Words 0012

Question 0

Indomitable

Answer 0

describes someone strong, brave, determined, and difficult to defeat or frighten

• The indomitable Mrs Furlong said she would continue to fight for justice.
• indomitably cheerful
• to fight indomitably

Question 1

Haunch

Answer 1

• one of the back legs of an animal with four legs that is used for meat

• a haunch of venison

• haunches [plural]: the top of a person’s legs and their bottom

• She was sitting/squatting on her haunches.

Question 2

Vindictive

Answer 2

having or showing a wish to harm someone because you think that they have harmed you; unwilling to forgive

• In the film ‘Cape Fear’, a lawyer’s family is threatened by a vindictive former prisoner.
• vindictively, vindictiveness

Question 3

Assuage

Answer 3

to make unpleasant feelings less strong

• The government has tried to assuage the public’s fears.

Question 4

Accost

Answer 4

to go up to or stop and speak to someone in a threatening way:

• I’m usually accosted by beggars and drunks as I walk to the station.

Question 5

Tattered

Answer 5

• (especially of cloth or paper) badly torn
• The flag was tattered and threadbare.
• a tattered old letter
• Her clothes were old and in tatters.
• badly damaged or completely spoiled

• After the newspaper story appeared his reputation was in tatters.

Question 6

Venison

Answer 6

Meat that comes from a deer

Question 7

Unkempt

Answer 7

Untidy, not cared for

• an unkempt lawn

Question 8

Lumbago

Answer 8

General pain in the lower part of the back

Question 9

Suss

Answer 9

to realize, understand, or discover

• [+ that] He never sussed (out) that they’d tricked him.
• She thinks she’s got me sussed (out) (= she thinks she understands me), but she’s wrong.
• I’ll visit the college and suss it out before I decide whether to apply or not.

Question 10

Gape

Answer 10

• to look in great surprise at someone or something, especially with an open mouth

• They stood gaping at the pig in the kitchen.

• to be or become wide open

• Peter’s jacket gaped at the seams.

Question 11

Pertinent

Answer 11

relating directly to the subject being considered

• a pertinent question/remark
• Chapter One is pertinent to the post-war period.

Note: The opposite is irrelevant. Do not confuse with impertinent (= rude).

Question 12

Abscond

Answer 12

• to go away suddenly and secretly in order to escape from somewhere:
• Two prisoners absconded last night.
• She absconded from boarding school with her boyfriend.
• An absconder
• to go away suddenly and secretly because you have stolen something, usually money

• They absconded with £10,000 of the company’s money.

Question 13

Vie

Answer 13

to compete with other people to achieve or get something

• Six candidates are currently vying for the Democratic presidential nomination.
• The two older children tend to vie with the younger one for their mother’s attention.
• [+ to infinitive] The two groups of scientists are vying to get funding for their research projects.
• vying, vied
• c’est la vie: used to say that situations of that type happen in life, and you cannot do anything about them

• I can’t go to the football on Saturday - I’ve got to work. Oh well, c’est la vie.

Question 14

Exude

Answer 14

• If you exude love, confidence, pain, etc., you show that you have a lot of that feeling

• She just exudes confidence.

• to produce a smell or liquid substance from inside

• Some trees exude from their bark a sap that repels insect parasites.

Question 15

Coffer

Answer 15

• a large strong box in which money or valuable objects are kept
• coffers [plural]: the money that an organisation has in its bank accounts and available to spend

• government/party coffers

Question 16

Rotund and Rotunda

Answer 16

• Rotund = (especially of a person) round or rounded in shape
• Rotunda = a building, or part of one, that is round in shape, and often has a dome (= rounded roof) on top

Question 17

Menace

Answer 17

[n, usually singular] something that is likely to cause harm

• Drunk drivers are a menace to everyone.
• Dogs running loose are a public menace.
• the menace of industrial pollution
• a dangerous quality that makes you think someone is going to do something bad
• He had a slight air of menace which I found unsettling.
• He spoke with a hint of menace.
• a person, especially a child, who is very annoying
• If someone or something menaces a person or thing, they threaten seriously to harm it

• Hurricane Hugo menaced the US coast for a week.

Question 18

Fang

Answer 18

a long, sharp tooth

• The dog growled and bared its fangs.

Question 19

bayonet

Answer 19

a long, sharp blade fixed on to a rifle (= gun)

• He viciously bayoneted the straw dummy.