb (used with object)
  Syn: Delineate

1. mark boundaries; to fix or mark the limits or boundaries of; demarcate: A ravine delimited the property on the north.

“Nor does that game and list of players delimit the group’s ambitions.”

“In fact, it’s difficult to delimit the startup’s ambitions.”

Question 25

LIGHTNING ROD

Answer 25

a person or thing that attracts and absorbs powerful and especially negative or hostile feelings, opinions, etc., thereby diverting such feelings from other targets:

“The unpopular supervisor served as a lightning rod for the criticism that should have been aimed at management.”

Question 26

ANECDOTAL (Anne-eck-doetul)

Answer 26

• adjective
  1. pertaining to, resembling, or containing anecdotes: an anecdotal history of jazz.
  2. (of the treatment of subject matter in representational art) pertaining to the relationship of figures or to the arrangement of elements in a scene so as to emphasize the story content of a subject. Compare narrative (def. 6).
  3. based on personal observation, case study reports, or random investigations rather than systematic scientific evaluation: anecdotal evidence.

“This is one of many anecdotal stories spelled out in detail.”

“Yet, the players’ anecdotal evidence backs up the statistics.”

“Reliance on strictly anecdotal data causes the account to be intriguing but inconclusive.”

Question 27

ALGORITHM (AL-GO-RHYTHM)

Answer 27

An algorithm is a sequence of well defined steps leading to the solution of a type of problem.

Steps: Initialize temperature sensor > Initialize LCD > Measure temperature > Convert reading to degrees > Display temperature on LCD

Question 28

IRRESPECTIVE (Iri-spek-tiv)

Answer 28

• adjective
  1. without regard to something else, especially something specified; ignoring or discounting (usually fol. by of ): Irrespective of my wishes, I should go.

“They had to give their own opinion, irrespective of which side had engaged them.”

“We need adopt the best solutions, irrespective of Party, irrespective of the politics.”

Question 29

Stratify (Strah-tif-eye)

Answer 29

• verb (used with object)
  1. to form or place in strata or layers.
  2. to preserve or germinate (seeds) by placing them between layers of earth.
  3. Sociol. to arrange in a hierarchical order, especially according to graded status levels.
• verb (used without object)
  4. to form strata.
  5. Geol. to lie in beds or layers.
  6. Sociol. to develop hierarchically, especially as graded status levels.

“We enhanced our site-tracking by stratifying site users into internal users and external customers”

“Simply stratify by ethnic group and replot the trends.”

“Together, these developments are helping to stratify the metropolitan region.”

Question 30

TANGENTIAL (Tan-jen-shool)

Answer 30

• adjective
  1. pertaining to or of the nature of a tangent; being or moving in the direction of a tangent.
  2. merely touching; slightly connected: tangential information.
  3. divergent or digressive, as from a subject under consideration: tangential remarks.
  4. tending to digress or to reply to questions obscurely.

“One commune source of service requests that generate tangential work for our support comes in the form of status update requests for known defects”

Question 31

IMPLICIT (im-plissit)

Answer 31

• adjective
  1. implied, rather than expressly stated: implicit agreement.
  2. unquestioning or unreserved; absolute: implicit trust; implicit obedience; implicit confidence.
  3. potentially contained (usually fol. by in ): to bring out the drama implicit in the occasion.

“Google Play creates some implicit segmentation based on applications & suites”

“They never believed anyone had the implicit right to buy, sell, or barter them away.”

“That gives “implicit endorsement to the prospect that public money may be given to some charter school operators who believe that a framework of medieval beliefs is sufficient to prepare New Zealand children to take their place in the 21st century”

Question 32

REGRESSION (ri-gresh-uhn) + Regression Testing

Answer 32

• noun
  1. the act of going back to a previous place or state; return or reversion.
  2. retrogradation; retrogression.

“The same regression has affected even countries that appeared to take the boldest steps toward change.”

“But multiple regression does not provide grounds for causal attribution, any more than bivariate correlation does.”

FYI - Regression testing: is any type of software testing that seeks to uncover new software bugs, or regressions, in existing functional and non-functional areas of a system after changes, such as enhancements, patches or configuration changes, have been made to them.

