manhattan #4 essential

Question 1

scant

Answer 1

not enough or barely enough “the new intern was scant help at the conference - he disappeared all day to smoke” “people complaining of scanty rations” a modicum, scintilla, iota, mite or tad is small amount of something. A paucity or dearth is a lack of something.

Question 2

turbid

Answer 2

water that is muddy and not clear because it has been stirred up dirt and mud. Metaphorically it can mean obscured or confused as in turbid feelings.

Question 3

futile

Answer 3

producing no useful result, ineffective, trivial or unimportant, related words include bootless (useless) and otiose (lazy idle or useless)

Question 4

remedial

Answer 4

providing a remedy, curative, correcting a deficient skill- something irremediable cannot be remediated

Question 5

eclectic

Answer 5

selecting the best of everything or form many diverse sources “eclectic taste is helpful in being a DJ- crowds love to hear hiphop, 80s, and other unexpected genres. Hodgepodge, medley, farrago, potpourri, pastiche and olio are all words for mixtures of diverse things.

Question 6

obsolete

Answer 6

out of date, no longer in use

Question 7

zeal

Answer 7

great fervor or enthusiasm for a cause, person, etc. tireless diligence in furthering that cause, passion, ardor

Question 8

deference

Answer 8

respectful submission, yielding to the authority or opinion or another “ in some cultures, young people are expected to show deference to older people at all times “

Question 9

din

Answer 9

loud confused noise, esp for a long period of time “the hotel was described as “near all the hot spots”, but I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be able to sleep due to the all-night din from partygoers”. Related words include cacophony dissonance, clamor

Question 10

ambivalent

Answer 10

uncertain; unable to decide, or wanting to do two contradictory things at once. Prefix ambi means both

Question 11

precursor

Answer 11

something that comes before, esp. Something that also announced or suggests something on its way. “We cannot ignore this warning sign- it is clearly a precursor of larger problems to come.” cursors means run - so this word could men forerunner

Question 12

clamor

Answer 12

noisy uproar or protest, as from a crowd, a loud, continuous noise “ as soon a as a scent of scandal emerged, the pressed was clamoring for details.” comes from a french root meaning cry out.

Question 13

tenuous

Answer 13

flimsy, having little substance, long and thin, slender, very slight and weak “ your argument is quite tenuous - it depends on our accepting the results of a 1955 study published in an obscure medical journal not subject to peer review”

Question 14

meticulous

Answer 14

taking extreme care in regards to details, precise, fussy “as a surgeon, of course mom needs to be highly meticulous in her work”

Question 15

slew

Answer 15

a large number or quantity “ as soon as we switched software packages, we encountered a whole slew of problems” from the irish sluagh - a crow or army

Question 16

analogous

Answer 16

comparable, corresponding in some particular way (making a good analogy) “in the US, whenever opponents of a war want to suggest that the war is unwinnable, they point out all the ways in which the war is analogous to the Vietnam war.

Question 17

hardy

Answer 17

bold, brave, capable of withstanding hardship, fatigue, cold etc., robust “while the entire family enjoyed the trip to south america, only the hardier members even attempted to hike to the top of ecuador’s tallest volcano

Question 18

spearhead

Answer 18

be the leader of “lisa agreed to spearhead the healthy office initiative” could also mean the person at the front of the military attack (avante garde or vanguard) or a leader of anything

Question 19

homogeneous

Answer 19

of the same kind; uniform throughout “while Sweden seems to have solved many of its social ills, critics point out that its largely homogeneous population does not’ present the challenges that exist in a more diverse nation with many culture and languages”

Question 20

clinch

Answer 20

make final or settle conclusively “when their best player was benched the team fell behind, but once he was allowed back in the game, the team was able to clinch the win. These two pieces have been clinched together with a clamp while the glue dries.” in sports to clinch a win is to gain such a great advantage that it is impossible not to win. To clinch a contracts is to lock it down. To clinch a nail is to flatten the part that sticks out- to finish your work

Question 21

prudent

Answer 21

wise in practical matters, providing for the future

Question 22

precarious

Answer 22

unstable, insecure, dangerous “recognizing that his position at the company was precarious, he requested that his bonus structure be formally written down as a contract” parlous is a synonym

Question 23

augment

Answer 23

maker larger - share a root augere to increase. With august means majestic and inspiring reverence.

Question 24

unearth

Answer 24

dig up, uncover, expose

Question 25

eminent

Answer 25

prominent, distinguished, of high rank “ the undergraduate shocked everyone by asking the eminent old professor “Really? What makes you such an expert ? “” Eminent domain is the law allowing the government to appropriate private property such as forcing people to move so anew highway can be built.

