WordSmart

Question 1

ABASH

Answer 1

(uh BASH) v to make ashamed; to embarrass • Meredith felt abashed by her inability to remember her lines in the school chorus of “Old McDonald Had a Farm.” To do something without shame or embarrassment is to do it unabashedly. • Ken handed in a term paper that he had unabashedly copied from the National Enquirer.

Question 2

ABATE

Answer 2

(uh BAYT) v to subside; to reduce • George spilled a pot of hot coffee on his leg. It hurt quite a bit. Then, gradually, the agony abated. • Bad weather abates when good weather begins to return. A rainstorm that does not let up continues unabated. A tax abatement is a reduction in taxes. Businesses are some times given tax abatements in return for building factories in places where there is a particular need for jobs.

Question 3

ABDICATE

Answer 3

(AB duh kayt) v to step down from a position of power or responsibility • When King Edward VIII of England decided he would rather be married to Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American divorcée, than be king of England, he turned in his crown and abdicated. Even people who aren’t monarchs can abdicate their duties and responsibilities. • Abby abdicated her responsibilities as a secretary by dumping in the garbage the reports she was supposed to type and flying to the Bahamas.

Question 4

ABERRATION

Answer 4

(ab uh RAY shun) n something not typical; a deviation from the standard • SØren’s bad behavior was an aberration. So was Harry’s good behavior. That is, SØren’s was usually good and Harry’s was usually bad. • The chef at this restaurant is dreadful; the good meal we just had was an aberration. • A snowstorm in June is an aberration; snow doesn’t normally fall in June. An aberration is an aberrant (uh BER unt) occurrence. • SØren’s behavior was aberrant. The summer snowstorm was aberrant. Note carefully the pronunciation of these words.

Question 5

ABHOR

Answer 5

(ab HOR) v to hate very, very much; to detest • Emanuel abhorred having anvils dropped on his head. To abhor something is to view it with horror. Hating a person is almost friendly in comparison with abhorring him or her. To abhor raw chicken livers is to have an abhorrence of them or to find them abhorrent.

Question 6

ABJECT

Answer 6

(AB jekt) adj hopeless; extremely sad and servile; defeated • While most people would quickly recover from a banana-peel accident, Mia felt abject humiliation. An abject person is one who is crushed and without hope. A slave would be abject, in all likelihood. Perhaps 90 percent of the time, when you encounter this word it will be followed by the word poverty. Abject poverty is hope less, desperate poverty. The phrase “abject poverty” is overused. Writers use it because they are too lazy to think of anything original.

Question 7

ABNEGATE

Answer 7

(AB nuh gayt) v to deny oneself things; to reject; to renounce • Ascetics practice self-abnegation because they believe it will bring them closer to spiritual purity. Self-abnegation is giving up oneself, usually for some higher cause.

Question 8

ABORTIVE

Answer 8

(uh BOR tiv) adj unsuccessful • Marie and Elizabeth made an abortive effort to bake a birthday cake; that is, their effort did not result in a birthday cake. • Fred’s attempt to climb the mountain was abortive; he fell off when he was halfway up. To abort something is to end it before it is completed. An aborted pregnancy, called an abortion, is one that ends before the baby is born. An abortion in this sense doesn’t have to be the result of a controversial medical procedure.

Question 9

ABRIDGE

Answer 9

(uh BRIJ) v to shorten; to condense • The thoughtful editor abridged the massive book by removing the boring parts. An abridged dictionary is one that has been shortened to keep it from crushing desks and people’s laps. An abridgment is a shortened or condensed work.

Question 10

ABSOLUTE

Answer 10

(AB suh loot) adj total; unlimited An absolute ruler is one who is ruled by no one else. An absolute mess is a total mess. An absolute rule is one that has no exceptions and that you must follow, no two ways about it. Absolute is also a noun. It means something that is total, unlimited, or perfect. Death, for living things, is an absolute. There just isn’t any way around it.

Question 11

ABSOLVE

Answer 11

(ab ZOLV) v to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation • The priest absolved the sinner who had come to church to confess. • Tom’s admission of guilt absolved Dick, who had originally been accused of the crime. It is also possible to absolve someone of a responsibility. • Jake absolved Ciara of her obligation to go to the prom with him; he told her it was all right if she went with the captain of the football team instead. The act of absolving is called absolution (ab suh LOO shun).

Question 12

ABSTINENT

Answer 12

(AB stuh nunt) adj abstaining; voluntarily not doing some thing, especially something pleasant that is bad for you or has a bad reputation • Beulah used to be a chain-smoker; now she’s abstinent (it was just too hard to get those chains lit). • Cynthia, who was dieting, tried to be abstinent, but when she saw the chocolate cake she realized that she would probably have to eat the entire thing. A person who abstains from something is an abstainer and engages in abstinence.

