Unit13

Question 1

accord

Answer 1

(1) To grant.
(2) To be in harmony; agree.

eg. What she told police under questioning didn’t accord with the accounts of the other witnesses.

Question 2

concord

Answer 2

(1) A state of agreement: harmony.
(2) A formal agreement.

eg. In 1801 Napoleon signed a concord with the pope reestablishing the Catholic Church in France.

Question 3

cordial

Answer 3

Warm, friendly, gracious.

eg. After the meeting, the president extended a cordial invitation to everyone for coffee at her own house.

Question 4

discordant

Answer 4

Being at odds, conflicting, not in harmony.

eg. The first discordant note at dinner was struck by my cousin, when he claimed the president was only interested in taking away our guns.

Question 5

culpable

Answer 5

Deserving to be condemned or blamed.

eg. The company was found guilty of culpable negligence in allowing the chemical waste to leak into the groundwater.

Question 6

exculpate

Answer 6

To clear from accusations of fault or guilt.

eg. The girls aren’t proud of what they did that night, but they’ve been exculpated by witnesses and won’t be facing criminal charges.

Question 7

inculpate

Answer 7

To accuse or incriminate; to show evidence of someone’s involvement in a fault or crime.

eg. It was his own father who finally inculpated him, though without intending to

Question 8

mea culpa

Answer 8

An admission of personal fault or error.

eg. The principal said his mea culpa at the school board meeting, but not all the parents were satisfied.

Question 9

diction

Answer 9

(1) Choice of words, especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.
(2) Clarity of speech.

eg. Our CEO is determined to appear in some TV ads, but he first needs to work on his diction with a vocal coach.

Question 10

edict

Answer 10

(1) An official announcement that has the force of a law. (2) An order or command.

eg. In 1989 an edict by the leader of Iran pronouncing a death sentence on a British novelist stunned the world.

Question 11

jurisdiction

Answer 11

(1) The power or right to control or exercise authority.
(2) The territory where power may be exercised.

eg. Unluckily for the defendants, the case fell within the jurisdiction of the federal court rather than the more tolerant state court.

Question 12

dictum

Answer 12

A formal and authoritative statement.

eg. It has long been a dictum of American foreign policy that the government doesn’t negotiate with kidnappers and terrorists.

Question 13

cognitive

Answer 13

(1) Having to do with the process of knowing, including awareness, judgment, and understanding.
(2) Based on factual knowledge that has been or can be gained by experience.

eg. A child isn’t a computer; a third-grader’s cognitive abilities are highly dependent on his or her upbringing and happiness.

Question 14

agnostic

Answer 14

A person who believes that whether God exists is not known and probably cannot be known.

eg. Both of them were always agnostics, but after they had children they started attending church again.

Question 15

incognito

Answer 15

In disguise, or with one’s identity concealed.

eg. Years after her reign as a top Hollywood star, she was discovered working incognito as a bartender in Manhattan while living in cheap hotels.

Question 16

prognosis

Answer 16

(1) The chance of recovery from a given disease or condition.
(2) A forecast or prophecy.

eg. The prognosis for a patient with chicken pox is usually excellent; the prognosis for someone with liver cancer is terrible.

Question 17

calligraphy

Answer 17

The art of producing beautiful handwriting.

eg. Calligraphy can be seen today in event invitations, logo designs, and stone inscriptions.

Question 18

hagiography

Answer 18

(1) Biography of saints.
(2) Biography that idealizes or idolizes.

eg. According to the new biography, which should really be called a hagiography, the former prime minister doesn’t seem to have done anything small-minded or improper in his entire life.

Question 19

choreography

Answer 19

(1) The art of composing and arranging dances and of representing them in symbolic notation.
(2) The movements by dancers in a performance.

eg. The reviews praised the show for its eye-catching choreography, calling it the best element of the whole musical.

