Vocabs

Question 1

capricious

Answer 1

adj. sudden changes of mood/behaviour e.g. she was so often stigmatised as weak, fragile, immature, capricious and demanding

Question 2

instigate

Answer 2

v. bring about/initiate an action or event e.g. in efforts to understand why certain events happen, we must go looking for instigating factors

Question 3

Afrocentrism

Answer 3

n. an approach to studying the culture and history of people of recent African descent e.g. most black Americans realise that white folks are never going to embrace blacks who cling to so-called Afrocentrism

Question 4

crochet

Answer 4

ˈkrəʊʃeɪ n. or v. a handicraft in which yarn is made up into a textured fabric by means of a hooked needle e.g. she had crocheted the shawl herself

Question 5

spawn

Answer 5

v. bring about, give rise to, generate, effect, lead to e.g. today, the same situation spawns an entirely different conversation.

Question 6

stride

Answer 6

n. long and decisive steps in a specific direction. e.g. as soon as the guest host, McLean Stevenson, bellowed my name, I came bouncing out from behind the curtain in my best Hollywood stride and made my way to the guest chair. or v. he strode across the road

Question 7

idiosyncrasy

Answer 7

n. unique/unusual feature of an individual; behaviour or way of thought peculiar to an individual e.g. one of his little idiosyncrasies was always preferring to be in the car first.

Question 8

emblazon

Answer 8

v. conspicuously inscribe or display a design on e.g. t-shirts emblazoned with the names of baseball teams.
or ‘emblazoned on the door panel’

Question 9

conspicuous

Answer 9

adj. clearly visible e.g. he was very thin with a conspicuous Adam’s Apple

Question 10

stealth

Answer 10

n. cautious and surreptitious

action/movement e.g. the silence and stealth of a hungry cat

Question 11

surreptitious

Answer 11

adj/ /ˌsʌrəpˈtɪʃəs/ kept secret

Question 12

labyrinthine

Answer 12

adj. of a labyrinth (n.) which is complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one’s way; a maze e.g. the more complicated or labyrinthine the explanations get, the less likely they are to be the truth.

Question 13

nebulous

Answer 13

adj. (of a concept) vague or ill-defined e.g. it’s taking concepts that were unknown or nebulous to us in the past, finding a way to funnel them into our understanding, and incorporating them into our lives as need be.

Question 14

watchdog

Answer 14

a person/group that monitors the practices of companies providing a particular service or utility e.g. the consumer watchdog for transport in London.

Question 15

novice

Answer 15

a person new to/inexperienced to situation e.g. the difference in performance between novices and experts.

Question 16

sardonic

Answer 16

adj. grimly mocking or cynical e.g. a sardonic smile

Question 17

prowess

Answer 17

n. | ˈpraʊɪs | skill/expertise in a particular activity; bravery in battle e.g. as a boy he’d been admired for his science prowess, but now nobody seemed to care.

Question 18

Sabbath

Answer 18

n. | ˈsabəθ | e.g. perhaps if you observe a digital Sabbath, or keep your phone away from your bed at night, or turn off notifications and resolve to be more mindful, you can keep all the good things. the Sabbath originally means a day of religious observance and abstinence from work fri evening to sat evening, kept by Jewish people. A digital Sabbath implies you are having a digital abstinence.

Question 19

stricture

Answer 19

n. a restriction on a person/activity e.g. the basic stricture will radically change for the better how you maintain your social life.

Question 20

acquiesce

Answer 20

v. | ˌakwɪˈɛs | accept something reluctantly but without protest e.g. Sara acquiesced in his decision . They cope by minimising problem and acquiescing.

Question 21

je ne sais quoi

/ˌʒə nə seɪ ˈkwɑː,French ʒən sɛ kwa/

Answer 21

/ˌʒə nə seɪ ˈkwɑː/ a quality that cannot be described or named easily e.g. that je ne sais quoi which makes a professional
French ʒən sɛ kwa/ in French it literally means i don’t know.