Vocab #4

Question 1

Tedious

Answer 1

(adj) Marked by tedium; long and tiresome: tedious tasks; tedious journey.

wordy so as to cause weariness or boredom, as a speaker or writer, prolix

Question 2

Fluctuate

Answer 2

(v w/out object) To change continually; shift back & forth; vary irregularly: The price of gold fluctuated wildly last month.

To move back and forth in a waves

Question 3

Disseminate

Answer 3

(v w/out object) to scatter or spread widely, as though sowing a seed; promulgate extensively; broadcast; disperse: to disseminate information about preventive medicine

Question 4

Fecund

Answer 4

(adj) Producing or capable of producing offspring, fruit, vegetation, etc., in abundance; prolific; fruitful: fecund parents; fecund farmland

Very productive or creative intellectually: the fecund years of the Italian Renaissance

Question 5

Deprecate

Answer 5

(v – with object) To express earnest disapproval of. To urge reasons

against; protest against (a scheme, purpose, etc.). To depreciate; belittle.

Question 6

Fatuous

Answer 6

(adj) Foolish or inane, especially in an unconscious, complacent manner;
silly. Unreal; illusory.

• It’s fatuous to book flight tickets through online travel firms without having a look at the

respective airline’s fare.

Question 7

Tepid

Answer 7

(adj) Moderately warm; lukewarm: tepid water. Characterized by a lack of

force or enthusiasm: tepid prose; the critics’ tepid reception for the new play.

Question 8

Adulation

Answer 8

(n) Excessive devotion to someone; servile flattery.

Question 9

Callous

Answer 9

(adj) Made hard; hardened. Insensitive; indifferent; unsympathetic: They have

a callous attitude toward the sufferings of others. Having a callus; indurated, as parts of the skin

exposed to friction.

Question 10

Adept

Answer 10

(adj) Very skilled; proficient; expert: an adept juggler.

Question 11

Daunt

Answer 11

(v) To overcome with fear; intimidate: to daunt one’s adversaries. To

lessen the courage of; dishearten: Don’t be daunted by the amount of work still to be done.

Question 12

Infallible

Answer 12

(adj) Absolutely trustworthy or sure: an infallible rule. Unfailing in

effectiveness or operation; certain: an infallible remedy. Not fallible; exempt from liability to

error, as persons, their judgment, or pronouncements: an infallible principle.

Question 13

Latent

Answer 13

(adj) Present but not visible, apparent, or actualized; existing as potential: latent
ability. Pathology: (of an infectious agent or disease) remaining in an inactive or hidden phase;dormant.

Psychology: existing in unconscious or dormant form but potentially able to achieve expression: a latent emotion.

Question 14

Abreast

Answer 14

(adv & adj) Side by side; beside each other in a line: They walked two

abreast down the street. Equal to or alongside in progress, attainment, or awareness (usually

followed by of or with): to keep abreast of scientific developments; keeping abreast with the

times.

Question 15

Utopia

Answer 15

(n) An imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia
(1516) as enjoying perfection in law, politics, etc. An ideal place or state. Any visionary system

of political or social perfection.

Question 16

Capitulate

Answer 16

(v – without an object) To surrender unconditionally or on

stipulated terms. To give up resistance: He finally capitulated and agreed to do the job my way.

• Note: Don’t confuse with recapitulate, which means to summarize or review.

Question 17

Delude

Answer 17

(v – with object) To mislead the mind or judgment of; deceive: His conceit

deluded him into believing he was important.

Question 18

Decadence

Answer 18

(n) The act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state;

deterioration; decay: Some historians hold that the fall of Rome can be attributed to internal

decadence. Moral degeneration or decay; turpitude. Unrestrained or excessive self-indulgence.

Question 19

Doleful

Answer 19

(adj) Sorrowful; mournful; melancholy: a doleful look on her face.

Question 20

Insidious

Answer 20

(adj) Intended to entrap or beguile: an insidious plan. Stealthily

treacherous or deceitful: an insidious enemy. Operating or proceeding in an inconspicuous or

seemingly harmless way but actually with grave effect: an insidious disease.