Vocabulary 151-200

Question 1

Vociferous

Answer 1

adj., overly vocal; loudly expressive–Due to a long weekend, the class was not as vociferous as usual because they were still tired and did not want to participate.

Question 2

Extricate

Answer 2

v., to remove from difficulty–Scholarships have the power to extricate students from tough financial situations by giving them money to support themselves.

Question 3

Stoic

Answer 3

adj., indifferent to pain or pleasure–The commander remained stoic and unaffected as his friends were brutally murdered and he won the war by himself.

Question 4

Prudent

Answer 4

adj., wise, sensible–The prudent monk always led his people through hard times with his teachings.

Question 5

Stalwart

Answer 5

adj., strong, brave–The stalwart soldier was able to sneak behind enemy lines and take out all the men in the pillbox.

Question 6

Empirical

Answer 6

adj., based on observation rather than theory–Real scientists develop their theories through empirical data, such as observations during experiments.

Question 7

Demagogue

Answer 7

n., a leader who manipulates people’s fears & prejudices–Big Brother is a prime example of a demagogue, because he controls the entire population of 1984 through fear.

Question 8

Raze

Answer 8

v., to tear down completely–The barbarians razed the village to the ground by burning it down.

Question 9

Sinuous

Answer 9

adj., S-shaped, curvy, winding–The sinuous road was hard to traverse due to the bends and curves.

Question 10

Temper

Answer 10

v., to strengthen by exposure to extremes–Tempered glass is made by heating glass to extremely hot temperatures and dousing it in freezing cold water immediately.

Question 11

Acquiesce

Answer 11

v., to give in, surrender–Due to his high blood pressure, the wife would not acquiesce to the husband’s pleas to buy bacon.

Question 12

Adamant

Answer 12

adj., insistent, unyielding–Hermione was adamant about learning to pronounce spells correctly; she practiced pronouncing them everyday.

Question 13

Cryptic

Answer 13

adj., difficult to understand–No one ever understood Dumbledore’s cryptic speeches.

Question 14

Obfuscate

Answer 14

v., to cloud or confuse–The difficult Chemistry Honors test question obfuscated the answer.

Question 15

Nefarious

Answer 15

adj., evil–The nefarious boy tortured his pet dog.

Question 16

Embellish

Answer 16

v., to decorate or add untrue but interesting details–Tom embellished the Christmas tree by dressing up the cat as a star and putting it on top of the tree.

Question 17

Amenable

Answer 17

adj,, willing; open to the ideas of others–The student council is amenable to listening; it encouraged the students to give comments and ideas of how to improve the school and then it carries them out.

Question 18

Capricious

Answer 18

adj., unpredictable; impulsive–The capricious child was overly-excited and couldn’t make up his mind as to what to do.

Question 19

Platitude

Answer 19

n., a dull or unoriginal statement; a clich‚–Mrs. Menache’s speech was filled with platitudes, which bored the class due to unoriginality.

Question 20

Plethora

Answer 20

n., an abundance, plentitude, profusion–The student had a plethora of missing assignments in Mrs. Menache’s class, so she got an F.

Question 21

Exhaustive

Answer 21

adj., thorough, complete, comprehensive–The exhaustive analysis of the data covered every aspect of the experiment.

Question 22

Tantamount

Answer 22

adj., equivalent–His angry speech was tantamount to a declaration of war.

Question 23

Rebuff

Answer 23

v., to reject (n. a rejection)–She rebuffed his invite to dinner so often that he felt unimportant.

Question 24

Partisan

Answer 24

adj., based on loyalty to a particular group (n. one is loyal to a particular group)–Fox News is known to be extremely partisan to the Republican Party.

Question 25

Jettison

Answer 25

v., to get rid of, discard, eject–She is so scared that her teacher might jettison her project because she turned it in a minute late.

Question 26

Derogate

Answer 26

v., to speak ill of (adj. derogatory)–The doctor derogated his partner in order to get the movie actor to switch to him.

Question 27

Apocryphal

Answer 27

adj., of doubtful authenticity; of unknown origin–Dylan’s father tended to stretch the truth, so all of his stories were seen as apocryphal.

Question 28

Belie

Answer 28

v., to give a false impression–The student’s attentive appearance belied his disdain for German class.

Question 29

Ponderous

Answer 29

adj., massive, heavy–Left alone with his ponderous concerns, Bob began to worry.

Question 30

Prolific

Answer 30

adj., extremely productive–Dylan is prolific in using vocabulary words once he sets his mind to it.

Question 31

Lurid

Answer 31

adj., overly explicit in describing unpleasant details, sensational; glaring–In fact, many of his sentences can be quite lurid when he is using them.

Question 32

Affinity

Answer 32

n., attraction toward or liking for something (someone)–Dylan’s affinity for law enforcement resulted in him signing up to be a police Explorer.

Question 33

Precursor

Answer 33

n., something that leads to a later development or idea–Participation in Explorers might be a precursor to a future career.

Question 34

Spendthrift

Answer 34

n., one who spends money foolishly–Some think that always needing the newest model iPad is a sign of a spendthrift.

Question 35

Fetter

Answer 35

v., to bring or restrain (n. chains … )–I’ve learned to fetter my enthusiastic nature so that I don’t shout out with glee during grammar lessons.

Question 36

Contentious

Answer 36

adj., argumentative–The question of whose night it is to do the dishes always starts a conentious debate at the Thomas house.

Question 37

Guile

Answer 37

n., trickiness; deception–If I have the opportunity, I will occasionally use guile to get my sister to do something that I’d like to avoid.

Question 38

Infamous

Answer 38

adj., famous in a bad way–This trait made me infamous in the family.

Question 39

Maudlin

Answer 39

adj., overly sentimental; sappy–When I think of playing with my dog, it makes me maudlin sometimes.

Question 40

Gregarious

Answer 40

adj., sociable, group-oriented–As you may have noticed, although I’m generally friendly I am not very gregarious.

Question 41

Circumscribe

Answer 41

v., to limit or define the outer boundaries of something–The pain arthritis causes in my hands often circumscribes my ability to write neatly for long periods of time.

Question 42

Ostracize

Answer 42

v., to banish from the company of others–People who pick their noses in public are often ostracized from the lunch table.

Question 43

Profane

Answer 43

v/adj. , mistreat or disrespect something that is holy, desecrate (disrespectful)–Burning the flag on Veteran’s Day is a profane act to many.

Question 44

Expedient

Answer 44

adj., practical or advantageous in the short term–Doing all of my homework as soon as it is assigned would be much more expedient than waiting.

Question 45

Coalesce

Answer 45

v., to unite, to come together in a single group–The Scout troop coalesced around the idea of performing a service project for the church.

Question 46

Culpable

Answer 46

adj., guilty; blameworthy–When I saw the dent in the back of my car, I immediately thought that the neighbors playing ball in front of my driveway were culpable.

Question 47

Trite

Answer 47

adj., dull, unoriginal, over-used; hackneyed–I try to avoid using trite sentences, but sometimes its just easier.

Question 48

Insidious

Answer 48

adj., harmful in a way that is likely to go unnoticed–Taking shortcuts when doing homework is an insidious practice.

Question 49

Truncate

Answer 49

v., to shorten by cutting–I could write really long sentences, but sometimes I’d rather truncate them.

Question 50

ascetic

Answer 50

n., one who avoids physical pleasures–I love to do things to engage my brain instead of my body, making some think I’m an ascetic.