The intent of regression testing is to ensure that a change such as those mentioned above has not introduced new faults.[1] One of the main reasons for regression testing is to determine whether a change in one part of the software affects other parts of the software.[2]

Question 33

RECECNCY (Ree-sensy) + The Recency Effect

Answer 33

1. ) The property of having happened or appeared not long ago
2. ) A time immediately before the present

Other: The recency effect -
(Psychology) the phenomenon that when people are asked to recall in any order the items on a list, those that come at the end of the list are more likely to be recalled than the others

“On Yelp, users will look at the recency of the restaurant review to determine if it is even…”

Question 34

PRESUMABLY (Preh-zoomublee)

Answer 34

• adverb
  1. by assuming reasonably; probably: “Since he is a consistent winner, he is presumably a superior player.”

“In the southern shaft he was stopped, presumably by the blocking door.”

“presumably that was the primary goal of the perpetrators-to attract attention, to spawn fear.”

Question 35

CURATE (KYUR-ATE)

Answer 35

Verb (used w/ object)
1.) to serve as curator for: to curate an art exhibition.

Noun - Curator

1. the person in charge of a museum, art collection, etc.
2. a manager; superintendent.

“Bands who curate a festival do more than hire and showcase their favorite musicians.”

“The truth was that he’d never thought of himself as a critic to begin with, more a curator.”

Question 36

INHERENT(LY) - (EN-HAIR-ANT)

Answer 36

• adjective
  1. existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute: “an inherent distrust of strangers.”

3. Belonging by nature

“But from a strategic point of view, intolerance has inherent limits.”

“One challenge is that there is an inherent asymmetry to his principles.”

“It has, however, highlighted the difficulties inherent in this process.”

Question 37

PRIME (PRY-MM)

Answer 37

• verb (used with object)
  1. ) to prepare or make ready for a particular purpose or operation.
  2. ) to supply or equip with information, words, etc., for use: The politician was primed by his aides for the press conference.

“Priming participants to consider the notion that morals are like facts increased …”

Question 38

ANTITHESIS

Answer 38

• noun, pl. -ses
  1. opposition; contrast: the antithesis of right and wrong.
  2. the direct opposite (usually fol. by of or to ): “Her behavior was the very antithesis of cowardly”

Rhet.

1. the placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas, as in “Give me liberty or give me death.”
2. the second sentence or part thus set in opposition, as “or give me death.”

“It is the antithesis of a resort.”

“He was the antithesis of the career politicians he was running against.”

“In essence, they are the antithesis of a true advertising campaign, which requires frequency and reach to be effective.”

Question 39

ANTITHETICAL

Answer 39

• adjective
  1. of the nature of or involving antithesis.
  2. directly opposed or contrasted; opposite.

“These men were cut down while they were in the process of trying to transform America’s political system into a peaceful one—but peace is antithetical to the big business of war”

Question 40

TRANSCEND (Tran-send)

Answer 40

• verb (used with object)
  1. to rise above or go beyond; overpass; exceed: to transcend the limits of thought; kindness transcends courtesy.
  2. to outdo or exceed in excellence, elevation, extent, degree, etc.; surpass; excel.
  3. Theol. (of the Deity) to be above and independent of (the universe, time, etc.).
• verb (used without object)
  4. to be transcendent or superior; excel: His competitiveness made him want to transcend.

“There are personal reasons for this imperative that transcend all professional satisfaction or arrogance.”

“The best toys transcend, their survival a testament to their purpose and power.”

“Should school safety transcend tax limits? Wisconsin News A Wisconsin senator wants…”

Question 41

CACHE (Cash)

Answer 41

Internet Browser Cache (aka Temporary Internet Files in IE) - Used to help improve how fast data is opened while browsing. In most cases, each time a web page is opened, it is sent to your browser’s temporary cache on your hard drive. If the page is accessed again and nothing has modified, the browser will open from cache instead of downloading again. Saves time and bandwidth

Computer - High-speed access area that can be stored either in main memory or a storage device.

Two types: Memory cache and Disk cache. Memory cache lives in RAM (SRAM). This is effective b/c most programs access the same data or instructions over and over. By doing this, you avoid having to use the much slower DRAM. Most computers come with L3 or L2 RAM, while older computers have L1.

Question 42

TERTIARY (Tur-shee-airy)

Answer 42

• adjective
  1. of the third order, rank, stage, formation, etc.; third.

2. noting or containing a carbon atom united to three other carbon atoms.
3. formed by replacement of three atoms or groups.

( cap. ) Geol. noting or pertaining to the period forming the earlier part of the Cenozoic Era, occurring from 65 million to 2 million years ago, characterized by the development and proliferation of mammals. See table under geologic time.

“Organize and group navigation into primary, secondary and tertiary sets, each containing no more than 5-7 items”

“It does not matter if it is primary, secondary or tertiary recovery.”

