Hit Parade 1 (3 of 3)

Question 1

perspicacious

Answer 1

adj - acutely perceptive (noun = perspicacity)

Many perspicacious investors sold their tech stocks long before the market crashed.

Question 2

prattle

Answer 2

verb - to babble meaninglessly

He could not tolerate how she prattled about the weather and commute times every day.

Question 3

precipitate

Answer 3

verb - to cause or happen before anticipated or required

Even though Mark is experiencing pain in his ankle, he cannot think of anything he did to precipitate the injury.

adj - acting with excessive haste or impulse

She was a precipitate liar, making up stories about herself the moment she suspected someone might not think highly of her.

Question 4

predilection

Answer 4

noun - preference

I have a predilection for rap music above all other types of music.

Question 5

prescience

Answer 5

noun - knowing of events before they occur (adj = prescient)

Because Janet was amazed by the psychic’s prescience, she visited her on a regular basis.

Question 6

prevaricate

Answer 6

verb - to deliberately avoid the truth

Knowing that his mother would be angry if she knew what he did last night, he prevaricated and told her he went to the movies.

Question 7

qualms

Answer 7

noun - misgivings, reservations

I have no qualms about trying something new; it always ends up to be a pleasant experience.

Question 8

recant

Answer 8

verb - to retract, especially a previously held belief

The judge ordered the magazine to recant the false statements it made about the actress.

Question 9

refute

Answer 9

verb - to disprove

The evidence provided by the prosecutor will refute the defendant’s claim of innocence.

Question 10

relegate

Answer 10

verb - to forcibly assign, especially to a lower place or position

After the lead actors had been repeatedly late for rehearsal, the director decided to relegate them to the chorus and replace them with their understudies.

Question 11

reticent

Answer 11

adj - quite, reserved

No matter how hard we tried to get him to open up about his feelings, he remained reticent.

Question 12

solicitous

Answer 12

adj - concerned and attentive; eager

I am going to keep a solicitous eye out for criminals in this hard-hit neighborhood.

Question 13

sordid

Answer 13

adj - foul

It was a sordid love affair that ended with the man and his mistress being murdered by his angry wife.

Question 14

sporadic

Answer 14

adj - occurring only occasionally or in scattered instances

Her church attendance was sporadic; she only attended a service maybe three times a year.

Question 15

squander

Answer 15

verb - to waste by spending/using irresponsibly

He won $80 million in the lottery, but squandered it within a year on luxury cars and homes until he had nothing left.

Question 16

static

Answer 16

adj - not moving, or changing

The amount of emails coming into the box was static; they hadn’t seen a new one in over three hours.

Question 17

stupefy

Answer 17

verb - to stun, baffle, or amaze

The audience was stupefied by the magician’s last trick, during which he made a car disappear.

Question 18

stymie

Answer 18

verb - to block/thwart

My rival did everything she could to stymie my efforts to become homecoming queen.

Question 19

synthesis

Answer 19

noun - the combination of parts to make a whole (verb = synthesize)

Without the synthesis of new antibiotics, medical science cannot destroy bacteria that have become immune to current treatments.

Question 20

torque

Answer 20

noun - a force that causes rotation

If you apply too much torque to a bolt, it will break.

Question 21

tortuous

Answer 21

adj - excessively complicated; winding

The directions she gave were torturous, taking them along abandoned side streets and torturous roads.

Question 22

truculent

Answer 22

adj - eager to fight

He was a very truculent young man, picking fights with pretty much anyone who spoke a word to him.

Question 23

veracity

Answer 23

noun - truthfulness, honesty

The veracity of her tale came into question when her mother said she had never been to Germany.

Question 24

virulent

Answer 24

adj - extremely harmful; bitterly hostile

Local law authorities investigated Mitchell after he was suspected of stealing a virulent disease that could kill millions of people.

He was virulent towards anyone who disagreed with his ideas, starting fights and making threats.

Question 25

voracious

Answer 25

adj - having an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit

She was a voracious reader, sometimes finishing three novels in one day.

Question 26

waver

Answer 26

verb - to sway, to be unsettled in opinion

Her confidence would often waver when someone pointed out one of her mistakes, resulting in her bursting into tears and thinking she wasn’t good enough.