Found Words

Question 1

vapid

Answer 1

dull or uninspiring (from the latin word ‘vapidus’)

The lecturer spoke with such vapidity that many of the students were nodding off.

Question 2

endemic

Answer 2

belonging or native to a particular people or country; characteristic of or prevalent in a particular field, area, or environment

The fish is not an endemic species of the lake, and it is rapidly devouring the native trout population.

Question 3

lampooned

Answer 3

ridiculed with satire

The politician was lampooned in cartoons.

Question 4

austere

Answer 4

of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect
simple or plain, not fancy

The authority of the parents was too austere: such parents cannot easily give love to their children.

Question 5

bourgeois (adj.)

Answer 5

relating to or typical of the middle class

Indignation about the powers that be and the bourgeois fools who did their bidding—that was all you needed … You were an intellectual. —Tom Wolfe, Harper’s, June 2000

Question 6

pedagogy

Answer 6

another word for education; the profession and science of teaching

Some of the presentations, a few too many for comfort, lapsed into the familiar contortions of modern pedagogy.

Question 7

dour

Answer 7

harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance

She had a dour expression on her face.

Question 8

hoary

Answer 8

showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair

a hoary tale of revenge

Question 9

betokening

Answer 9

being a signal for a symptom

The humor in his writing is never cruel, and betokens a warm and compassionate heart.

Question 10

stint

Answer 10

to subsist on a meager existence

She stinted herself of luxuries.

Question 11

rhetoric

Answer 11

study of the technique for using language effectively

The media almost never discuss what the sweeping dismantling of public services inherent in the rhetoric of the antigovernment movement would mean in practice. —E. J. Dionne, Jr., Commonweal, 20 Nov. 2009

Question 12

din

Answer 12

a noun that means a loud or harsh sound, especially a welter of discordant sounds

There’s always a great din from the cafeteria during lunch.

Question 13

plumb (v.)

Answer 13

to examine (something) in a careful and complete way in order to understand it; to experience or reach (something)

The book plumbs the complexities of human relationships.

Question 14

ruddy

Answer 14

inclined to a healthy reddish color & often associated with outdoor life

a ruddy complexion

Question 15

quotidian

Answer 15

daily or ordinary

There’s nothing quite like a real . . . train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute.

Question 16

augurs

Answer 16

one held to foretell events by omens

ancient Roman augurs who predicted the future by reading the flight of birds

Question 17

abstemious

Answer 17

sparing in consumption of (especially) food or drink

Being abstemious diners, they avoid restaurants with all-you-can-eat buffets.

Question 18

Ornithologist

Answer 18

a person who studies birds

Question 19

agrarian

Answer 19

pertaining to land or its cultivation

Question 20

adventitious

Answer 20

accidental, happening by chance, not natural

Question 21

prodigious

Answer 21

obsolete: being an omen; resembling or befitting of a prodigy; exciting amazement or wonder; extraordinary in bulk, quantity, or degree

stage magicians performing prodigious feats for rapt audiences

Question 22

melancholy

Answer 22

an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and characterized by irascibility or depression; depression of spirits

He became quiet and melancholy as the hours passed.

Question 23

stolidity

Answer 23

unemotional; impassive

the butler responded to the duchess’s demands with stolid indifference

Question 24

etiolated

Answer 24

to cause to appear pale of sickly; to bleach and alter the natural development of (a green plant) by excluding sunlight

the long, stressful days and sleepless nights gradually etiolated him

Question 25

circumscribed

Answer 25

to constrict the range or activity of definitely and clearly; to draw a line around he circumscribed his enthusiasm so as not to make the losing side feel worse

Question 26

aberrant

Answer 26

(adj.) | deviating from the usual or natural type or way

Question 27

astute

Answer 27

having or showing shrewdness and perspicacity (keen, of acute mental vision or discernment); crafty a police detective known to be an astute judge of character

Question 28

inveterate

Answer 28

firmly established by long persistence; habitual he has an inveterate tendency to tell some tall tales

Question 29

cowed

Answer 29

to destroy the resolve or courage of; also, to bring to a state or action by intimidation I refused to be cowed by their threats

Question 30

intractable

Answer 30

not easily governed, managed, or directed; not easily manipulated or wrought (worked into shape by artistry or effort); not easily relieved or cured cats are by nature fairly intractable animals

Question 31

erudite

Answer 31

having or showing great knowledge or learning. the most erudite people in medical research attended the conference

Question 32

predilection

Answer 32

a natural liking for something : a tendency to do or to be attracted to something It's true that black audiences have always had a predilection for talking back at performances. But more than that is going on in this theatre: the intensity of engagement is palpable.

Question 33

repatriate

Answer 33

to return (someone) to his or her own country Countries are required to repatriate prisoners of war when conflict has ended.

Question 34

turgid

Answer 34

being in a state of distension : swollen, tumid turgid leeches having had their fill of blood

Question 35

extradite

Answer 35

to send (a person who has been accused of a crime) to another state or country for trial He will be extradited from the U.S. to Canada to face criminal charges there.

Question 36

interdict

Answer 36

a prohibitory decree His object was to obtain an interdict against the progress of the works, but he was not successful.

Question 37

expurgate

Answer 37

to change (a written work) by removing parts that might offend people They felt it was necessary to expurgate his letters before publishing them.

Question 38

penury

Answer 38

a cramping and oppressive lack of resources (as money); especially : severe poverty lived in a time when single women like herself faced a lifetime of genteel penury

Question 39

indigence

Answer 39

a level of poverty in which real hardship and deprivation are suffered and comforts of life are wholly lacking there are various state and federal programs to help relieve indigence

Question 40

opulence

Answer 40

wealth, affluence in some parts of the city nearly unimaginable opulence can be found side by side with nearly unthinkable poverty

Question 41

eminence

Answer 41

a condition of being well-known and successful; a position of prominence or superiority the eminence of the Nobel Prize in the field of awards and prizes