manhattan #6 essential

Question 1

exacting

Answer 1

very severe in making demands; requiring precise attention. “The boxing coach was exacting, analyzing joey’s footwork down to the millimeter” Related words include meticulous and fastidious. Exaction is a word for extortion, or demanding money under threat. Exact could also mean demand. “To exact obedience from the soldiers”

Question 2

repudiate

Answer 2

reject, cast off, deny that something has authority. “If you receive an erroneous notice from a collections agency, you have 30 days to repudiate by mail.” “As part of becoming an american citizen, Mr. Lee repudiated his former citizenship”. Related words include recant (withdraw, retract or disavow something that has been previously said, esp formally).

Question 3

belie

Answer 3

contradict or misrepresent - “the actresses public persona as a perky girl next door belied her private penchant for abusing her assistants and demanding that her trailer be filled with ridiculous luxury good”

Question 4

elated

Answer 4

very happy, in high spirits. “I am elated that you flew my twin brother in from australia to surprise me at my part”. Related words include ebullient (very enthusiastic, lively excited”, blithe, and exultant

Question 5

counterpoint

Answer 5

contrasting item, opposite; a complement, the use of contrast or interplay in a work of art. “The play’s lighthearted, witty narrator provides a welcome counterpoint to the seriousness and grief expressed by the other characters. The hot peppers work in counterpoint to an otherwise sweet dish” Related words include foil (a character in a drama that contrasts with another,

Question 6

propriety

Answer 6

conforming to good manners or appropriate behavior, justness. “The parent questioned the propriety of the punishment meted out to her son.” “ saying the accounting firm was complicit in “financial impropriety” was a rather polite way to refer to the fraud it committed against its investors” Related words include genteel (aristocratic, elegant), seemly (proper or attractive), decorous ( behaving with propriety), mores (customs, manners or moral of a particular group).

Question 7

apathy

Answer 7

not caring, absence of feeling, lack of interest or concern. “Many parents of teenagers are concerned by their indolent teen’s apathy of the future”

Question 8

countenance

Answer 8

facial expression or face, approve or tolerate. “Her countenance said it all- the look on her face was pure terror” “ I can’t countenance cheating, either you turn yourself in or I’ll report you” related words, brook or condone

Question 9

rife

Answer 9

happening frequently, abundant, currently being reported. “Reports of financial corruption are rife” Related words include replete - supply in abundance, gorged -, ridden (dominated or burdened by), teeming (swarming, as in teeming with people),

Question 10

denigrate

Answer 10

belittle, attack the reputation of. “Many jokes in the Meet the Parents trilogy come from Robert De Niro’s character denigrating ben stiller’s character for being a male nurse” disparage - synonym

Question 11

replete

Answer 11

supplied in abundance, filled, gorged (used with with) “this essay is repelte with errors - I don’t think you even bothered to use spellcheck”. Uses the root plenus meaning full.

Question 12

intrepid

Answer 12

fearless, brave, enduring in the face of adversity. “Intrepid explorers led the first expedition to the west coast”. Trepid is the antonym meaning frightened.

Question 13

fanciful

Answer 13

whimsical, capricious, imaginary, freely imaginative rather than based on reason or reality. “The play was set in a fanciful version of new york, once where all the cab drivers spoke perfect english”. Related words include whimsical, capricious.

Question 14

conundrum

Answer 14

a riddle, any mystery “sherlock is famous for his ability to solve the most complex conundrums with simple observation”

Question 15

disinterested

Answer 15

unbiased, impartial, not interested. “Let’s settle this argument once and for all! We’ll get a disinterested observer to judge”. Related words include dispassionate and nonpartisan

Question 16

discerning

Answer 16

having good judgement or insight; able to distinguish mentally. “In an age in which we are bombarded with advertising, it’s important to be a discerning consumer.” keen perceptive and perspicacious are all related to having good judgement or perception. Descry means to discover or see by looking carefully.

Question 17

compliant

Answer 17

obeying, submissive, following the requirements. “Those who are not compliant with the regulations will be put on probation and possibly expelled. “ Complaisant and obliging are words describing people who comply with eagerness

Question 18

extrapolate

Answer 18

conjecture about an unknown by projecting information about something known; predict by projecting past experience. The antonym of extrapolate is interpolate - to estimate between two known values, to assume, it can also mean to insert words or foreign material into a text or conversation.

