p11

Question 1

itinerant

Answer 1

Traveling from place to place, esp. as part of a job

The widow was an itinerant worker and couldn’t raise their 3 kids alone, so sent them off to families that took them as servants.

Question 2

jargon

Answer 2

the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group; convoluted or unintelligible language

Leaders often fall prey to using complex jargon and big words to describe their ideas or communicate their vision.

Question 3

jettison

Answer 3

Discard, cast off; throw items overboard in order to lighten a ship in an emergency

Investors shouldn’t jettison their long-term strategy based on a temporary economic downturn.

Question 4

jingoism

Answer 4

Excessive, loud patriotism and aggressive, warlike foreign policy; extreme chauvinism

Within Russia, even among people who may not like Putin, there is a certain amount of jingoism about the Ukrainian question

Question 5

jocular

Answer 5

Joking or given to joking all the time; jolly, playful

He made the jocular observation that the best way to make a small fortune in the wine business is to start off with a large fortune

Question 6

juncture

Answer 6

Critical point in time, such as a crisis or a time when a decision is necessary; a place where two things are joined together

Painstaking negotiations appear to have reached a critical juncture this week

Question 7

juxtapose

Answer 7

Place side by side (either physically or in a metaphorical way, such as to make a comparison)

The resulting images juxtapose subjects’ past and present selves, leaving viewers to reflect on the passage of time.

Question 8

kindle

Answer 8

ignite, cause to begin burning; incite, arouse, inflame

Question 9

knell

Answer 9

The sound made by a bell for a funeral, or any sad sound or signal of a failure, death, ending, etc. (noun); to make such a sound (verb)

The loss came as a shock to many in the Democratic Caucus and seemed to sound the death knell for the Build Back Better act for a while.

Question 10

lachrymose

Answer 10

tearful, mournful

the more lachrymose mourners at the funeral required a steady supply of tissues

Question 11

lackluster

Answer 11

Not shiny; dull, mediocre; lacking brilliance or vitality

Given these lackluster options, most people can’t do anything meaningful about their hair loss.

Question 12

laconic

Answer 12

Using few words, concise

She might suggest jokes to someone who laughs a lot, or keep quieter around a laconic sort.

Question 13

lampoon

Answer 13

A harsh satire (noun); ridicule or satirize (verb)

Many of the deepfakes in the exhibition are relatively harmless in nature—like Queen Elizabeth dancing on top of her desk or a lampoon of former president Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Question 14

languid

Answer 14

Drooping from exhaustion, sluggish, slow; lacking in spirit

Critics say the central bank’s languid approach allowed inflation to fester.

Question 15

fester

Answer 15

become septic; suppurate; become rotten and offensive to the senses (곪다)

Question 16

larceny

Answer 16

theft

He was arrested and charged with larceny.

Question 17

largess

Answer 17

Generosity, the giving of money or gifts (esp. with the implication that the giver is a bit superior to the recipient)

He relied on the largesse of friends after he lost his job.

Question 18

lassitude

Answer 18

Tiredness, weariness; lazy indifference

our lassitude was such that we couldn’t even be bothered to get more soda from the fridge

Question 19

laudable

Answer 19

Worthy of praise

Fixing the problem of access to insurance, especially for catastrophic events, is laudable, but focusing on insurance as the means to lowering cost and improving outcomes misses the forest for the trees.

Question 20

lavish

Answer 20

Abundant or giving in abundance; marked by excess (adj); give very generously (verb)

this lavish consumption of our natural resources simply cannot continue
a great actor who lavished his talent in lousy movies

Question 21

layperson

Answer 21

A person who is not a member of the clergy or not a member of a particular profession (such as medicine, law, etc.)

Kleiman describes their technical accomplishments in clear language easy for the computer layperson to follow.

Question 22

leery

Answer 22

Suspicious or wary

Private firms are leery of being in the media spotlight during sensitive government occasions.

Question 23

legerdemain

Answer 23

trickery or deception; a display of skill or adroitness

the reduction of the deficit is due in part to financial legerdemain that masks the true costs of running the government

Question 24

levity

Answer 24

Lightness (of mind, spirit, or mood) or lack of seriousness, sometimes in an inappropriate way

The Black Mirror episode isn’t subtle in its rebuke of tech-dependent modern dating habits, but Campbell and Cole’s rapport brings levity to otherwise fatalistic conversations.

Question 25

levy

Answer 25

Collect tax from, wage war on, or enlist for military service; (verb); act of colleting tax or amount owed, or the drafting of troops into military service (noun)

The government imposed a levy on gasoline.
the legislators approved a new levy on imported cattle to help protect American ranchers

Question 26

libertine

Answer 26

Morally or sexually unrestrained person; freethinker (regarding religion)

the legend of Don Juan depicts him as a playboy and libertine

Question 27

licentious

Answer 27

Sexually unrestrained; immoral; ignoring the rules

In this outing, there is literally no forgiving the rich powerful playboy Duke, whose grossly licentious sexism was likely accepted endemic at the time, but is just despicable today.

Question 28

limpid

Answer 28

Clear, transparent; completely calm

the limpid waters of the stream

Question 29

lionize

Answer 29

Treat like a celebrity

She was lionized everywhere after her novel won the Pulitzer Prize.

Question 30

lissome

Answer 30

Flexible, supple, agile

the lissome actress’s dance training is apparent in the way she moves on stage

Question 31

listless

Answer 31

Spiritless, lacking interest or energy

But in Game 4, the Rangers looked alarmingly listless, reverting to some of the sloppy play that characterized the early part of the season.

Question 32

livid

Answer 32

Furiously angry, enraged

the boss was livid when yet another deadline was missed

Question 33

loquacious

Answer 33

Talkative, wordy

Even the more loquacious members of the cast had trouble finding not just the right words, but any words at all.

Question 34

lucid

Answer 34

Clear, easy to understand; rational, sane

His artwork offer lucid glimpses into places where ordinary people face extraordinary challenges.

Question 35

lugubrious

Answer 35

Mournful, gloomy (sometimes in an exaggerated way)

Wall Street’s lugubrious mood dragged into Friday, with the major U.S. indexes on track to extend their losses a day after registering their steepest slump since the beginning of the pandemic.

Question 36

lull

Answer 36

Soothe or cause to fall asleep (as in a lullaby); quiet down; make to feel secure, sometimes falsely (verb); a period of calm or quiet (noun)

The placid waters of lakes and ponds can lull waders and swimmers into a false sense of security.

Question 37

lumber

Answer 37

Walk in a heavy or clumsy way, sometimes due to being weighed down

The economy continues to lumber along since the pandemic.