Unit21

Question 1

subconscious

Answer 1

Existing in the mind just below the level of awareness.

eg. After dropping three dishes in a week, she began thinking there might be some kind of subconscious agitation behind her case of butterfingers.

Question 2

subjugate

Answer 2

To bring under control and rule as a subject; conquer, subdue.

eg. The country’s government claimed it was just trying to protect national security, but some saw its actions as an attempt to subjugate the news media.

Question 3

subliminal

Answer 3

Not quite strong enough to be sensed or perceived consciously.

eg. A few worried parents claimed that some heavy-metal songs contain subliminal messages—in the form of words recorded backwards—that urge young fans to take up devil worship.

Question 4

subversion

Answer 4

(1) An attempt to overthrow a government by working secretly from within. (2) The corrupting of someone or something by weakening their morals, loyalty, or faith.

eg. It’s sometimes easier for a government to combat attack from outside than subversion from within.

Question 5

hyperactive

Answer 5

Excessively active.

eg. Stephen King’s hyperactive imagination has produced dozens of fantastical stories, not to mention countless nightmares in his readers

Question 6

hyperbole

Answer 6

Extreme exaggeration.

eg. The food at Chez Pierre was good, but it couldn’t live up to the hyperbole of the restaurant critics.

Question 7

hypertension

Answer 7

High blood pressure.

eg. Pregnancy is often accompanied by mild hypertension that doesn’t threaten the mother’s life.

Question 8

hyperventilate

Answer 8

To breathe rapidly and deeply.

eg. They laughed so hard they began to hyperventilate and feel giddy.

Question 9

preclude

Answer 9

To make impossible beforehand; prevent.

eg. If we accept this cash offer from the company, that will preclude our joining in the big suit against it with the other investors.

Question 10

precocious

Answer 10

Showing the qualities or abilities of an adult at an unusually early age.

eg. Everyone agrees that their seven-year-old daughter is smart and precocious, but she’s also getting rather full of herself.

Question 11

predispose

Answer 11

(1) To influence in advance in order to create a particular attitude.
(2) To make one more likely to develop a particular disease or physical condition.

eg. Growing up in a house full of sisters had predisposed her to find her friendships with other women.

Question 12

prerequisite

Answer 12

Something that is required in advance to achieve a goal or to carry out a function.

eg. In most states, minimal insurance coverage is a prerequisite for registering an automobile.

Question 13

paraphrase

Answer 13

To restate the meaning (of something written or spoken) in different words.

eg. She started off the class by asking one of the students to paraphrase the Tennyson poem, to make sure everyone understood its basic meaning.

Question 14

paralegal

Answer 14

Of, relating to, or being a trained assistant to a lawyer.

eg. Part of the firm’s business involved researching real-estate properties, which the senior lawyers regarded as paralegal work.

Question 15

paramedic

Answer 15

A specially trained medical technician licensed to provide a wide range of emergency services before or during transportation to a hospital.

eg. Five ambulances had already arrived, and a dozen paramedics were crouched over the victims with bandages and IVs.

Question 16

paramilitary

Answer 16

Relating to a force formed on a military pattern, especially as a possible backup military force.

eg. In the country’s most remote regions, the real power was held by large landowners, who actually kept paramilitary forces, their own private armies, on their estates.

Question 17

metadata

Answer 17

Data that provides information about other data.

eg. Before putting videos up on the Web site, she always tags them with a decent set of metadata.

Question 18

metaphorical

Answer 18

Relating to a figure of speech in which a word or phrase meaning one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a similarity between them

eg. He always points out to his classes that metaphors can be found in poetry of all kinds, from “The eyes are the windows of the soul” to “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog.”

Question 19

metaphysics

Answer 19

The part of philosophy having to do with the ultimate causes and basic nature of things

eg. Most of the congregation prefers to hear their minister preach about virtue, and they get restless when his sermons head in the direction of metaphysics.

Question 20

metonymy

Answer 20

A figure of speech in which the name of one thing is used for the name of something else that is associated with it or related to it.

eg. When Wall Street has the jitters, the White House issues a statement, and the people wait for answers from City Hall, metonymy is having a busy day.

