Vocabulary July 7 2018

Question 1

attenuate

rebus: tent cake

Answer 1

1. Reduce the force, effect, or value of.
2. to make thin, to make less

‘her intolerance was attenuated by an unexpected liberalism’

“to make thin, to make less,”

from Latin attenuatus, “to make thin, lessen, diminish,”

ad “to” + tenuare “make thin,” from PIE root *ten- “to stretch.”

Question 2

lassitude

rebus: lasso food

Answer 2

A state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy.

‘she was overcome by lassitude and retired to bed’

Question 3

arrant

rebus: air ant

Answer 3

Complete, utter.

thoroughgoing, downright, notorious

‘what arrant nonsense!’

Question 4

phlegmatic

rebus: flying mat

Answer 4

adjective: (of a person) having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition.
* ‘the phlegmatic British character’*

“cool, calm, self-possessed,” and in a more pejorative sense, “cold, dull, apathetic,”

1570s, from literal sense “abounding in phlegm (as a bodily humor)”

Question 5

reprobate

rebus: leopard bait

Answer 5

noun: An unprincipled person without morals
adjective: totally bad; corrupt; depraved
* I am worried about Alice because her new boyfriend struck me as a reprobate.*

from Latin re- “opposite of, reversal of previous condition” + probare “prove to be worthy”