Word List 1

Question 1

abase

Answer 1

v. lower; degrade; humiliate

Anna expected to have to curtsy to the King of Siam; when told to cast herself down on the fround before him, however, she refused to abase herself.

-> n. abasement

Question 2

abash

Answer 2

v. embarrass

He was not at all abashed by her open admiration.

Question 3

*abate

Answer 3

v. subside or moderate

Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to abate.

Question 4

abbreviate

Answer 4

v. shorten

Because we were running out of time, the lecturer had to abbreviate her speech.

Question 5

abdicate

Answer 5

v. renounce; give up.

When Edward VIII abdicated the British throne, he surprised the entire world.

Question 6

*aberrant

Answer 6

adj. abnormal or deviant.

Given the aberrant nature of the data, we came to doubt the validity of the entire experiment.

Question 7

aberration

Answer 7

n. abnormality; departure from the norm; mental irregularity or disorder.

It remains the consensus among investors on Wall Street that current high oil prices are a temporary aberration and that we shall soon see a return to cheap oil.

Question 8

abet

Answer 8

v. assist, usually in doing something wrong; encourage.

She was unwilling to abet him in the swindle he had planned.

Question 9

*abeyance

Answer 9

n. suspended action

The deal was held in abeyance until her arrival.

Question 10

abhor

Answer 10

v. detest; hate

She abhorred all forms of bigotry.

-> n. abhorrence

Question 11

abjure

Answer 11

v. renounce upon oath; disavow.

Pressure from university authorities caused the young scholar to abjure his heretical opinions.

-> n. abjuration

Question 12

abolish

Answer 12

v. cancel; put an end to

The president of the college refused to abolish the physical education requirement.

-> n. abolition

Question 13

abominable

Answer 13

adj. detestable; extremely unpleasant; very bad

Mary liked John until she learned he was also dating Susan; then she called him an abominable young man, with abominable taste in women.

Question 14

abortive

Answer 14

adj. unsuccessful; fruitless

Attacked by armed troops, the Chinese students had to abandon their abortive attempt to democratize Beijing peacefully.

-> v. abort

Question 15

abrasive

Answer 15

adj, rubbing away; tending to grind down

Just as abrasive cleaning powders can wear away a shiny finish, abrasive remarks can wear away a listener’s patience.

-> v. abrade

Question 16

abridge

Answer 16

v. condense or shorten.

Because the publishers felt the public wanted a shorter version of War and Peace, they proceeded to abridge the novel.

Question 17

abrogate

Answer 17

v. aboliish

The king intended to abrogate the decree issued by his predecessor.

Question 18

*abscond

Answer 18

v. depart secretly and hide

The teller who absconded with the bonds went uncaptured until someone recognized him from his photograph on America’s Most Wanted.

Question 19

absolute

Answer 19

adj. complete; totally unlimited; certain.

Although the King of Siam was an absolute monarch, he did not want to behead his unfaithful wife without absolute evidence of her infidelity.

Question 20

absolve

Answer 20

v. pardon (an offense)

The father confessor absolved him of his sins.

-> n. absolution

Question 21

abstain

Answer 21

v. refrain; withhold from participation

After considering the effect of alcohol on his athletic performance, he decided to abstain from drinking while he trained for the race.

Question 22

*abstemious

Answer 22

adj. sparing in eating and drinking; temperate

Concerned whether her vegetarian son’s abstemious diet provided him with sufficient protein, the worried mother pressed food on him.

Question 23

abstinence

Answer 23

n. restraint from eating or drinking

The doctor recommended total abstinence from salted foods.

-> v. abstain

Question 24

abstract

Answer 24

adj. theoretical; not concrete; nonrepresentational

To him, hunger was an abstract concept; he had never missed a meal.

Question 25

abstruse

Answer 25

adj. obscure; profound; difficult to understand

Baffled by the abstruse philosophical texts assigned in class, Dave asked Lexy to explain Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.

Question 26

abysmal

Answer 26

adj. bottomless

His arrogance is exceeded only by his abysmal ignorance.

Question 27

academic

Answer 27

adj. related to a school; not practical or directly useful

The dean’s talk about reforming academic policies was only an academic discussion: we knew little, if anything, would change.

Question 28

accede

Answer 28

v. agree

If I accede to this demand for blackmail, I am afraid that I will be the victim of future demands.

Question 29

acclaim

Answer 29

v. applaud; announce with great approval

The sportscasters acclaimed every American victory in the Olympics and decried every American defeat.

-> n. acclamation

Question 30

accolade

Answer 30

n. award of merit

In Hollywood, an “Oscar” is the highest accolade.

