Magoosh's Top Words

Question 1

Ephemeral

Answer 1

(adj). – short-lived

Youtube has made fame truly ephemeral. Just ask Rebecca Black.

Question 2

Capricious

Answer 2

(adj.) – unpredictable, whimsical

Because Martha was so capricious her friends felt they could not rely on her.

Question 3

Corroborate

Answer 3

(v.) – to confirm, make stronger

Three witnesses were able to corroborate Lucy’s alibi that she had been at the bowling alley at the time of the murder.

Question 4

Loquacious

Answer 4

(adj.) – talkative

Nancy was so loquacious her friends usually didn’t like to watch a movie with her.

Question 5

Esoteric

Answer 5

(adj) – known to a select few

Many jazz artists once deemed esoteric have emerged due to the greater access users have to avant-garde music on-line.

Question 6

Erudite

Answer 6

(adj.) – scholarly

A Rhodes Scholar, Max was a true erudite, and a formidable opponent on Jeopardy.

Question 7

Pragmatic

Answer 7

(adj.) – practical

Edna never cared for abstract thinking and preferred the pragmatic world of business, in which every action, ideally, has an intended consequence.

Question 8

Ambivalent

Answer 8

(adj.) – having contradictory feelings

Erin was ambivalent about her freshman year in college; her classes were fascinating but she missed her high school friends.

Question 9

Soporific

Answer 9

(adj.) – inducing sleep

Professor’s Moore’s lectures were soporific to the point that students, before they nodded off in class, would usually quip, “It’s time for Professor Bore.”

Question 10

Prolific

Answer 10

(adj.) – producing or creating abundantly

Irving Berlin had one of the most prolific careers in song-writing history; dozens of his hundreds of tunes are familiar to us. Anyone dreaming of a “White Christmas?”

Question 11

Auspicious

Answer 11

(adj.) – favorable

The team’s run for the pennant started auspiciously with 24 wins. Two starting pitchers snapped their elbows mid-season, clearly an inauspicious sign.

Question 12

Enervate

Answer 12

(v.) – to weaken; drain the energy from.

Sitting in the windowless room, the tropical humidity soaking through the walls, I was enervated before noon.

Question 13

Magnanimous

Answer 13

(adj.) – big-hearted; generous

Upon receiving his first Wall Street paycheck, Jerry was so magnanimous he not only bought his Mom a car, he bought his Dad one too.

Question 14

Mercurial

Answer 14

(adj.) – 1. Changing one’s personality often and unpredictably. 2. Animated, sprightly

One never knew exactly what the professor’s class would be like; he was so mercurial that many of his students thought of him as two different people.

Question 15

Belligerent

Answer 15

(adj.) – Inclined to fighting

After a few drinks Stevie was convivial; after two six-packs he became belligerent, challenging anyone around him to a head-butting contest.

Question 16

Fastidious

Answer 16

(adj.) – nitpicky

A fastidious eater, Herman would only eat the center of anything he touched. As a result, his plate was strewn with the remnants of his dinner, an eyesore for the hapless dinner guest.

Question 17

Reticent

Answer 17

(adj.) – tightlipped, not prone to saying much, reluctant

Paul was reticent and preferred observing others mannerisms.

Question 18

Inculpate

Answer 18

(adj.) – to charge with wrong-doing; accuse

To inculpate Eddy with the murder was absurd; he’d been bowling with Lucy.

Question 19

Extant

Answer 19

(adj.) – in existence.

Few documents antedating the advent of papyrus are extant today.

Question 20

Sanguine

Answer 20

(adj.) – cheerful; optimistic

A Yale graduate with a 4.0, she was sanguine about finding a job right out of college.