New Words

Question 1

belligerent

Answer 1

hostile, argumentative, aggressive, hot-tempered, ornery, antagonistic.

“the mood at the meeting was belligerent”

Question 2

apprehensive

Answer 2

anxious or fearful that something bad or unpleasant will happen.

jumpy, afraid, uncertain, foreboding

“he felt apprehensive about coming home”

Question 3

obnoxious

Answer 3

extremely unpleasant, highly objectionable or offensive, reprehensible, objectionable, disgusting, loathsome, abhorrent, annoying.

“Peaceful protest is welcome in America today - seeking to disrupt Americans looking to enjoy an NFL game is obnoxious”

“She was imploring her son to drive off these obnoxious neighbours”

Question 4

fiduciary

Answer 4

involving trust, especially in a relationship between a trustee and a beneficiary.

“the company has a fiduciary duty to it’s shareholders”

“a fiduciary has a legal duty to act in your best interest”

Question 5

ambivalent

Answer 5

having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

equivocal, uncertain, unsure, doubtful, indecisive, inconclusive, irresolute, undecided

“some loved her, some hated her, few were ambivalent”

“the whole family was ambivalent about the move to the suburbs”

Question 6

obsequious

Answer 6

obedient or attentive an excessive degree, marked by or exhibiting fawning attentiveness, showing too great a willingness to serve or obey, obedient, dutiful, complacent, abject, menial, slavish, subordinate

“she’s constantly followed by obsequious assistants”

“jack seemed most obsequious and seemed ready to do everything for my comfort”

“he’s that kind of man: modest and honest, and difficult to write about without seeming obsequious”

Question 7

meagre

Answer 7

lacking in quantity or quality

“they were forced to supplement their meagre earnings”

Question 8

precipitous

Answer 8

dangerously high or steep
“the track suddenly turned to a precipitous drop”
“there has been a precipitous decline in home sales recently”
OR
done suddenly and without careful consideration, thought, planning
“precipitous intervention”

Question 9

deference

Answer 9

polite submission and respect, regard, esteem, courtesy

“he oversaw a brutal regime, aimed at instilling respect, deference, and acceptance of duty into the princes”

“Verizon pushed for government shutdown, but stayed out of the debt ceiling fight in deference to their funders”

Question 10

Gratuitous

Answer 10

done without good reason. Unwarranted

Question 11

Audacious

Answer 11

bold, daring, brave

Question 12

epistemic

Answer 12

knowledge

Question 13

antithetical

Answer 13

directly opposed or contrasted; mutually incompatible

Question 14

immutable

Answer 14

unchanging over time or unable to be changed

Question 15

Imply vs infer

Answer 15

imply = hint - speaker does implying
Infer = educated guess - listener does inferring

Question 16

Anthropocene

Answer 16

relating to the current geological age. Human activity being the dominant influence on the environment

Question 17

Pervasive

Answer 17

Spreading widely throughout the area or a group of people - esp unwelcome - prevalent common

Question 18

Shirk

Answer 18

avoid or neglect

Question 19

dissociate vs disassociate

Answer 19

remove from association vs cease to associate

Often used interchangeably, dissociate is older, more British

Question 20

brevity

Answer 20

concise and exact use of words in writing or speech.

“the staff will edit manuscripts with a view to brevity and clarity”

Question 21

Recur vs reoccur

Answer 21

Recur means to happen repeatedly or after an interval. This verb comes from the Latin word recurrere, “to run back.” Here’s how it looks when used in a sentence:

The heavy snowfall recurs every winter in mountain regions.
Reoccur comes from the prefix re- and the verb occur. The prefix re- means “again” and occur means “to happen.” So, reoccur simply means “to happen again.” In a sentence, it would be used like this:

We would have arrived on time, but the plumbing problems reoccurred.
The difference between the two verbs is very slight—an event that reoccurs is an event that repeats at least one time, but not necessarily more than that. An event that recurs is an event that repeats many times.

Question 22

Salience

Answer 22

the quality of being particularly noticeable or important; prominence.
“the political salience of religion has a considerable impact”

Question 23

judicious

Answer 23

having, showing, or done with good judgement or sense.

“the judicious use of public investment”

synonyms: wise, sensible, prudent, politic, shrewd, astute, canny, sagacious, common-sense, sound, well advised, well judged, well thought out, considered,

Question 24

obsequious

Answer 24

obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree

“they were served by obsequious waiters”
synonyms: servile, ingratiating, unctuous, sycophantic, fawning, toadying, oily, oleaginous, greasy, grovelling, cringing, toadyish, sycophantish, subservient, submissive, slavish, abject,