Question 13

ABSTRACT

Answer 13

(AB strakt) adj theoretical; impersonal • He liked oysters in the abstract, but when he actually tried one he became nauseated. To like something in the abstract is to like the idea of it. • Bruno doesn’t like abstract art; he thinks that a painting should resemble something real, not a lot of splattered paint.

Question 14

ABSTRUSE

Answer 14

(ab STROOS) adj hard to understand • The professor’s article, on the meaning of meaning, was abstruse. Michael couldn’t even pronounce the words in it. Nuclear physics is a subject that is too abstruse for most peo ple.

Question 15

ABYSMAL

Answer 15

(uh BIZ mul) adj extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless An abyss (uh BIS) is a bottomless pit, or something so deep that it seems bottomless. Abysmal despair is despair so deep that no hope seems possible. • The nation’s debt crisis was abysmal; there seemed to be no possible solution. Abysmal is often used somewhat sloppily to mean very bad. You might hear a losing baseball team’s performance referred to as abysmal. This isn’t strictly correct, but many people do it.

Question 16

ACCOST

Answer 16

(uh KAWST) v to approach and speak to someone aggressively • Amanda karate-chopped the stranger who accosted her in the street and was embarrassed to find he was an old, blind man.

Question 17

ACERBIC

Answer 17

(uh SUR bik) adj sour; severe; like acid in temper, mood, or tone • Barry sat silently as our teacher read aloud her acerbic comments on his paper. Acerb and acerbic are synonyms. Acerbity is the state of being acerbic.

Question 18

ACQUIESCE

Answer 18

(ak wee ES) v to comply passively; to accept; to assent; to agree • The pirates asked Pete to walk the plank; he took one look at their swords and then acquiesced. To acquiesce is to do something without objection—to do it quietly. As the similarity of their spellings indicates, the words acquiesce and quiet are closely related. They are both based on Latin words meaning rest or be quiet. Acquiesce is sometimes used sloppily as a simple synonym for agree in situations in which it isn’t really appropriate. For example, it isn’t really possible to acquiesce noisily, enthusiastically, or eagerly. Don’t forget the quiet in the middle. To acquiesce is to exhibit acquiescence.

Question 19

ACRID

Answer 19

(AK rid) adj harshly pungent; bitter • The chili we had at the party had an acrid taste; it was harsh and unpleasant. • Long after the fire had been put out, we could feel the acrid sting of smoke in our nostrils. Acrid is used most often with tastes and smells, but it can be used more broadly to describe anything that is offensive in a similar way. A comment that stung like acid could be called acrid. So could a harsh personality.

Question 20

ACRIMONIOUS

Answer 20

(ak ruh MOH nee us) adj full of spite; bitter; nasty • George and Elizabeth’s discussion turned acrimonious when Elizabeth introduced the subject of George’s perennial, incorrigible stupidity. • Relations between the competing candidates were so acrimonious that each refused to acknowledge the presence of the other.

Question 21

ACUMEN

Answer 21

(AK yoo mun) n keenness of judgment; mental sharpness • A woman who knows how to turn one dollar into a million over night might be said to have a lot of business acumen. • Ernie’s lack of acumen led him to invest all his money in a company that had already gone out of business. Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Question 22

ACUTE

Answer 22

(uh KYOOT) adj sharp; shrewd If your eyesight is acute, you can see things that other people can’t. You have visual acuity (uh KYOO uh tee). An acute mind is a quick, intelligent one. You have mental acuity. An acute pain is a sharp pain. Acute means sharp only in a figurative sense. A knife, which is sharp enough to cut, is never said to be acute. Acute is a word doctors throw around quite a bit. An acute disease is one that reaches its greatest intensity very quickly and then goes away. What could a disease be if it isn’t acute? See chronic.

Question 23

ADAMANT

Answer 23

(AD uh munt) adj stubborn; unyielding; completely inflexible • Candice was adamant: She would never go out with Paul again. A very hard substance, like a diamond, is also adamant. Adamantine (ad uh MAN teen) and adamant are synonyms. Adamancy is being adamant.

Question 24

ADDRESS

Answer 24

(uh DRES) v to speak to; to direct one’s attention to To address a convention is to give a speech to the convention. To address a problem is to face it and set about solving it. • Ernie addressed the problem of addressing the convention by sitting down and writing his speech.

