wd

Question 1

interstice (usually interstices)

Latin:

Answer 1

an intervening space, esp a very small one

Lat: inter + sistere – ‘to stand between’
inter – between, sistere – to stand

Question 2

Moirai

Answer 2

[Greek mythology] the fates

Question 3

peremptory
>law

Latin:

Answer 3

insisting on immediate attention or obedience
>law: not open to appeal or challenge: final

Lat: peremptorious (deadly, decisive)
per (completely) emere (take, buy)

Question 4

purlieu
1.
>

2. Brit historical

French:

Answer 4

the area near or surrounding a place
>usual haunts

Brit historical: forests had laws. a tract on the border of a forest might be partly subject to forest law

Anglo-Norman/ French: lieu ‘place’

Question 5

tendentious

Answer 5

expressing/intending to promote a particular cause/POV (esp controversial)

German

Question 6

cabal

Answer 6

a secret political clique or faction
>archaic: a secret intrigue

16th c. from Lat – Kaballah

Question 7

eleemosynary

Answer 7

adj. /formal
relating to or dependent on charity; charitable.

late Latin eleemosyna ‘alms’, from Greek eleēmosunē ‘compassion’

Question 8

mendacious

etymology:

Answer 8

LYING

Lat: mendax, mendac- (lying) – related to mendum (fault)

Question 9

mendicant

etymology:

Answer 9

n/adj
reliant on alms
begging
a beggar

Lat: mendicare/mendicus (beggar) – related to mendum (fault)

Question 10

fulminate
1
2 /literary
3 /medicine

noun (CHEM)

origin:

Answer 10

verb [no object]
1 express vehement protest: all fulminated against the new curriculum.
2 literary explode violently or flash like lightning: thunder fulminated around the house.
3 (usually as adjective fulminating) Medicine (of a disease or symptom) develop suddenly and severely: fulminating appendicitis.

noun Chemistry
a salt or ester of fulminic acid.

Lat: fulminat- ‘struck by lightning’, from fulmen, fulmin- ‘lightning’.

The earliest sense (derived from medieval Latin fulminare) was ‘denounce formally’, later ‘issue formal censures’ (originally said of the Pope). A sense ‘emit thunder and lightning’, based on the original Latin meaning, arose in the early 17th century, and hence ‘explode violently’ (late 17th century).

Question 11

anodyne

1. adj
2. noun

origin

antonym ?

Answer 11

anodyne | ˈanədʌɪn | adjective

not likely to cause offence or disagreement and somewhat dull: anodyne music.

noun
a painkilling drug or medicine: she had even refused anodynes | figurative : an anodyne to the misery she had put him through.

ORIGIN
mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek anōdunos ‘painless’, from an- ‘without’ + odunē ‘pain’.

antonym: astringent

Question 12

avulsion

n. /Medicine
>Law

derivative verb

etymology

Answer 12

avulsion | əˈvʌlʃ(ə)n |
noun [mass noun]

(chiefly Medicine) the action of pulling or TEARING AWAY.

> Law the sudden separation of land from one property and its attachment to another, especially by flooding or a change in the course of a river. Compare with alluvion.

DERIVATIVES
avulse verb

ORIGIN
Latin verb avellere, from ab- ‘from’ + vallere ‘pluck’.

Question 13

internecine

1.
>

etymology

Answer 13

internecine | ˌɪntəˈniːsʌɪn | adjective

destructive to both sides in a conflict
• relating to conflict within a group

ORIGIN
mid 17th century (in the sense ‘deadly, characterized by great slaughter’): from Latin internecinus, based on inter- ‘among’ + necare ‘to kill’.

Question 14

sinecure

part of speech?

definition (1)

etymology

Answer 14

sinecure | ˈsʌɪnɪkjʊə, ˈsɪnɪkjʊə |
noun

a position requiring little or no work but giving the holder status or financial benefit: political sinecures for the supporters of ministers.

DERIVATIVES
sinecurism noun
sinecurist | ˈsʌɪnɪkjʊərɪst, ˈsɪnɪkjʊərɪst | noun

ORIGIN
mid 17th century: from Latin sine cura ‘without care’.

Question 15

mealy-mouthed

Answer 15

adjective

afraid to speak frankly or straightforwardly: mealy-mouthed excuses.

Question 16

well-heeled

Answer 16

(adj) wealthy