vocab 1

Question 1

furtive (adj but adverb in this example)

Answer 1

sly, cunning, tricky, dishonest
“He had procured a pen, furtively and with some difficulty.”

Question 2

nebulous (adj)

Answer 2

confused; cloudy; not easily defined
“It happened that morning at the Ministry, if anything so nebulous could be said to happen.”

Question 3

orthodox (adj)

Answer 3

customary or conventional
“In an intellectual way, Syme was venomously orthodox.”

Question 4

heresy (n)

Answer 4

unorthodox opinion
“Perhaps Withers had been suspected of heretical tendencies.”

Question 5

drudge (n)

Answer 5

slave-like worker
“Parson is a devoted drudge who helps the Party be stable.”

Question 6

mutable (adj)

Answer 6

changeable, able or likely to change
“Newspeak, doublethink, the mutability of the past.”

Question 7

myriad (n)

Answer 7

countless; an indefinable great number
“The myriad windows of the Ministry looked grim.”

Question 8

zealot (n)

Answer 8

fanatic
“Some nosing zealot in the ministry might start wondering why he had been writing.”

Question 9

pedant (n)

Answer 9

one who excessively displays his learning
“Syme continued to speak with a sort of pedant’s passion.”

Question 10

sanguine (adj)

Answer 10

optimistic and cheerful; confidently hopeful
“For the most part, the letter writers seem sanguine.”

Question 11

vapid (adj)

Answer 11

flat; dull; lifeless
“A sort of vapid eagerness flitted across Winston’s face.”

Question 12

posterity (n)

Answer 12

future generations
“They were executed, and their fate was recorded in the Party histories, a warning to posterity.”

Question 13

pugnacious (adj/adv in this sentence)

Answer 13

belligerent; warlike; ready to fight
“The old man straightened his shoulders pugnaciously.”

Question 14

bourgeoisie (n)

Answer 14

middle class; common (used as an insult to say that you are boring and common)
“They are lackeys of the bourgeoisie! Flunkies of the (negative connotation) ruling class!”

Question 15

prevaricate (v)

Answer 15

to be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information
“If you tell me any lies, or attempt to prevaricate in any way, or even fall below your usual level of intelligence, you will cry out with pain, instantly.”

Question 16

euphony (n)

Answer 16

any agreeable (pleasing and harmonious) sounds
“A word which was difficult to utter, or was liable to be incorrectly heard, was held to be ipso facto a bad word; occasionally therefore, for the sake of euphony, extra letters were inserted into a word or an archaic formation was retained.”

Question 17

dismember (v)

Answer 17

to separate the limbs from the body
“It was in the Park, on a vile, biting day in March, when the earth was like iron and all the grass seemed dead and there was not a bud anywhere except a few crocuses which had pushed themselves up to be dismembered by the wind.”

Question 18

ambivalent (adj)

Answer 18

uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow
“Other words, again, were ambivalent, having the connotation ‘good’ when applied to the Party and ‘bad’ when applied to its enemies.”

Question 19

premonitory (adj)

Answer 19

warning of future misfortune
“A sort of premonitory tremor, a fear of he was not certain what, had passed through Winston as soon as he caught his first glimpse of the cage.”

Question 20

sanctimonious (adj)

Answer 20

excessively or hypocritically conceited; self-righteously superior
“His frog-like face grew calmer, and even took on a slightly sanctimonious expression.”

Question 21

disseminate (v)

Answer 21

cause to become widely known
“He heard himself promising to lie, to steal, to forge, to murder, to encourage drug-taking and prostitution, to disseminate venereal diseases, to throw vitriol in a child’s face.”

Question 22

malleable (adj)

Answer 22

capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out
“People are infinitely malleable.”

Question 23

wheedle (v)

Answer 23

to influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
“On the other hand some of them seemed to be on good terms with the guards, called them by nicknames, and tried to wheedle cigarettes through the spyhole in the door.”

Question 24

implicate (v)

Answer 24

to bring into intimate and incriminating connection; to show someone is involved in the situation or crime.
“It was easier to confess everything and implicate everybody.”

Question 25

capitulate (v)

Answer 25

to surrender under agreed conditions; give in; admit defeat
“Indeed, we could not compromise any more without capitulating fully.”