Words 8/14/13

Question 1

Linchpin

Answer 1

something that holds the elements of a complicated structure together. The use of police stops has been widely cited by city officials as a linchpin of New York’s success story in seeing murders and major crimes fall to historic lows.

Question 2

Supine

Answer 2

lying on the back, face up. 2) inactive, passive, inert, especially from indolence or indifference. opp: prone = lying face up Sent: It isn’t just the commuters, whom we have come to visualize as a supine breed who have got onto the trick of suspending their sensory faculties twice a day while they submit to the creeping dissolution of the railroad industry.

Question 3

Maladjusted

Answer 3

badly or unsatisfactorily adjusted, especially in relationship to one’s social circumstances, environment, etc.

Question 4

Sibilant

Answer 4

A hissing sound Instantly the doleful eyes of my seatmate turned tiredly from his news paper to fix me with a resentful stare: what question could be so important as to justify my sibilant intrusion into his stupor.

Question 5

Heedless

Answer 5

1) Careless, thoughtless, unmindful Sent: That tendency to passive compliance, to a heedless endurance is something to keep one’s eyes on–in sharp focus.

Question 6

Gird

Answer 6

1) To surround a person about the waist with belt or girdle for purpose of freer action 2) to prepare oneself for action; to brace oneself (often followed with up) Sent: My blood gets hot, my brow wet, I become unbearably and unconsciously sarcastic and bellicose: I am girded for a total showdown.

Question 7

Impervious.

Answer 7

2. fig. That one cannot get through or penetrate; in mod. use chiefly of a person or his mind, Not affording passage or entrance to (argument, feeling, etc.); ‘impenetrable’. Sent: I stared at the idle shopkeeper, hoping to shame him into action, but he was impervious to my telepathic reproof and continued his small talk with his friend, brazenly insensitive to the nervous demands of six good men who were raring to ski.

Question 8

Raring

Answer 8

Very eager or anxious

Question 9

Footlights

Answer 9

LIghts at front of theatre at foot level. 2) The stage; the acting profession.

Question 10

Impenitent

Answer 10

not feeling regret or remorse for one’s sins; obdurate

Question 11

Importunate

Answer 11

urgent or persistent in solicitation, sometimes annoyingly so. sent: For many, an importunate letter from an applicant’s parents would quickly be consigned to a dusty filing cabinet, if not the wastebasket. 2) pertinacious –a pertinacious salesman whom I could not escape. 3)troublesome; annoying sent: Gaddis seems to have reconciled himself to his modest career, but mounting debts, an importunate ex-wife and a child to support, as well as

Question 12

Pulp

Answer 12

1) To reduce to pulp. 2) To remove the pulp from.

Question 13

Impish

Answer 13

M: The mischeivous imple.

Mischeivous: having the characteristics of an imp; pertaining to or characteristic of a little devil or mischievous urchin.

• S:She will be remembered by us and by her many friends for her impish sense of humor, her love of people and parties, and her desire to make the world a better place.
• S: His wild brio and impish drive were almost frightening; a series of double air turns ended with three in pop-pop-pop succession, like so many Champagne corks

Question 14

Machination

Answer 14

Crafty scheme, plot

Question 15

Nary

Answer 15

Not any; no; never ex: nary a peep

Question 16

Phlebotomy

Answer 16

the act of opening a vein to let blood.