The Obstacle is the Way

Question 1

To encircle (a person or part of the body) with a belt or a band

Answer 1

Gird (verb)
Usage: “To live with depression, Lincoln had developed a strong inner fortress that girded him.”

Question 2

Comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness

Answer 2

Solace (noun)
Usage: “This should be great solace”

Question 3

Fail to make up ones mind or useless talk

Answer 3

Waffle (verb)
Usage: Joseph had been waffling over where to go. He waffled on about everything that didn’t matter

Question 4

Very generous or forgiving especially toward a rival or someone less powerful than oneself

Answer 4

Magnanimity (noun)
Usage: The nation called for a leader of magnanimity and force of purpose– it found one in Lincoln.

Question 5

Diminish or put at rest

Answer 5

Allay (verb)
Usage: His own experience with suffering drove his compassion to allay it in others

Question 6

Cheerfully Optimistic

Answer 6

Sanguine (adjective)
Usage: Unlike other politicians, he was not tempted to lose himself in petty conflict and distraction, he could not be sanguine.

Question 7

a strong or habitual liking for something or tendency to do something

Answer 7

Penchant (noun)
Usage: His penchant for jokes and bawdy humor, which we find more pleasant to remembers him for , was in many ways the opposite of what life must have seemed like to him

Question 8

Excessive pride or self-confidence

Answer 8

Hubris (noun)
Usage: The hubris at the core of this notion that we can change everything is somewhat new.

Question 9

Engage in daring and romantic adventures with ostentatious bravado or flamboyance

Answer 9

Swashbuckling (adjective)
Usage: As a person he’d control his emotions, but as a football player he was swashbuckling, bold, and cool

Question 10

A feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising form a lack of occupation or excitement

Answer 10

Ennui (adjective)
Usage: The endless routine of daily life left him mired in a state of ennui, where every day felt like a monotonous repetition without any sense of purpose or fulfillment.

Question 11

Being stuck or entangled in a difficult or challenging situation, often making progress or movement difficult.

Answer 11

Mired (verb)
Usage: The political negotiations were mired in complexity, making it nearly impossible for the parties involved to reach a consensus.

Question 12

The action or process of gradually reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure

Answer 12

Attrition (noun)
Usage: Perhaps in this case, you haven’t got the ability to win through attrition (persistence) or you don’t want to risk learning on the job (iterate)

Question 13

An approach that assesses the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application

Answer 13

Pragmatism (noun)
Usage: His decision to invest in renewable energy was driven by pragmatism, focusing on its long-term benefits for both the environment and the company’s bottom line.

Question 14

Having or showing characteristics regarded as typical of a woman

Answer 14

Effeminate (adjective)
Usage: Here was this fatherless, effeminate, awkward child who no one understood, who everyone laughed at.

Question 15

Concerned with or involving the theory of a subject or area of study rather than its practical application

Answer 15

Theoretical (adjective)
Usage: To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school…it is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically

Question 16

angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental isues: conflict

Answer 16

Strife (noun)
Usage: Born with nothing, into poverty, strife, or the chaos of decades past, certain types of people were freed from modern notions of fairness or good or bad

Question 17

impossible to disentangle or separate

Answer 17

Inextricable (adjective)
Usage: Our capacity to try, try, try, is inextricably linked with our ability and tolerance to fail, fail, fail

Question 18

Witty Remark

Answer 18

Quip (noun)
Usage: As engineers now like to quip: Failure is a Feature

Question 19

Inborn; natural

Answer 19

Innate (adjective)
Usage: Instead of breaking down–as many would have done in such a bleak situation–Carter declined to surrender the freedoms that were innately his: his attitude, his beliefs….

Question 20

The action or state of being unfaithful to a spouse or other sexual partner

Answer 20

Infidelity (noun)
Usage: In his own reign of some nineteen years, he would experience nearly constant war, a horrific plague, possible infidelity, an attempt at the throne by one his closest friends….

Question 21

To delay or prevent (someone or something) by obstructing them; hinder

Answer 21

Impede (verb)
Usage: Our actions may be impeded… but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions

Question 22

A hinderance or obstruction in doing something

Answer 22

Impediment (noun)
Usage: With growing disappointment, the kind watched as subject after subject came to this impediment and turned away

Question 23

A preposition that follows from (and is often appended to) one that is already proved

Answer 23

Corollary (noun)
Usage: The corollary of consistent practice is improvement; the more you practice a skill.

For example: If you accept the statement “All humans are mortal” as true, the corollary to that would be “Socrates is mortal”.