“The measure here would be the extent to which countries or regions create knowledge workers through tertiary education.”

Question 43

DIMENSIONALIZE (Dee-menshun-elizze)

Answer 43

Verb -
To provide with dimensions

“And then over time you build out and dimensionalize the other supporting characters”

“Good ads are immediately obvious up front and then dimensionalize and reinforce a core idea all the way along”

Question 44

CLASS (KLASS)

Answer 44

Noun

1. a number of persons or things regarded as forming a group by reason of common attributes, characteristics, qualities, or traits; kind; sort: a class of objects used in daily living.
2. any division of persons or things according to rank or grade: Hotels were listed by class, with the most luxurious ones listed first.
3. excellence; exceptional merit: She’s a good performer, but she lacks class.

• adjective
  1. Informal. of high quality, integrity, status, or style: class players on a mediocre team.
• verb (used with object)
  1. to place or arrange in a class; classify: to class justice with wisdom.

-Verb phrase
class up, Informal.  to improve the quality, tone, or status of; add elegance, dignity, style, etc., to: The new carpet and curtains really class up this room.

Question 45

CLASSIFY (Klass-ify)

Answer 45

• verb (used with object), -fied, -fy·ing.
  1. to arrange or organize by classes; order according to class.
  2. to assign a classification to (information, a document, etc.). Compare classification (def. 5).

Question 46

VINDICATION

Answer 46

• noun
  1. the act of vindicating.
  2. the state of being vindicated.
  3. defense; excuse; justification: Poverty was a vindication for his thievery.
  4. something that vindicates: Subsequent events were her vindication.

“Ethicists and pastors searched for the appropriate space between vindication and vengeance.”

“The discovery was a vindication for some and a surprise to others.”

Question 47

INCREMENT (IN-KREH-MENT)

Answer 47

Noun -

1. something added or gained; addition; increase.
2. profit; gain.
3. the act or process of increasing; growth.
4. an amount by which something increases or grows: a weekly increment of $25 in salary.
5. one of a series of regular additions: You may make deposits in increments of $500.

“If there is a raise in taxes, it should be a small increment.”

“It is impossible to grasp a discontinuous discrete increment.”

Question 48

BINARY (Bi-narie)

Answer 48

Noun -
1. Something made up of two things or parts

Adj -

1. involving a choice or condition of two alternatives
2. of or relating to the use of stable oppositions (as good and evil) to analyze a subject

Ex: A binary star is a system of two stars that revolve around each other under their mutual gravitation

Question 49

Representative

Answer 49

Adj -

1. Serving to represent
2. Standing or acting for another
3. Serving as a typical or characteristic example

Question 50

Converge + Convergence

Answer 50

Converge
Intransitive Verb (direct object does NOT receive the action)
1. to tend or move toward one point or one another : come together (Syn. Meet)
2. to come together and unite in a common interest or focus

Transitive Verb (direct object DOES receive the action) 
3. to cause to converge

Question 51

The Stickiness Factor

Answer 51

The Stickiness Factor is a law about the actual informational content and packaging of a message. Connections and the personal character of the people trying to spread a message can certainly help it spread, but if the message is not worth spreading, then it is doomed to failure. The stickiness factor says that messages must have a certain character which causes them to remain active in the recipients’ minds. Moreover, they must be deemed worthy of being passed on.

 Gladwell admits that the exact characteristics of a message which make it sticky are very difficult to pin down. The stickiness of a message can often only be determined by testing and experimentation. In most of the examples which Gladwell provides, he shows that people often find that their initial belief in the correct packaging for a message is not optimal. The message must be repacked and tweaked several times before tiny changes cause the message to become sticky.

Question 52

PERVASIVE

Answer 52

Adjective -

(esp. of an unwelcome influence or physical effect) Spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people.

Question 53

Release Valve

Answer 53

INSERT DEFINITION HERE

EX: “It’s time to give groupon a release valve”

Question 54

ENCROACH

Answer 54

• verb (used without object)
  1. to advance beyond proper, established, or usual limits; make gradual inroads: A dictatorship of the majority is encroaching on the rights of the individual.
  2. to trespass upon the property, domain, or rights of another, especially stealthily or by gradual advances.

Question 55

ADJACENT

Answer 55

• adjective
  1. lying near, close, or contiguous; adjoining; neighboring: a motel adjacent to the highway.
  2. just before, after, or facing: a map on an adjacent page.

