Week 2

Question 1

austere

Answer 1

adj. forbiddingly stern, severely simple and unornamented
“The headmaster’s austere demeanor tended to scare off the more timid students; his office austere and bare like a monk’s cell”

Question 2

autonomous

Answer 2

adj. self-governing; n. autonomy
“Although UC Berkeley is just one part of the UC system, it is in many ways autonomous with its programs that are subject to outside control.”

Question 3

aver

Answer 3

v. assert confidently or declare; as used in law, state formally as a fact
“The self-proclaimed psychic averred that, because he had extrasensory perception on which to base his predictions, he needed no seismographs or other gadgets in order to foretell earthquakes.”

Question 4

banal

Answer 4

adj. hackneyed; commonplace; trite; lacking originality.

“The hack writer’s worn out cliches made his comic trip seem banal.”

Question 5

belie

Answer 5

v. contradict; give false impression.

“His coarse, hard-bitten exterior belied his innate sensitivity.”

Question 6

beneficiant

Answer 6

adj. kindly, doing good.
“The overgenerous philanthropist had to curb his beneficent impulses before he gave away all his money and left himself with nothing.”

Question 7

bolster

Answer 7

v. support, reinforce

“The debaters amassed file boxes full of evidence to bolster their arguments.”

Question 8

bombastic

Answer 8

adj. pompous, using inflated language; n. bombast

“Puffed up with conceit, the orator spoke with such a bombastic manner that we longed to deflate him.

Question 9

boorish

Answer 9

adj. rude, insensitive
“Though Mr. Potts constantly interrupted his wife, she ignored his boorish behavior, for she had lost hope of teaching him courtesy.”

Question 10

burgeoning

Answer 10

adj. flourishing, growing quickly, putting out buds

“Phil and Adam could scarcely keep up with the burgeoning demand for the services of their production company.”

Question 11

burnish

Answer 11

v. make shiny by rubbing, polish

“The maid burnished the brass fixtures until they reflected the lamplight.”

Question 12

buttress

Answer 12

v. support, prop up
“Just as architects buttress the walls of cathedrals with flying buttresses, debaters buttress their arguments with facts.”

Question 13

cacophonous

Answer 13

adj. discordant, inharmonious; n. cacophony

“Do the orchestra kids enjoy the cacophonous sounds they make warming up?”

Question 14

capricious

Answer 14

adj. unpredictable, fickle

“The storm was capricious: it changed course constantly.”

Question 15

castigation

Answer 15

n. punishment, severe criticism

“Sensitive even to mild criticism, Woolf could not bear the castigation that she found in certain reviews.”

Question 16

catalyst

Answer 16

n. agent that influences the pace of a chemical reaction while it remains unaffected and unchanged, or person or thing that causes action
“After a banana is harvested, certain enzymes within its cells continue to act as a catalyst for the biochemical process of ripening.”

Question 17

caustic

Answer 17

adj. burning, sarcastically biting

“The critics caustic remarks angered the hapless actors who were the subjects of his sarcasm.”

Question 18

chicanery

Answer 18

n. trickery, deception

“Those sneaky lawyers misrepresented what occurred, depending on chicanery to win the case.”

Question 19

cogent

Answer 19

adj. convincing
“It was inevitable that David chose to go to Harvard: he had several reasons for doing so, including a full-tuition scholarship.”

Question 20

commensurate

Answer 20

adj. corresponding in extent, degree, amount, etc; proportionate
“By the close of WWII much progress had been made assigning nurses rank and responsibilities commensurate with their training and abilities.”

Question 21

compendium

Answer 21

n. comprehensive summary

“This text can serve as a compendium of the tremendous amount of new material being developed in this field.”

Question 22

complaisant

Answer 22

adj. trying to please, overly polite, obliging
“Fearing the king might become enraged if his will were thwarted, the complaisant Parliament recognized Henry VIII as king of Ireland.”

Question 23

compliant

Answer 23

adj. yielding, conforming to requirements
“Because Joel usually gave in and went along with whatever his friends desired, his mother worried he might be too compliant.”

Question 24

conciliatory

Answer 24

adj. reconciling, soothing

“She was still angry despite his conciliatory words.”

Question 25

condone

Answer 25

v. overlook, forgive, give tacit approval, excuse

“Unlike Widow Davis, who condoned Huck’s minor offenses, Miss Watson did nothing but scold.”

Question 26

confound

Answer 26

v. confuse, puzzle

“No mystery could confound Sherlock Holmes for too long.”

Question 27

connoisseur

Answer 27

n. person competent to act as a judge of art etc., a lover of art.
“Bernard Berenson, the American art critic and connoisseur of Italian art, was hired by wealthy art lovers to select paintings for their collections.”

Question 28

contention

Answer 28

n. claim, thesis; v. contend

“It is our contention that, if you follow our tactics, you will boost your score on the GRE.”

Question 29

contentious

Answer 29

adj. quarrelsome
“Disagreeing violently with the referees’ ruling, the coach became so contentious that the referees threw him out of the game.”

Question 30

contrite

Answer 30

adj. penitent; n. contrition

“Her contrite tears did not influence judge when he imposed sentence.”

Question 31

converge

Answer 31

v. approach, tend to meet, come together; n. convergence

“African-American men from all over the US converged on Washington to take part in the historic Million Man March.”

Question 32

conundrum

Answer 32

n. riddle, difficult problem

“During the long car ride, she invented conundrums to entertain the children.”