words

Question 1

inter alia

Answer 1

inter alia /ˌɪntər ˈeɪlɪə, ˈalɪə/ ♫

▶ adverb among other things: the study includes, inter alia, computers, aircraft, and pharmaceuticals.

– origin Latin.

Question 2

riposte

Answer 2

riposte /rɪˈpɒst/ ♫

▶ noun1.A quick, clever reply to an insult or criticism.
2.A quick return thrust in fencing.

▶ verb1.[with direct speech] make a quick, clever reply to an insult or criticism: ‘You’ve got a strange sense of honour,’ Grant riposted.
2.[no obj.] make a quick return thrust in fencing.

– origin early 18th cent.: from French risposte (noun), risposter (verb), from Italian risposta ‘response’.

Question 3

desertification

Answer 3

desertification /dɛˌzə:tɪfɪˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/ ♫

▶ noun [mass noun] the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture: nearly one fifth of the world’s land is threatened with desertification.

Question 4

Svengali

Answer 4

Svengali /svɛnˈgɑ:li/ ♫

▶ noun a person who exercises a controlling or mesmeric influence on another, especially for a sinister purpose.

– origin early 20th cent.: the name of a musician in George du Maurier’s novel Trilby (1894), who controls Trilby’s stage singing hypnotically.

Question 5

duplicitous

Answer 5

duplicitous /dju:ˈplɪsɪtəs, djʊ-/ ♫

▶ adjective1.Deceitful: a duplicitous philanderer.
2.Law (of a charge or plea) containing more than one allegation.

→ duplicitously adverb

Question 6

neophyte

Answer 6

neophyte /ˈni:ə(ʊ)fʌɪt/ ♫

▶ noun1.A person who is new to a subject or activity: four-day cooking classes are offered to neophytes and experts | [as modifier] a cast of neophyte actors.
2.A new convert to a religion.
• a novice in a religious order, or a newly ordained priest.

– origin late Middle English: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek neophutos, literally ‘newly planted’ but first used in the sense ‘new convert’ by St Paul (1 Tim. 3:6), from neos ‘new’ + phuton ‘plant’.

Question 7

inculcate

Answer 7

inculcate /ˈɪnkʌlkeɪt/ ♫

▶ verb [with obj.] instil (an idea, attitude, or habit) by persistent instruction: I tried to inculcate in my pupils an attitude of enquiry.
• teach (someone) an attitude, idea, or habit by persistent instruction: they will try to inculcate you with a respect for culture.

→ inculcation /-ˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/ noun,

→ inculcator noun

– origin mid 16th cent.: from Latin inculcat- ‘pressed in’, from the verb inculcare, from in- ‘into’ + calcare ‘to tread’ (from calx, calc- ‘heel’).

Question 8

aquaponics

Answer 8

aquaponics /akwəˈpɒnɪks/ ♫

▶ plural noun [treated as sing.] a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures supplies the nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water: thanks to its automatic recirculating system, aquaponics does not require much monitoring or measuring.

→ aquaponic adjective

– origin 1930s (in the sense ‘hydroponics’): blend of aqua- and hydroponics.

Question 9

engimatic

Answer 9

enigmatic /ˌɛnɪgˈmatɪk/ ♫

▶ adjective difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious: he took the money with an enigmatic smile.

→ enigmatical adjective,

→ enigmatically /ɛnɪgˈmatɪk(ə)li/ adverb

– origin early 17th cent.: from French énigmatique or late Latin aenigmaticus, based on Greek ainigma ‘riddle’ (see enigma).

Question 10

-etum

Answer 10

-etum /ˈi:təm/

▶ suffix (forming nouns) denoting a collection or plantation of trees or other plants: arboretum | pinetum.

– origin from Latin.

Question 11

parasite

Answer 11

parasite /ˈparəsʌɪt/ ♫

▶ noun1.An organism which lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the other’s expense: the parasite attaches itself to the mouths of fishes | an intestinal parasite of cattle.
Parasites exist in huge variety and include animals, plants, and micro-organisms. They may live as ectoparasites on the surface of the host (e.g. arthropods such as ticks, mites, lice, fleas, and many insects infesting plants) or as endoparasites in the gut or tissues (e.g. many kinds of worm), and cause varying degrees of damage or disease to the host.

2.Derogatory a person who habitually relies on or exploits others and gives nothing in return: the capitalist is really a parasite on the workers.

– origin mid 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek parasitos ‘(person) eating at another’s table’, from para- ‘alongside’ + sitos ‘food’.

Question 12

renege

Answer 12

renege /rɪˈneɪg, rɪˈni:g/ ♫ (also renegue)

▶ verb [no obj.] go back on a promise, undertaking, or contract: the government had reneged on its election promises.
• another term for revoke (sense 2).

• [with obj.] archaic renounce or abandon: there’s one of them, anyhow, that didn’t renege him.

→ reneger noun

– origin mid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘desert’): from medieval Latin renegare, from Latin re- (expressing intensive force) + negare ‘deny’.

