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Question 1

maelstrom

Answer 1

(n.) a destructive whirlpool which rapidly sucks in objects (Little did the explorers know that as they turned the next bend of the calm river a vicious
maelstrom would catch their boat.)

Question 2

magnanimous

Answer 2

(adj.) noble, generous (Although I had already broken most of her dishes, Jacqueline was magnanimous enough to continue letting me use them.)

Question 3

malediction

Answer 3

(n.) a curse (When I was arrested for speeding, I screamed maledictions against the policeman and the entire police department.)

Question 4

malevolent

Answer 4

(adj.) wanting harm to befall others (The malevolent old man sat in the park all day, tripping unsuspecting passersby with his cane.)

Question 5

malleable

Answer 5

(adj.) capable of being shaped or transformed (Maximillian’s political opinions were so malleable that anyone he talked to was able to change his mind
instantly.)

Question 6

manifold

Answer 6

(adj.) diverse, varied (The popularity of Dante’s Inferno is partly due to the fact that the work allows for manifold interpretations.)

Question 7

maudlin

Answer 7

(adj.) weakly sentimental (Although many people enjoy romantic comedies, I usually find them maudlin and shallow.)

Question 8

maverick

Answer 8

(n.) an independent, nonconformist person (Andreas is a real maverick and always does things his own way.)

Question 9

mawkish

Answer 9

(adj.) characterized by sick sentimentality (Although some nineteenth-century critics viewed Dickens’s writing as mawkish, contemporary readers have
found great emotional depth in his works.)

Question 10

maxim

Answer 10

(n.) a common saying expressing a principle of conduct (Miss Manners’s etiquette maxims are both entertaining and instructional.)

Question 11

mendacious

Answer 11

(adj.) having a lying, false character (The mendacious content of the tabloid magazines is at least entertaining.)

Question 12

mercurial

Answer 12

(adj.) characterized by rapid change or temperamentality (Though he was
widely respected for his mathematical proofs, the mercurial genius was impossible to live with.)

Question 13

meritorious

Answer 13

(adj.) worthy of esteem or reward (Manfred was given the congressional medal of honor for his meritorious actions.)

Question 14

mitigate

Answer 14

(v.) to make less violent, alleviate (When I had an awful sore throat, only warm tea would mitigate the pain.)

Question 15

modicum

Answer 15

(n.) a small amount of something (Refusing to display even a modicum of sensitivity, Henrietta announced her boss’s affair in front of the entire office.)

Question 16

modulate

Answer 16

(v.) to pass from one state to another, especially in music (The composer wrote a piece that modulated between minor and major keys.)

Question 17

mollify

Answer 17

(v.) to soften in temper (The police officer mollified the angry woman by giving her a warning instead of a ticket.)

Question 18

morass

Answer 18

(n.) a wet swampy bog; figuratively, something that traps and confuses (When Theresa lost her job, she could not get out of her financial morass.)

Question 19

mores

Answer 19

(n.) the moral attitudes and fixed customs of a group of people. (Mores change over time; many things that were tolerated in 1975 are no longer seen as being
socially acceptable.)

Question 20

morose

Answer 20

(adj.) gloomy or sullen (Jason’s morose nature made him very unpleasant to talk to.)

Question 21

multifarious

Answer 21

(adj.) having great diversity or variety (This Swiss Army knife has multifarious functions and capabilities. Among other things, it can act as a knife, a saw, a toothpick, and a slingshot.)

Question 22

munificence

Answer 22

(n.) generosity in giving (The royal family’s munificence made everyone else in their country rich.)

Question 23

mutable

Answer 23

(adj.) able to change (Because fashion is so mutable, what is trendy today will look outdated in five years.)

Question 24

myriad

Answer 24

(adj.) consisting of a very great number (It was difficult to decide what to do Friday night because the city presented us with myriad possibilities for fun.)