Question 20

lithograph

Answer 20

A picture made by printing from a flat surface (such as a smooth stone) prepared so that the ink will only stick to the design that will be printed.

eg. To make a lithograph, the artist first draws an image, in reverse, on a fine- grained limestone or aluminum plate.

Question 21

artful

Answer 21

(1) Skillful.
(2) Wily, crafty, sly.

eg. It was an artful solution: each side was pleased with the agreement, but it was the lawyer himself who stood to make the most money off of it.

Question 22

artifact

Answer 22

A usually simple object made by human workmanship, such as a tool or ornament, that represents a culture or a stage in a culture’s development.

eg. Through the artifacts found by archaeologists, we now know a considerable amount about how the early Anasazi people of the Southwest lived.

Question 23

artifice

Answer 23

(1) Clever skill.
(2) A clever trick.

eg. By his cunning and artifice, Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful.

Question 24

artisan

Answer 24

A skilled worker or craftsperson.

eg. At the fair, they saw examples of the best carving, pottery, and jewelry by local artisans.

Question 25

fortify

Answer 25

To strengthen.

eg. Fortified by a good night’s sleep and a big breakfast, they set off for the final 20 miles of their journey.

Question 26

fortification

Answer 26

(1) The building of military defenses to protect a place against attack.
(2) A structure built to protect a place.

eg. The city’s fortifications had withstood powerful assaults by catapults, battering rams, and tall siege towers that rolled up to release soldiers onto the top of the walls.

Question 27

forte

Answer 27

Something that a person does particularly well; one’s strong point.

eg. Her forte was statistics, and she was always at a disadvantage when the discussion turned to public policy.

Question 28

fortitude

Answer 28

Mental strength that allows one to face danger, pain, or hardship with courage

eg. He’s just too nice, and we worry that he won’t have the fortitude to deal with the monsters in that office.

Question 29

concise

Answer 29

Brief and condensed, especially in expression or statement.

eg. Professor Childs’s exam asked for a concise, one-page summary of the causes of the American Revolution.

Question 30

excise

Answer 30

To cut out, especially surgically.

eg. The ancient Minoans from the island of Crete apparently excised the hearts of their human sacrifices.

Question 31

incisive

Answer 31

Impressively direct and decisive.

eg. A few incisive questions were all that was needed to expose the weakness in the prosecutor’s case.

Question 32

precision

Answer 32

Exactness and accuracy.

eg. By junior year she was speaking with greater precision, searching for exact words in place of the crude, awkward language of her friends.

Question 33

apiary

Answer 33

A place where bees are kept for their honey.

eg. Apple orchards are excellent sites for apiaries, since the bees keep the apple trees productive by pollinating them.

Question 34

caper

Answer 34

(1) A playful leap.
(2) A prank or mischievous adventure.

eg. For their caper in the girls’ bathroom, all three seniors were suspended for a week.

Question 35

equestrian

Answer 35

Of or relating to horseback riding.

eg. The circus’s equestrian acts, in which bareback riders performed daring acrobatic feats atop prancing horses, were her favorites.

Question 36

lupine

Answer 36

Like a wolf; wolfish.

eg. Doctors reported that the boy showed lupine behavior such as snarling and biting, and walked with his knees bent in a kind of crouch.

Question 37

ovine

Answer 37

Of, relating to, or resembling sheep.

eg. In her veterinary practice she specialized in ovine medicine, but often treated cows and pigs as well.

Question 38

ornithologist

Answer 38

A person who studies birds.

eg. John James Audubon, the great painter of the birds of early America, was also a writing ornithologist of great importance.

Question 39

serpentine

Answer 39

Like a snake or serpent in shape or movement; winding.

eg. The Great Wall of China, the greatest construction of all time, wends its serpentine way for some 4,000 miles across the Chinese landscape.

Question 40

simian

Answer 40

Having to do with monkeys or apes; monkeylike.

eg. Every afternoon the pale youth could be found watching the simian antics in the Monkey House with strange intensity.