Vocab #11

Question 1

Ingenious

Answer 1

(adj) Characterized by cleverness or originality of invention or construction: an ingenious machine.

Cleverly inventive or resourceful: an ingenious press agent.

• The success of the Mini Cooper was due to its ingenious technological design.

Question 2

Ingenuous

Answer 2

(adj) Free from reserve, restraint, or dissimulation; candid; sincere.

Artless; innocent; naive.

• No one, however ingenuous, can meaningfully facilitate any change in a community without familiarising with the people.

Question 3

Clemency

Answer 3

(n) The quality of being clement; disposition to show forbearance, compassion, or forgiveness in judging or punishing; leniency; mercy. An act or deed showing
mercy or leniency.

Of the weather: mildness or temperateness.

• The parole board did not recommend clemency for the criminal.

Question 4

Deft

Answer 4

(adj) Dexterous; nimble; skillful; clever: deft hands; a deft mechanic.

Question 5

Superfluous

Answer 5

(adj) Being more than is sufficient or required; excessive.

Unnecessary or needless.

• Cable companies appear to be obsessed with the pursuit of more revenue even if it means superfluous power consumption.

Question 6

Erudite

Answer 6

(adj) Characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly: an erudite professor; an erudite commentary. Synonyms: educated, knowledgeable; wise, sapient.

• The campus was sparkling with erudite conversations about international affairs.

Question 7

Pedestrian

Answer 7

(adj) Lacking in vitality, imagination, distinction, etc.;
commonplace; prosaic or dull: a pedestrian commencement speech.

• The catering company’s food was typically pedestrian.

Question 8

Craven

Answer 8

(adj) Cowardly; contemptibly timid; pusillanimous. (n) Coward.
(v – with object) To make cowardly.

Question 9

Nonchalant

Answer 9

(adj) Coolly unconcerned, indifferent, or unexcited; casual: His nonchalant manner infuriated me.

• Mary tried to appear nonchalant when she saw her favorite singer at the party.

Question 10

Emulate

Answer 10

(v – with object) To try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass: to emulate one’s father as a concert violinist.

To rival with some degree of success:
Some smaller cities now emulate the major capitals in their cultural offerings.

Question 11

Forte

Answer 11

(n) A person’s strong suit, or most highly developed characteristic, talent, or skill; something that one excels in: I don’t know what her forte is, but it’s not music. Synonyms: talent, skill, excellence, strength, strong point, specialty, proficiency; knack, bent.

Question 12

Fabricate

Answer 12

(v – with object) To make by art or skill and labor; construct: The finest craftspeople fabricated this clock.

To make by assembling parts or sections. To devise or invent
(a legend, lie, etc.). To fake; forge (a document, signature, etc.).

Question 13

Indomitable

Answer 13

(adj) That which cannot be subdued or overcome, as persons, will, or courage; unconquerable: an indomitable warrior.

Question 14

Hallowed

Answer 14

(adj) Regarded as holy; venerated; sacred: Hallowed be Thy name; the hallowed saints; our hallowed political institutions.

Question 15

Uncanny

Answer 15

(adj) Having or seeming to have a supernatural or inexplicable basis; beyond the ordinary or normal; extraordinary: uncanny accuracy; an uncanny knack of
foreseeing trouble.

Mysterious; arousing superstitious fear or dread; uncomfortably strange: Uncanny sounds filled the house.

Question 16

Lackadaisical

Answer 16

(adj) Without interest, vigor, or determination; listless;
lethargic: a lackadaisical attempt.
Lazy; indolent: a lackadaisical fellow.

Question 17

Notorious

Answer 17

(adj) Widely and unfavorably known: a notorious
gambler.
Synonyms: infamous, egregious, outrageous, arrant, flagrant, disreputable.

Publicly or generally known, as for a particular trait: a newspaper that is notorious for its sensationalism.
Synonyms: notable, renowned, celebrated, prominent, conspicuous, famous, widely known.

Question 18

Droll

Answer 18

(adj) Amusing in an odd way; whimsically humorous; waggish.

(n) A droll person; jester; wag.

Question 19

Eschew

Answer 19

(v – with object) To abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid: to eschew evil.

Question 20

Compuction

Answer 20

(n) A feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience
caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain; contrition; remorse.

Any uneasiness or hesitation about the rightness of an action.

• But mobsters generally have little compunction about resorting to violence as a means of making money.