Question 25

ADHERENT

Answer 25

(ad HEER unt) n follower; supporter; believer • The king’s adherents threw a big birthday party for him, just to show how much they liked him. To adhere to something is to stick to it. Adherents are people who adhere to, or stick to, something or someone. Following someone or something, especially rules or laws, is adherence. A religion could be said to have adherents, assuming there are people who believe in it. Governments, causes, ideas, people, philosophies, and many other things can have adherents, too. Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Question 26

ADMONISH

Answer 26

(ad MAHN ish) v to scold gently; to warn • The boys’ father admonished them not to eat the pie he had just baked. When they did so anyway, he admonished them. In the first sentence admonish means warn; in the second it means scold gently. Consider yourself admonished not to misuse this word. The noun is admonition (ad muh NISH un) and the adjective is admonitory (ad MAHN i tor ee).

Question 27

ADROIT

Answer 27

(uh DROYT) adj skillful; dexterous; clever; shrewd; socially at ease • Julio was an adroit salesperson: His highly skilled pitch, backed up by extensive product knowledge, nearly always resulted in a sale. Adroit comes from the French word for right (as in the direction), and refers to an old superstition that right-handedness is superior. It’s a synonym of dexterous (which comes from the Latin for right) and an antonym of gauche and maladroit. • My brilliant accountant adroitly whipped my taxes into shape, then made a gauche remark about my ignorance of financial matters.

Question 28

ADULATION

Answer 28

(aj uh LAY shun) n wild or excessive admiration; flattery
• The boss thrived on the adulation of his scheming secretary.
• The rock star grew to abhor the adulation of his fans. The verb is adulate (AJ uh layt).

Question 29

ADULTERATE

Answer 29

(uh DUL tuh rayt) v to contaminate; to make impure
• We discovered that our orange juice had radioactive waste in it; we discovered, in other words, that it had been adulterated.
Vegetarians do not like their foods adulterated with animal fats. Unadulterated means pure. Unadulterated joy is joy untainted by sadness.

Question 30

ADVERSE

Answer 30

(ad VURS) adj unfavorable; antagonistic
• We had to play our soccer match under adverse conditions: It was snowing and only three members of our team had bothered to show up.
Airplanes often don’t fly in adverse weather. An airplane that took off in bad weather and reached its destination safely would be said to have overcome adversity. Adversity means misfortune or unfavorable circumstances. To do something “in the face of adversity” is to undertake a task despite obstacles. Some people are at their best in adversity because they rise to the occasion.
A word often confused with adverse is averse (uh VURS). The two are related but they don’t mean quite the same thing. A person who is averse to doing something is a person who doesn’t want to do it. To be averse to something is to be opposed to doing it—to have an aversion to doing it.

Question 31

AESTHETIC

Answer 31

(es THET ik) adj having to do with artistic beauty; artistic
• Our art professor had a highly developed aesthetic sense; he found things to admire in paintings that, to us, looked like garbage.
Someone who admires beautiful things greatly can be called an aesthete (ES theet). Aesthetics is the study of beauty or principles of beauty.

Question 32

AFFABLE

Answer 32

(AF uh bul) adj easy to talk to; friendly
• Susan was an affable girl; she could strike up a pleasant conversation with almost anyone.
• The Jeffersons’ dog was big but affable; it liked to lick little children on the nose.
The noun is affability.

Question 33

AFFECTATION

Answer 33

(af ek TAY shun) n unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress
• Becky’s English accent is an affectation. She spent only a week in England, and that was several years ago.
• Elizabeth had somehow acquired the absurd affectation of pretending that she didn’t know how to turn on a television set.
A person with an affectation is said to be affected. To affect a characteristic or habit is to adopt it consciously, usually in the hope of impressing other people.
• Edward affected to be more of an artist than he really was. Every one hated him for it.

Question 34

AFFINITY

Answer 34

(uh FIN uh tee) n sympathy; attraction; kinship; similarity
• Ducks have an affinity for water; that is, they like to be in it.
• Children have an affinity for trouble; that is, they often find them selves in it.
• Magnets and iron have an affinity for each other; that is, each is attracted to the other.
Affinity also means similarity or resemblance. There is an affinity between snow and sleet.

Question 35

AFFLUENT

Answer 35

(AF loo unt) adj rich; prosperous
A person can be affluent; all it takes is money. A country can be affluent, too, if it’s full of affluent people. Affluence means the same thing as wealth or prosperity. Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Question 36

AGENDA

Answer 36

(uh JEN duh) n program; the things to be done
• What’s on the agenda for the board meeting? A little gossip, then lunch.