Question 21

percolate

Answer 21

(1) To trickle or filter through something porous.
(2) To become spread through.

eg. She tells herself that the money she spends on luxuries eventually percolates down to the needy.

Question 22

pervade

Answer 22

To spread through all parts of something.

eg. We all knew that more job cuts were coming, and the entire office was pervaded with anxiety.

Question 23

permeate

Answer 23

(1) To spread throughout.
(2) To pass through the pores or small openings of.

eg. On Saturday mornings back in those days, the aroma of fresh pies and breads would permeate almost every house on the block.

Question 24

persevere

Answer 24

To keep at something in spite of difficulties, opposition, or discouragement.

eg. For ten years she persevered in her effort to find out what the government knew about her husband’s disappearance.

Question 25

antagonist

Answer 25

A person who opposes or is unfriendly toward another; an opponent.

eg. With supplies ordered from the Acme Company, Road Runner’s constant antagonist, Wile E. Coyote, attempts one dastardly deed after another.

Question 26

antigen

Answer 26

A chemical substance (such as a protein) that, when introduced into the body, causes the body to form antibodies against it.

eg. When the immune system is weak, it may not be able to produce enough antibodies to combat the invading antigens.

Question 27

antipathy

Answer 27

A strong dislike.

eg. It seemed odd that he could feel such intense antipathy for someone he’d only met once, and we suspected there was more to the story.

Question 28

antithesis

Answer 28

(1) The contrast or opposition of ideas.
(2) The exact opposite.

eg. Life on the small college campus, with its personal freedom and responsibility, was the antithesis of what many students had known in high school.

Question 29

contraband

Answer 29

Goods that are forbidden by law to be owned or brought into or out of a country; smuggled goods.

eg. Late at night he would go driving through the desert on the interstate, peddling his contraband to wary gas-station attendants.

Question 30

contraindication

Answer 30

Something (such as a symptom or condition) that makes a particular treatment, medication, or procedure likely to be unsafe.

eg. A history of stomach ulcers is a contraindication to regular use of aspirin.

Question 31

contravene

Answer 31

(1) To go against or act contrary to; to violate.
(2) To oppose in an argument, to contradict.

eg. The power company was found to be contravening state and federal environmental standards for wastewater discharged into bodies of water.

Question 32

contrarian

Answer 32

A person who takes a contrary position or attitude, especially an investor who buys shares of stock when most others are selling or sells when others are buying.

eg. My father was basically a contrarian, who never accepted the common wisdom and loved nothing so much as a good argument.

Question 33

in memoriam

Answer 33

In memory of.

eg. The message on the pedestal begins “In memoriam” and then lists the names of the local young men who died in World War I.

Question 34

magnum opus

Answer 34

A great work, especially the greatest achievement of an artist, composer, or writer.

eg. No one was exactly sure what the massive novel was about, but everyone was certain that it was his magnum opus.

Question 35

memento mori

Answer 35

A reminder of mortality, especially a human skull symbolizing death.

eg. The first twinges of arthritis often serve as a vivid memento mori for middle-aged jocks trying to ignore their advancing years.

Question 36

habeas corpus

Answer 36

An order to bring a jailed person before a judge or court to find out if that person should really be in jail.

eg. The country has a primitive legal system with no right of habeas corpus, and suspects often are shot before they ever see a judge.

Question 37

rigor mortis

Answer 37

The temporary rigidity of muscles that sets in after death.

eg. The coroner could tell from the progress of rigor mortis that death had occurred no more than six hours earlier.

Question 38

sine qua non

Answer 38

An essential thing.

eg. Good planning is the sine qua non of a successful dinner party.

Question 39

tabula rasa

Answer 39

(1) The mind in its blank or unmarked state before receiving any impressions from outside.
(2) Something existing in its original pure state.

eg. As for knowing what life outside of his little village was like, he was practically a tabula rasa.

Question 40

terra incognita

Answer 40

An unexplored country or field of knowledge.

eg. We’ve been to Phoenix once, but otherwise Arizona is terra incognita.