#1

Question 1

adamantine

Answer 1

Something adamantine is unbreakable.

Adamantine is often used in a figurative way. If you’re bound by adamantine chains, get comfy because you’re not breaking free!

Question 2

scrimp

Answer 2

When you scrimp, you get by on very little money. If you scrimp all year long in order to buy tickets to the Stanley Cup finals, you save every last penny to be able to go to those games.

Question 3

proscribe

Answer 3

To proscribe something is to forbid or prohibit it, as a school principal might proscribe the use of cell phones in class.

Question 4

Amoral

Answer 4

When a person is amoral, they couldn’t care less if something is right or wrong. An amoral CEO fires employees so he can make more money, unconcerned about how losing their jobs might affect them.

Question 5

Allusion

Answer 5

What little nod to a Dylan Thomas poem that you sneaked into your PowerPoint presentation? That was an allusion, a quick reference to something that your audience will have to already know in order to “get.” The main thing to remember is that an allusion is a brief hint or a quick mention. It’s meant to bring to mind a particular subject, but it always avoids getting into it in great depth.

Question 6

Delusion

Answer 6

A delusion is a belief that has no evidence in fact — a complete illusion.

The cook at the hot dog stand who thinks he is the best chef in the world? That opinion is definitely a delusion

Question 7

Predominant

Answer 7

If you’re talking about the most popular or common thing, call it predominant.

If the predominant feeling in a neighborhood is that pizza is the best food, the result might be pizzerias being the predominant type of restaurant there.

Question 8

Predominate

Answer 8

Of all the social networks, one predominates. Facebook is by far the biggest and most influential.

When someone or something predominates, it’s the largest or most powerful of all.