A politician is often said to have an agenda. The politician’s agenda consists of the things he or she wishes to accomplish.
An agenda, such as that for a meeting, is often written down, but it doesn’t have to be. A person who has sneaky ambitions or plans is often said to have a secret or hidden agenda.

Question 37

AGGREGATE

Answer 37

(AG ruh gut) n sum total; a collection of separate things mixed to gether
• Chili is an aggregate of meat and beans.
Aggregate (AG ruh gayt) can also be a verb or an adjective. You would make chili by aggregating meat and beans. Chili is an aggregate (AG ruh gut) food.
Similar and related words include congregate, segregate, and integrate. To aggregate is to bring together; to congregate is to get together; to segregate is to keep apart (or separate); to integrate is to unite.

Question 38

AGNOSTIC

Answer 38

(ag NAHS tik) n one who believes that the existence of a god can be neither proven nor disproven
An atheist is someone who does not believe in a god. An agnostic, on the other hand, isn’t sure. He doesn’t believe, but he doesn’t not believe, either.
The noun is agnosticism (ag NAHS tih siz um).
• An atheist himself, Jon concluded from Jorge’s spiritual skepticism that they shared similar beliefs. In fact, Jorge’s reluctance to affirm or discredit a god’s existence reflects his agnosticism.

Question 39

AGRARIAN

Answer 39

(uh GRAR ee un) adj relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land
Agrarian usually has to do with farming. Think of agriculture.
• Politics in this country often pit the rural, agrarian interests against the urban interests.

Question 40

ALACRITY

Answer 40

(uh LAK ri tee) n cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond
• David could hardly wait for his parents to leave; he carried their luggage out to the car with great alacrity.
Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Question 41

ALLEGE

Answer 41

(uh LEJ) v to assert without proof
• If I say, “Cedrick alleges that I stole his hat,” I am saying two things:
1. Cedrick says I stole his hat.
2. I say I didn’t do it. To allege something is to assert it without proving it. Such an assertion is called an allegation (al uh GAY shun).
The adjective is alleged (uh LEJD). If the police accuse someone of having committed a crime, news papers will usually refer to that person as an alleged criminal.
• The police have alleged that he or she committed the crime, but a jury hasn’t made a decision yet.

Question 42

ALLEVIATE

Answer 42

(uh LEE vee ayt) v to relieve, usually temporarily or incompletely; to make bearable; to lessen
• Visiting the charming pet cemetery alleviated the woman’s grief over the death of her canary.
• Aspirin alleviates headache pain. When your headache comes back, take some more aspirin.

Question 43

ALLOCATE

Answer 43

(AL uh kayt) v to distribute; to assign; to allot
• The long car trip had been a big failure, and David, Aaliyah, and Jan spent several hours attempting to allocate the blame. In the end, they decided it had all been Jan’s fault.
• The office manager had allocated just seven paper clips for our entire department.

Question 44

ALLOY

Answer 44

(AL oy) n a combination of two or more things, usually metals
• Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. That is, you make brass by combining copper and zinc.
Alloy (uh LOY) is often used as a verb. To alloy two things is to mix them together. There is usually an implication that the mixture is less than the sum of the parts. That is, there is often some thing undesirable or debased about an alloy (as opposed to a pure substance).Unalloyed means undiluted or pure. Unalloyed dislike is dislike undiminished by any positive feelings; unalloyed love is love undiminished by any negative feelings.

Question 45

ALLUSION

Answer 45

(uh LOO zhun) n an indirect reference (often to a literary work); a hint
To allude to something is to refer to it indirectly.
• When Ralph said, “I sometimes wonder whether to be or not to be,” he was alluding to a famous line in Hamlet. If Ralph had said, “As Hamlet said, ‘To be or not to be, that is the ques tion,’” his statement would have been a direct reference, not an allusion.
An allusion is an allusion only if the source isn’t identified directly. Anything else is a reference or a quotation.
• If Andrea says, “I enjoyed your birthday party,” she isn’t alluding to the birthday party; she’s mentioning it. But if she says, “I like the way you blow out candles,” she is alluding to the party.

Question 46

ALOOF

Answer 46

(uh LOOF) adj uninvolved; standing off; keeping one’s distance
• Al, on the roof, felt very aloof.
To stand aloof from a touch-football game is to stand on the side lines and not take part. Cats are often said to be aloof because they usually mind their own business and don’t crave the affection of people.