Question 56

STRATIFICATION

Answer 56

• noun
  1. the act or an instance of stratifying.
  2. a stratified state or appearance: the stratification of ancient ruins from eight different periods.
  3. Sociol. the hierarchical or vertical division of society according to rank, caste, or class: stratification of feudal society.

Question 57

STRATIFY

Answer 57

• verb (used with object)
  1. to form or place in strata or layers.
  2. to preserve or germinate (seeds) by placing them between layers of earth.
  3. Sociol. to arrange in a hierarchical order, especially according to graded status levels.
• verb (used without object)
  4. to form strata.
  6. Sociol. to develop hierarchically, especially as graded status levels.

Question 58

RIGHTEOUS

Answer 58

• adjective
  1. characterized by uprightness or morality: a righteous observance of the law.
  2. morally right or justifiable: righteous indignation.
  3. acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous: a righteous and godly person.
  4. Slang. absolutely genuine or wonderful: some righteous playing by a jazz great.

Question 59

SELF-RIGHTEOUS

Answer 59

• adjective
  1. confident of one’s own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.
• Movies as clumsy, tasteless and self-righteous as this are worse than merely boring.
• But let’s not completely conflate our national self-interest with self-righteous moral judgment.

Question 60

INDIGNANT

Answer 60

• adjective
  1. feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base: indignant remarks; an indignant expression on his face.

Journalists get all indignant and self-righteous when someone calls out their unrealistic use of hyperbole.

But he wasn’t a bigot, and the racial controversy left him injured and indignant.

Question 61

INAUGURAL

Answer 61

• adjective
  1. of or pertaining to an inauguration: Harding’s inaugural address.
  2. marking the beginning of a new venture, series, etc.: the inaugural run of the pony express.
• noun
  3. an address, as of a president, at the beginning of a term of office.
  4. an inaugural ceremony: to attend the presidential inaugural.

Question 62

DISTILL

Answer 62

1. to extract the essential elements of; refine; abstract: She managed to distill her ideas into one succinct article.
2. to remove by distillation (usually fol. by off or out ): to distill out impurities.

Question 63

SEQUESTER

Answer 63

• verb (used with object)
  1. to remove or withdraw into solitude or retirement; seclude.
  2. to remove or separate.
  3. Law. to remove (property) temporarily from the possession of the owner; seize and hold, as the property and income of a debtor, until legal claims are satisfied.
  4. Internat. Law. to requisition, hold, and control (enemy property).

Question 64

MICROCOSM

Answer 64

• noun
  1. a little world; a world in miniature (opposed to macrocosm).
  2. anything that is regarded as a world in miniature.
  3. human beings, humanity, society, or the like, viewed as an epitome or miniature of the world or universe.

But this game proved to be a microcosm of their season, starting with a bang and ending with a thud.

Evolution of a newborn into an adult is a microcosm of evolving into something different.

Question 65

REQUIEM

Answer 65

• noun
  Roman Cath. Ch.
  1. Also called Requiem Mass . the Mass celebrated for the repose of the souls of the dead.
  2. a celebration of this Mass.
  3. a plainsong setting for this Mass.
  2. any musical service, hymn, or dirge for the repose of the dead.

Question 66

YARN (verb)

Answer 66

• verb (used without object)

5. Informal. to spin a yarn; tell stories.

Question 67

ANTIPATHETIC (Anteh-puthetik)

Answer 67

• adjective
  1. opposed, averse, or contrary; having or showing antipathy: They were antipathetic to many of the proposed changes
  2. causing or likely to cause antipathy: The new management was antipathetic to all of us.

“Antipathetic to everything we stand for”

Question 68

EXISTENTIAL

Answer 68

• adjective
  1. pertaining to existence.
  2. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of existentialism: an existential hero.

Perhaps they annoyed you before, but now they present an existential problem.

The absence of an existential threat may have made it too comfortable.
For a science writer, this quandary is something close to existential.

Question 69

CONCILIATE

Answer 69

• verb (used with object)
  1. to overcome the distrust or hostility of; placate; win over: to conciliate an angry competitor.
  2. to win or gain (goodwill, regard, or favor).
  3. to make compatible; reconcile.
• verb (used without object)
  4. to become agreeable or reconciled: Efforts to conciliate in the dispute proved fruitless.

Question 70

INITIALIZE

Answer 70

• verb (used with object), -ized, -iz·ing. Computers.

1. to set (variables, counters, switches, etc.) to their starting values at the beginning of a program or subprogram.
2. to clear (internal memory, a disk, etc.) of previous data in preparation for use.