Question 19

supersede

Answer 19

replace, take the position of, cause to be disregarded as void or obsolete. “Of course electric washing machines superseded hand-powered one many decades ago”. Related words include supplant (take the place of, displace, especially through sneaky tactics), outstrip (surpass, exceed, be larger or better than, leave behind), overshadow (case a shadow over, make to seem less important), Eclipse (obscure, darken make less important), super is latin for above and beyond

Question 20

stymy or stymie

Answer 20

block, hinder, or thwart, an obstacle. “Celine feared that her learning disability would stymie her success in college”

Question 21

abstain

Answer 21

hold back, refrain, (especially from something bad or unhealthy), decline to vote, “the church board voted on whether to hold and abstinence rally to encourage young people not to become sexually active, one voted against and two abstained, with one abstainer commenting that the church’s teens were pretty abstemious already.” Related words include teetotaler ( a person who abstains from alcohol). And forbear (hold back, or abstain from)

Question 22

reproach

Answer 22

blame, disgrace, criticize, express disappointment in, “I’m not really enjoying my foreign study program. My host mom reproached me in spanish. It sounded really harsh but I couldn’t really understand her and I have not idea what I did wrong” beyond reproach means not able to be reproached due to being perfect. Related words include admonish (scold or mildly criticize), reprove, upbraid, reprimand, rebuke, exocriate and castigate.

Question 23

tacit

Answer 23

understood without being said, implied, not stated directly “her parents never told her she could smoke, but they gave their tacit consent when they didn’t say anything about the obvious smell coming from her bedroom” synonym for implicit. Related to taciturn (not talking much, reserved)

Question 24

enumerate

Answer 24

count or list, specify one by one “the bill of rights enumerates the basic rights held by every citizen of the U. S.” Enumerable means countable , innumerable means numerous, a lot. Related words include reckon - count or consider or regard as. “The math teacher is reckoned as the only person in the school who can reckon the number of primes under 500 in less than one minute”

Question 25

deride

Answer 25

mock, scoff at, laugh at contemptuously “the manager really thought that deriding his employees as stupid or lazy would motivate them to work harder” related words include denigrate (belittle, attack the reputation of). Derid contains the root ridere for laughter, which also appears in risible meaning laughable.

Question 26

enigma

Answer 26

puzzle, mystery, riddle, mysterious or contradictory person “ the enormous rock sculptures in stonehenge are truly an enigma” Related words include paradox and conundrum.

Question 27

complacent

Answer 27

self satisfied, smug, over content ( and therefore lazy, neglectful), or some other bad quality) “ the coach gave a pep talk: “I know we’ve never won a championship before, but we do have an advantage over the state champions we are about to play- they have grown complacent”

Question 28

diverge

Answer 28

differ, deviate, branch off or turn aside, as from a path. “Go five miles and then the road diverges” related words - disparate

Question 29

innocuous

Answer 29

harmless, inoffensive “while it’s quite acrid in here, fortunately the fumes that come from our factory are completely innocuous- you don’t need a face mask unless you’ like one”. Nocuous means harmful

Question 30

sentient

Answer 30

conscious, experiencing sensation or perceiving with the senses. “Tia became a vegan because she refused to eat any sentient creature”

Question 31

insensate

Answer 31

unconscious, inanimate, lacking reason, cold blooded, merciless, lackin warm human feelings, a rock, a very intoxicated person, and a murderer

Question 32

ephemeral

Answer 32

Lasting only a short time, fleeting, evanescent and fugacious are synonyms

Question 33

scathing

Answer 33

severe, injurious, bitterly harsh or critical (as a remark) “the school superintendent gave a scathing criticism on the education bill, calling it an attack on our community’s children” “how is it that she walked away unscathed from the accident” scathing used to refer to physical injury but now refers to injurious comments. Excoriate can be a similar word.

Question 34

scathing

Answer 34

severe, injurious, bitterly harsh or critical (as a remark) “the school superintendent gave a scathing criticism on the education bill, calling it an attack on our community’s children” “how is it that she walked away unscathed from the accident” scathing used to refer to physical injury but now refers to injurious comments. Excoriate can be a similar word.

