Week 12

Question 1

Berth

Answer 1

an amount of distance maintained for safety

Ex: give the fire a wide berth

giving him a wide berth until he is in a better mood

Question 2

Docent

Answer 2

2 : a person who leads guided tours especially through a museum or art gallery

Question 3

Eidetic

Answer 3

marked by or involving extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall especially of visual images

Ex: an eidetic memory

Question 4

Palatable

Answer 4

agreeable or acceptable to the mind

Ex: attempted to make physics palatable to a broader range of students

Question 5

Catch-22

Answer 5

a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule

Ex: the show-business catch-22—no work unless you have an agent, no agent unless you’ve worked

Question 6

To abscond

Answer 6

intransitive ​verb
formal
: to depart secretly and hide oneself

Ex: He absconded with the stolen money.

Question 7

Profligate

Answer 7

wildly extravagant

Ex: profligate spending

Question 8

Ornery

Answer 8

difficult to deal with or control

Ex: an ornery mule

once made word processors so ornery that they caused secretaries to collapse in tears …

Question 9

Irascible

Answer 9

marked by hot temper and easily provoked anger

Ex: an irascible old football coach

He has an irascible disposition.

Question 10

Bashful

Answer 10

socially shy or timid : DIFFIDENT, SELF-CONSCIOUS

Ex: He was bashful as a child.