Known and unknown words

Question 1

peccadillo

Venial sin

Answer 1

Slight offence

Question 2

wanton

Impetuous

Temerity

Answer 2

Reckless

Wanton describes something excessive, uncontrolled and sometimes even cruel. The principal sees a food fight as a wanton act of vandalism done with wanton disregard for the rules, but the kids might just see it as fun.

Question 3

Convoke

Answer 3

To call together to a meeting

Question 4

Distaff

Muliebral

Answer 4

Maternal side, women’s work

A persons’s muliebrity is her femininity or womanliness. An idolizing kindergartner might admire her dress-wearing, curly-haired teacher’s muliebrity.

Question 5

Misanthrope

Answer 5

Hater of humankind

Question 6

Veracity

Probity

Verity

Answer 6

Integrity, honesty

Question 7

Unequivocal

Patent

Answer 7

Clear, without a doubt.

If there is no doubt about it, it’s unequivocal. An unequivocal response to a marriage proposal? “Yes. Yes! A thousand times yes!”

Question 8

Inure

Indurate

Answer 8

Toughen up.

Question 9

consecrated

sacrosanct

Venerated

Answer 9

Sacred. Above criticism.

Question 10

Hermetic

Answer 10

airtight, isolated

If you want to keep cookies crisp for a long time, store them in a jar with a hermetic, or airtight, seal. Hermetic means sealed so that no air can get in.

Question 11

Paean

Panegyric

Answer 11

Tribute

A paean is a hymn of praise or thanksgiving. You might sing a paean in church, where many hymns extol the greatness of God.

Question 12

Revivification

Answer 12

Restore to life

Question 13

Triage

Answer 13

prioritise

Question 14

Erudite

Answer 14

Learned, scholarly

Question 15

Baleful

Answer 15

threatening harm, mean

Baleful means the foreshadowing of tragic or evil events. If no one’s listening in class and your teacher reprimands you with a baleful glance, expect a pop quiz.

Question 16

Irascible

Answer 16

easily angered, crotchety

If you’re irascible, you get angry easily — perhaps blowing up in rage when someone brushes into you.

Irascible comes from the Latin root ira, which means “anger” or “rage,” the same root that gives us the word ire, “anger.” The -sc in the middle of irascible, means “becoming,” so irascible doesn’t just mean you’re angry — it’s got action built into it. If you’re looking for a fight most of the time, then you’re irascible — ready for the spark that’s going to set you on fire.

Question 17

Politic

Answer 17

Shrewd

Your friend who’s obsessed with watching Congressional debates and listening to experts discuss the bills being voted on in the Senate has a keen interest in politics, or the details of governing or managing a state or a country.

Question 18

Invective

Answer 18

Verbally abusive

Invective is harsh, abusive language, like, “you dirty rotten scoundrel.” I’m sure you can think of harsher and more obscene examples, but we won’t get into them here.

Question 19

Ossify

Answer 19

Become inflexible in opinions.

Ossify means to become bony. When a baby is born, some of their “bones” are actually soft cartilage, which allows for growth. As the child grows, these soft areas ossify into actual bone. The knee cap, for example, begins to ossify between ages 3 and 6.

Question 20

Heuristic

Answer 20

Enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves.

A heuristic is a rule or method that helps you solve problems faster than you would if you did all the computing. It sounds fancy, but you might know a heuristic as a “rule of thumb.”

Question 21

Inconstancy

Answer 21

When your friend promises to save you the last piece of gum but doesn’t, you might curse her for her inconstancy. Inconstancy means changeability, not sticking to a predetermined course.

Inconstancy is a word often associated with love––if someone promises to love you forever in eighth grade but ends up falling for someone else in ninth, their behavior testifies to the inconstancy of their love. Or the inconstancy of youth. Or maybe just the inconstancy of love in genera