Question 13

transgressive

Answer 13

transgressive /tranzˈgrɛsɪv, trɑ:nz-, -ns-/ ♫

▶ adjective1.Involving a violation of moral or social boundaries: her experiences of transgressive love with both sexes.
• relating to art or literature in which orthodox moral, social, and artistic boundaries are challenged by the representation of unconventional behaviour and the use of experimental forms: the contrast of such transgressive films with their mainstream counterparts should be clear.

2.Geology (of a stratum) overlapping others unconformably, especially as a result of marine transgression: this stage was markedly transgressive over a large part of Russia.

Question 14

nay

Answer 14

nay /neɪ/ ♫

▶ adverb1.Or rather (used to emphasize a more appropriate word than one just used): permission to build the superstore will take months, nay years.
2.Archaic or dialect no: nay, I must not think thus.

▶ noun a negative answer: the cabinet sits to give the final yea or nay to policies.

– origin Middle English (in sense 2 of the adverb): from Old Norse nei, from ne ‘not’ + ei ‘ever’ (compare with aye2).

Question 15

exclusive

Answer 15

exclusive /ɪkˈsklu:sɪv, ɛk-/ ♫

▶ adjective1.Excluding or not admitting other things: an exclusive focus on success and making money | the list is not exclusive.
• unable to exist or be true if something else exists or is true: mutually exclusive options.

• (of terms) excluding all but what is specified.

2.Restricted to the person, group, or area concerned: the couple had exclusive possession of the flat | the problem isn’t exclusive to Dublin.
• (of an item or story) not published or broadcast elsewhere: an exclusive interview.

3. Catering for or available to only a few, select customers; high class and expensive: one of Britain’s most exclusive clubs.
4. (exclusive of) not including: prices are exclusive of VAT.

▶ noun an item or story published or broadcast by only one source.

→ exclusiveness noun,

→ exclusivity /ɛksklu:ˈsɪvɪti/ noun

– origin late 15th cent. (as a noun denoting something that excludes): from medieval Latin exclusivus, from Latin excludere ‘shut out’ (see exclude).

Question 16

reconcile

Answer 16

reconcile /ˈrɛk(ə)nsʌɪl/ ♫

▶ verb [with obj.]1.Restore friendly relations between: the king and the archbishop were publicly reconciled | she wanted to be reconciled with her father.
• settle (a quarrel): advice on how to reconcile the conflict.

• make or show to be compatible: the agreement had to be reconciled with the city’s new international relations policy.
• (reconcile someone to) make someone accept (a disagreeable or unwelcome thing): he was reconciled to leaving.

2.Make (one account) consistent with another, especially by allowing for transactions begun but not yet completed: it is not necessary to reconcile the cost accounts to the financial accounts.

→ reconcilement noun,

→ reconciler noun,

→ reconciliatory /-kənˈsɪlɪət(ə)ri/ adjective

– origin late Middle English: from Old French reconcilier or Latin reconciliare, from Latin re- ‘back’ (also expressing intensive force) + conciliare ‘bring together’.

Question 17

lascivious

Answer 17

lascivious /ləˈsɪvɪəs/ ♫

▶ adjective feeling or revealing an overt sexual interest or desire: he gave her a lascivious wink.

→ lasciviously adverb,

→ lasciviousness noun

– origin late Middle English: from late Latin lasciviosus, from Latin lascivia ‘lustfulness’, from lascivus ‘lustful, wanton’.

Question 18

hawkish

Answer 18

hawkish /ˈhɔ:kɪʃ/ ♫

▶ adjective1.Resembling a hawk in nature or appearance: his hawkish nose.
2.Advocating an aggressive or warlike policy, especially in foreign affairs: the administration’s hawkish stance.

→ hawkishly adverb,

→ hawkishness noun

Question 19

abstemious

Answer 19

abstemious /əbˈsti:mɪəs/ ♫

▶ adjective indulging only very moderately in something, especially food and drink: ‘We only had a bottle.’ ‘Very abstemious of you.’.

→ abstemiously adverb,

→ abstemiousness noun

– origin early 17th cent.: from Latin abstemius, (from ab- ‘from’ + a word related to temetum ‘alcoholic drink’) + -ous.

Question 20

crusade

Answer 20

crusade /kru:ˈseɪd/ ♫

▶ noun1.(Crusade) each of a series of medieval military expeditions made by Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries: the fanaticism engendered by the Crusades | in 1204 the armies of the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople.
• a war instigated for alleged religious ends: the Albigensian crusades.

2.A vigorous campaign for political, social, or religious change: a crusade against crime.

▶ verb [no obj.] (often as adj. crusading) lead or take part in a vigorous campaign for social, political, or religious change: a crusading stance on poverty.

– origin late 16th cent. (originally as croisade): from French croisade, an alteration (influenced by Spanish cruzado) of earlier croisée, literally ‘the state of being marked with the cross’, based on Latin crux, cruc- ‘cross’; in the 17th cent. the form crusado, from Spanish cruzado, was introduced. The blending of these two forms led to the current spelling, first recorded in the early 18th cent.