Question 35

principled

Answer 35

having high moral standards “Donna was only an intern, but she was also quite principles - although she knew it would kill her shot at a full -time job, she alerted the authorities when she found out about corruption in the practice” Scrupulous can by a synonym

Question 36

intractable

Answer 36

difficult to control, manage or manipulate, hard to cure, stubborn - “that student is positively intractable, last week we talked about the importance of staying in your seat during the lesson. Back injuries often result in intractable pain” the root tract means manage or handle. Intransigent, obdurate and obstreperous are all used to describe people who are stubborn and hard to control

Question 37

metamorphosis

Answer 37

a complete change or transformation “many reality show competitions are based on the idea of a contestant undergoing a metamorphosis such as through dieting, exercise, life coaching, rehab, or plastic surgery - or all of the above”

Question 38

bygone

Answer 38

past, former, that which is in the past. “At the nursing home, the time to reminisce about bygone days was pretty much all the time.” related words include erstwhile (former) quondam (former sometime) to “let bygone be bygones means to let go of old disagreements”

Question 39

buttress

Answer 39

upport or encourage, a support or prop, esp projecting form a supporting wall of a building. “ A self defense class really helped to buttress her confidence. David use his PhD as a buttress against criticism”

Question 40

lucid

Answer 40

clear, easy to understand, rational, sane, clear- headed. “After surgery, it’ll take at least an hour until she’s lucid - it’s nothing to worry about, but patients sometimes talk complete nonsense until the anesthesia wears off and their speech becomes lucid again” luc is the root for light.

Question 41

prodigious

Answer 41

extraordinarily large, impressive “the great wall of china consists of a prodigious series of fortifications stretching over 5000 miles. We will have to declare bankruptcy, - we have a prodigious task ahead”

Question 42

austere

Answer 42

severe in manner or appearance, very self disciplined, ascetic, without luxury or ease, sober or serious “ her design sense was so minimalist as to be austere” “her graduation speech was sober, the economy is bad and academic success alone isn’t enough to succeed in the job market” Ascetic (pertaining to simple, austere life with no luxuries, like the life of a monk)

Question 43

conciliatory

Answer 43

reconciling, appeasing, attempting to make the peace. “The hotel manager was horrified at how the guest had been treated, and approached him in a conciliatory manner, offering him numerous freebies”

Question 44

prologue

Answer 44

introductory part to a book, play, etc. “the novel’s prologue gives some historical background so the main story can be better understood in context. Related words include preamble (introductory statement, preface- such as the preamble to the constitution) An epilogue is a concluding portion added after a literary work. Log come from the root logos for discourse or speech.

Question 45

levy

Answer 45

collect tax from, wage war on, or enlist for military service, act of collecting tax or amount owed, or the drafting of troops into military service. “When England levied yet another tax on the colonists, they were pushed one step further towards levying war. Soont the worried british began to raise troops by levy.”

Question 46

discriminating

Answer 46

• judicious, discerning, having good judgement or insight - “he is a man of discriminating tastes - all his suits are handmade in Italy, and I once saw him send back an entree when he complained that black truffle oil had been substituted for white”

Question 47

esoteric

Answer 47

understood by or intended for only a few, secret. “In his first year of university - level physics, he felt he was merely memorizing info found in every textbook. By his fourth year, he spent is days poring over esoteric articles that few people had read or understood” Arcane and recondite are synonyms. Eso means in , like inside or knowledge. Exoteric is the antonym meaning common knowledge.

Question 48

arcane

Answer 48

known or understood by only a few, obscure, secret. “To win at jeopardy, you must be full of arcane knowledge. The wizard’s shop was full of arcana, form latin to ancient greek dictionaries to entire books on magic spells relating only to elephants.” Arcane comes from the latin arca for box. Arcanum is info that is metaphorically shut up in a box. Esoteric or abstruse are synonyms.

Question 49

connoisseur

Answer 49

expert, especially in the fine arts, person of educated, refined tastes “ a chocolate connoisseur, mom eschews grocery store brands and will only eat 80% coca or higher artisanal chocolate” comes from the root cognoscere meaning to know (cognition). Epicure (person with discriminating tastes) is a related word.

Question 50

spate

Answer 50

sudden outpouring or rush; flood. “After a brief spate of post exam partying, lola is ready for classes to begin again. He was so furious that a spate of expletives just flew out of his mouth” Related words: inundate and deluge are both words used for flooding, also used metaphorically to mean an overwhelming influx of something (inundated with work a deluge of complaints).

Question 51

preempt or pre-empt

Answer 51

prevent, take the place of, supplant, take before someone else can. “The speaker attempted to preempt an excessively long Q & A session by handing out a FAQ packet at the beginning of the seminar. Empt means to purchase. To preempt can also mean to settle on public land in order to establish the right to purchase that land before anyone else. Related words include obviate (prevent, eliminate, or make unnecessary)

Question 52

onerous

Answer 52

burdensome, oppressive, hard to endure “doctors are often faced with the onerous task of telling waiting families that their loved ones have died” Cumbersome also means burdensome (or clumsy or unwieldy), but usually in a physical way, whereas onerous is generally metaphorical. Arduous means difficult. Onus means burden “the committee put the onus on joe to get everything turned in on time”