Question 47

ALTRUISM

Answer 47

(AL troo iz um) n selflessness; generosity; devotion to the interests of others
• The private foundation depended on the altruism of the extremely rich old man. When he decided to start spending his money on his new twenty-year-old girlfriend, the foundation went out of business.
To be altruistic is to help others without expectation of personal gain. Giving money to charity is an act of altruism. The altruist does it just to be nice, although he’ll probably also remember to take a tax deduction.
An altruistic act is also an act of philanthropy, which means almost the same thing.

Question 48

AMBIENCE

Answer 48

(AM bee uns) n atmosphere; mood; feeling
• By decorating their house with plastic beach balls and Popsicle sticks, the Cramers created a playful ambience that delighted young children.
A restaurant’s ambience is the look, mood, and feel of the place. People sometimes say that a restaurant has “an atmosphere of ambience.” To do so is redundant—atmosphere and ambience mean the same thing.
Ambience is a French word that can also be pronounced “ahm BYAHNS.” The adjective ambient (AM bee unt) means surrounding or circulating.

Question 49

AMBIGUOUS

Answer 49

(am BIG yoo us) adj unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways
• We listened to the weather report, but the forecast was ambiguous; we couldn’t tell whether the day was going to be rainy or sunny.
• The poem we read in English class was ambiguous; no one had any idea what the poet was trying to say.
The noun is ambiguity (am bih GYOO uh tee).

Question 50

AMBIVALENT

Answer 50

(am BIV uh lunt) adj undecided; having opposed feelings simultaneously
• Susan felt ambivalent about George as a boyfriend. Her frequent desire to break up with him reflected this ambivalence.

Question 51

AMELIORATE

Answer 51

(uh MEEL yuh rayt) v to make better or more tolerable
• The mood of the prisoners was ameliorated when the warden gave them color television sets and keys to their cells.
• My great-uncle’s gift of several million dollars considerably ameliorated my financial condition.

Question 52

AMENABLE

Answer 52

(uh MEE nuh bul) adj obedient; willing to give in to the wishes of another; agreeable
• I suggested that Bert pay for my lunch as well as for his own; to my surprise, he was amenable.
• The plumber was amenable to my paying my bill with jelly beans, which was lucky, because I had more jelly beans than money.
Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Question 53

AMENITY

Answer 53

(uh MEN i tee) n pleasantness; attractive or comfortable feature
• The amenities at the local club include a swimming pool, a golf course, and a fallout shelter.
If an older guest at your house asks you where the amenities are, he or she is probably asking for directions to the bathroom.
Those little bars of soap and bottles of shampoo found in hotel rooms are known in the hotel business as amenities. They are meant to increase your comfort. People like them because people like almost anything that is free (although, of course, the cost of providing such amenities is simply added to the price of hotel rooms).

Question 54

AMIABLE

Answer 54

(AY mee uh bul) adj friendly; agreeable
• Our amiable guide made us feel right at home in what would otherwise have been a cold and forbidding museum.
• The drama critic was so amiable in person that even the subjects of negative reviews found it impossible not to like her.
Amicable is a similar and related word. Two not very amiable people might nonetheless make an amicable agreement. Amicable means politely friendly, or not hostile. Two countries might trade amicably with each other even while technically remaining enemies.
• Julio and Clarissa had a surprisingly amicable divorce and remained good friends even after paying their lawyers’ fees.

Question 55

AMNESTY

Answer 55

(AM nuh stee) n an official pardon for a group of people who have violated a law or policy
 Amnesty comes from the same root as amnesia, the condition that causes characters in movies to forget everything except how to speak English and drive their cars.
 An amnesty is an official forgetting. When a state government declares a tax amnesty, it is saying that if people pay the taxes they owe, the government will officially “forget” that they broke the law by not paying them in the first place.
 The word amnesty always refers to a pardon given to a group or class of people. A pardon granted to a single person is simply a pardon.

Question 56

AMORAL

Answer 56

(ay MOR ul) adj lacking a sense of right and wrong; neither good nor bad, neither moral nor immoral; without moral feelings
• Very young children are amoral; when they cry, they aren’t being bad or good—they’re merely doing what they have to do.
A moral person does right; an immoral person does wrong; an amoral person simply does.

Question 57

AMOROUS

Answer 57

(AM ur us) adj feeling loving, especially in a sexual sense; in love; relating to love
• The amorous couple made quite a scene at the movie. The movie they were watching, Love Story, was pretty amorous itself. It was about an amorous couple, one of whom died.

Question 58

AMORPHOUS

Answer 58

(uh MOR fus) adj shapeless; without a regular or stable shape; bloblike
• Ed’s teacher said that his term paper was amorphous; it was as shapeless and disorganized as a cloud.
• The sleepy little town was engulfed by an amorphous blob of glowing protoplasm—a higher intelligence from outer space.