Unit 1

Question 1

abate

Answer 1

v. to decrease; reduce

NASA announced that it would delay the launch of the manned spacecraft until the radiation from the solar flares abated.

Question 2

abdicate

Answer 2

v. to give up a position, right, or power

The appeals judge has abdicated his responsibility to review the findings of the high court.

Question 3

aberrant

Answer 3

adj. deviating from what is normal

When a person’s behavior becomes aberrant, his or her peers may become concerned that the individual is becoming a deviant.

Question 4

abeyance

Answer 4

n. temporary suppression or suspension

A good judge must hold his or her judgment in abeyance until all the facts in a case have been presented.

Question 5

abject

Answer 5

adj. miserable; pitiful

John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath portrays the abject poverty of many people during the Great Depression

Question 6

abjure

Answer 6

v. to reject; abandon formally

Most members of the Religious Society of Friends abjure the use of violence to settle disputes between nations.

Question 7

abscission

Answer 7

n. the act of cutting; the natural separation of a leaf or other part of a plant

Premature leaf abscission is an adaptive plant response to herbivorous attack.

Question 8

abscond

Answer 8

v. to depart secretly

A warrant is out for the arrest of a person believed to have absconded with three million dollars.

Question 9

abstemious

Answer 9

adj. moderate in appetite

Some research suggests that people with an abstemious lifestyle tend to live longer than people who indulge their appetites.

Question 10

abstinence

Answer 10

n. the giving up of certain pleasures

The monk’s vow of abstinence includes all intoxicating substances.