Question 31

accommodate

Answer 31

v. ablige or help someone; adjust or bring into harmony; adapt

Mitch always did everything possible to accommodate his elderly relatives, from driving them to medical appointments to helping them with paperwork. (Secandary meaning)

Question 32

accomplice

Answer 32

n. partner in crime

Because he had provided the criminal with the lethal weapon, he was arrested as an accomplice in the murder.

Question 33

accord

Answer 33

n. agreement

She was in complete accord with the verdict.

Question 34

accretion

Answer 34

n. growth; increase

Over the years Bob put on weight; because of this accretion of flesh, he went from size M to size XL.

-> v. accrete

Question 35

acerbic

Answer 35

adj. bitter or sour in nature; sharp and cutting

Noted for her acerbic with and gossiping, Alice Roosevelt Longworth had a pillow in her home embroidered with the legend “If you can’t say something good about someone, sit right here by me.”

Question 36

acerbity

Answer 36

n. bitterness of speech and temper

The meeting of United Nations Assembly was marked with such acerbity that observers held little hope of reaching any useful settlement of the problem.

Question 37

acknowledge

Answer 37

v. recognize; admit

Although I acknowledge that the Beatles’ tunes sound pretty dated nowadays, I still prefer them to the gangsta rap songs my brothers play.

Question 38

acme

Answer 38

n. peak; pinnacle; highest point

Welles’s success in Citizen Kane marked the acme of his career as an actor; never again did the achieve such popular acclaim.

Question 39

acquiesce

Answer 39

v. assent; agree passively

Although she appeared to acquiesce to her employer’s suggestions, I could tell she had reservations about the changes he wanted made.

-> n. acqiescence; adj. acquiescent

Question 40

acquittal

Answer 40

n. deliverance from a charge

His acquittal by the jury surprised those who had thought him guilty.

-> v. acquit

Question 41

acrid

Answer 41

adj. sharp; bitterly pungent

The acrid odor of burnt gunpower filled the room after the pistol had been fired.

Question 42

acrimonious

Answer 42

adj. bitter in words or manner

The candidate attacked his opponent in highly acrimonious terms.

-> n. acrimony

Question 43

acuity

Answer 43

n. sharpness

In time his youghful acuity of vision failed him, and he needed glasses.

Question 44

acumen

Answer 44

n. mental keenness

Her business acumen helped her to succeed where others had failed.

Question 45

acute

Answer 45

adj. quickly perceptive; keen; brief and severe

The acute young doctor realized immediately that the gradual deterioration of her patient’s once-acute hearing was due to a chronic illness, not an acute one.

Question 46

adamant

Answer 46

adj. hard; inflexible

In this movie Bronson played the part of a revenge-driven man, adamant in his determination to punish the criminals who destroyed his family.

-> n. adamancy

Question 47

adapt

Answer 47

v. alter; modify

Some species of animals have become extinct because they could not adapt to a changing environment.

Question 48

address

Answer 48

v. direct a speech to; deal wih or discuss

Due to address the convention in July, Brown planned to address the issue of low-income housing in his speech.

Question 49

adept

Answer 49

adj. expert at

She was adept at the fine art of irritating people.

-> n. adept

Question 50

adhere

Answer 50

v. stick fast

I will adhere to this opinion until proof that I am wrong is presented.

-> n. adhesion; n. adherence

Question 51

adherent

Answer 51

n. supporter; follower

In the wake of the scandal, the senator’s one-time adherents quietly deserted him.

Question 52

adjacent

Answer 52

adj. adjoining; neighboring; close by

Philip’s best friend Jason lived only hour houses down the block, near but not immediately adjacent.

Question 53

*admonish

Answer 53

v. warn; reprove

When her courtiers questioned her religious beliefs, Mary Stuart admonished them, declaring that she would worship as she pleased.

Question 54

adorn

Answer 54

v. decorate

Wall paintings and carved statues adorned the temple.

-> n. adornment

Question 55

adroit

Answer 55

adj. skillful

Her adroit handling of the delicate situation pleased her employers.

Question 56

adulation

Answer 56

n. flattery; admiration

The rock star thrived on the adulation of his groupies and yes-man.

-> v. adulate

Question 57

*adulterate

Answer 57

v. make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances

It is a crime to adulterate foods without informing the buyer; when consumers learned that Beechnut had adulterated its apple juice by mixing the juice with water, they protested vigorously.

-> n. adulteration

Question 58

advent

Answer 58

n. arrival

Most Americans were unawater of the advent of the Nublear Age until the news of Hiroshima reached them.

Question 59

adversary

Answer 59

n. opponent; enemy

Batman struggled to save Gotham City from the machinations of his wicked adversary, the Joker.

Question 60

adverse

Answer 60

adj. unfavorable; hostile

The recession had a highly adverse effect on Father’s investment portfolio: he lost so much money that he could no longer afford the butler and the upstairs maid.