WW12 Lesson 7 (Fifi)

Question 1

abjure

Answer 1

(v)

To renounce or give up formally.

• Galileo was forced by the Catholic Church to _abjure_ his belief that the Earth circled the sun.

Question 2

amorphous

Answer 2

(adj)

Without a definite shape, boundary, or character.

• The amoeba’s lack of a fixed structure gives it an _amorphous_ shape.

Question 3

animus

Answer 3

(n)

1. An attitude or spirit within a person that strongly influences him or her.
   * A thoughtful reader will feel the _animus_ that motivated Charlotte Bronte to write Villette.
2. Deep-seated ill will.
   * The _animus_ between Serbs and Bosnians erupted into internecine war in the 1990s.

Question 4

dichotomy

Answer 4

(n)

Division into two distinct parts or groups.

• She argues that moral relativism blurs the _dichotomy_ between good and evil.

Question 5

exemplar

Answer 5

(n)

An example or model, especially an ideal one.

• Mahatma Gandhi was the _exemplar_ of nonviolent resistance to injustice.

(adj)

exemplary

Question 6

herculean

Answer 6

(adj)

Of extraordinary size, power, or difficulty.

• Plowing the city streets after the blizzard of 1996 was a _herculean_ task.

Question 7

inchoate

Answer 7

(adj)

Not fully formed or realized.

• Writers of fiction often explain that their _inchoate_ ideas take shape as they write their novels.

Question 8

invidious

Answer 8

(adj)

Likely to cause resentment or animosity.

• The report made _invidious_ comparisons between the company’s claims and its performance.

Question 9

melange

Answer 9

(n)

A mixture of dissimilar materials.

• The garage sale was a _melange_ of clothes, furniture, and household bric-a-brac.

Question 10

nefarious

Answer 10

(adj)

Very wicked.

• The _nefarious_ practice of enforced child labor is rampant in many poor countries.

Question 11

nihilism

Answer 11

(n)

A viewpoint that denies any meaning or value to life.

• His cynicism was so extreme that it bordered on _nihilism_.

(adj)

nihilistic

Question 12

ratify

Answer 12

(v)

To approve, confirm, or verify.

• In a citywide referendum, voters _ratified_ the ban on smoking in restaurants.

Question 13

subsume

Answer 13

(v)

To encompass in a larger or more comprehensive group; to include.

• In 1939, the work of other nuclear physicists was _subsumed_ under the theory of fission proposed by Lisa Meitner and Otto Frisch.

Question 14

variegated

Answer 14

(adj)

Varied as to form, type, or color.

• The _variegated_ leaves had stripes of green and white.

Question 15

vitiate

Answer 15

(v)

To impair or weaken.

• Questionable sincerity _vitiated_ her appeal for another chance.