Question 26

balk

Answer 26

refuse to proceed or do something “at the company retreat, he reluctantly agreed to participate in the ropes course, but balked at walking over hot coals as a trust exercise” occasionally balk is used as a noun for an impediment like a beam or a ridge or a defeat.

Question 27

cosmpolitan

Answer 27

belonging to the entire world, at home globally, free form local or national prejudices or attachments

Question 28

candid

Answer 28

open, sincere, honest “allow me to be candid, you do look rather portly in those pants” “we could use a little more candor in this relationship”

Question 29

deterrent

Answer 29

something that restrains or discourages, as military police, deterrence is building military strength or ability to retaliate (especially by stockpiling nu

Question 30

censure

Answer 30

strong disapproval or official reprimand, to issue such disapproval or reprimand “the senator was censured by the senate for campaign fund improprieties - in fact he narrowly avoided being expelled from office”

Question 31

fleeting

Answer 31

passing quickly, transitory “I had assumed our summer romance would be fleeting, so I was very surprised when you proposed marriage”, synonyms included ephemeral, evanescent, fugacious

Question 32

delineate

Answer 32

mark the outline of, sketch, describe in detail “I do need the cash, but I’m not signing up for this psychological experiment unless you delineate what’s going to happen.”

Question 33

discredit

Answer 33

injure the reputation of, destroy credibility of or confidence in, slander, traduce and defame all mean to speak maliciously of. Slander meaning lies about a person.

Question 34

construe

Answer 34

interpret or translate “I didn’t know how you construed my comment as an insult. All I said was “wow, I never knew you could sing!”

Question 35

equitable

Answer 35

fair, equal, just “ as the university president was heavily biased towards the sciences, faculty in the liberal arts felt they had to fight to get an equitable share of funding for their departments.”

Question 36

relegate

Answer 36

send or commit to an inferior place, rank condition, exile, banish, assign a task to someone else. “After the legal associate offended one of the partners, he found himself relegated to working on minor - even unwinnable cases” relegate shares a root “send” with legate, a deputy or emissary.

Question 37

lull

Answer 37

soothe or cause to fall asleep, quiet down, make to feel secure, sometimes falsely, a period of calm or quiet “tisha always tried to be polite. If she had to slip out of class to use the bathroom, she waited for a lull in the attention so as not to attract too much attention”

Question 38

refute

Answer 38

prove to be false, “she’s not a very valuable member of the debate team, actually - she loves making speeches, but she’s not very good at refuting opponent’s arguments’” gainsay and negate are synonyms. corroborate is opposite or refute (confirm).

Question 39

ascertain

Answer 39

find out with certainty “hopefully, the investigation will allow us to ascertain who is at fault here.”

Question 40

deflect

Answer 40

cause to curve, turn aside, esp from a straight course, avoid, “the purpose of a shield is to deflect arrows or bullets from an enemy “

Question 41

rustic

Answer 41

relating to country life, unsophisticated, primitive, made of rough wood, a rural or uncultured person

Question 42

succeeding

Answer 42

coming after or following “after the sale of the company, you will receive 5% of the profits from the current year and 1% in all succeeding years. Think of the word succedaneous.

Question 43

permeate

Answer 43

spread or penetrate throughout- “under emperor constantine, christianity began to permeate every sector of public life” pervade is a synonym , the root per means through

Question 44

denote

Answer 44

stand as a name or symbol for, indicate. This word contrasts with connote which describes what something implies or suggests beyond its literal meaning.

Question 45

eloquent

Answer 45

marked by forceful, fluid, apt speech, expressive, emotionally moving. “Wow he’s such an eloquent speaker, he could sell snow to antarcticans” the root loq means speech.

Question 46

sap

Answer 46

the inner fluid of a plant or any essential body fluid, energy, vitality, a person taken advantage of, undermine, weaken, tire out. “I really thought that if I clicked on that ad and entered all my info I would get a free ipad to test and keep. I feel like such a sap” synonyms - enervate, enfeeble

Question 47

overshadow

Answer 47

cast a shadow over, darken, dominate, make to seem less important. “She was a straight A student who excelled at field hockey, but she still felt overshadowed by her older sister, who won a national science competition for her work on cancer”

Question 48

disseminate

Answer 48

scatter spread about, broadcast

Question 49

erratic

Answer 49

inconsistent, wandering, having no fixed course -“When someone engage in erratic behavior, family members often suspect drug use or mental illness” root err- stray or wander

Question 50

nuance

Answer 50

A subtle difference in tone, meaning, expression, etc. “people with certain cognitive disabilities cannot understand the nuances on non literal speech. For instance, “you can come if you want to, but it’s really going to be mostly family” means that you shouldn’t’ try to come.”” comes from the word root for cloud- cloudy in a sense of being hard to discern, nubilous means cloudy.