Vocab 12

Question 1

Pernicious

Answer 1

Pernicious – causing harm, injury, destruction

(Latin: pernicies = ruin)

(E.g. “The pernicious influences of the mass media.”)

Question 2

Perspicacious

Answer 2

Perspicacious – sharp mental perception, discerning

(Latin: perspicax = seeing clearly)

(E.g. “His perspicacious grandfather had bought the land as an investment, guessing that there might be gold underground.”)

Question 3

Ephemeral

Answer 3

Ephemeral – temporary situation, short-lived, transitory, brief

(Greek: ephḗmeros = short-lived)

(E.g. “Fashions are ephemeral: new ones regularly drive out the old.”)

Question 4

Incognito

Answer 4

Incognito – without revealing or concealing one’s true identity to avoid notice

(Latin: incognitus = not known)

Question 5

Je ne sais quoi

Answer 5

Je ne sais quoi – indefinable, undescribed quality, especially of personality

(French: I don’t know what)

Question 6

Usufruct

Answer 6

Usufruct – use & enjoy property of another with no destruction or misuse

(Latin: usus et fructus = use and enjoyment)

Question 7

Soliloquy

Answer 7

Soliloquy – monologue to oneself, especially by character in a play

(Latin: sōlus = sole + loquī = to speak)

Question 8

Inertia

Answer 8

Inertia – tendency to do nothing, to remain unchanged, still, inert

(Latin: iners = idle (lazy), sluggish)

Question 9

Shrewd

Answer 9

Shrewd – sharp powers of judgement, astute

(used to mean evil, bad)

(E.g. “She was shrewd enough to guess the motive behind his gesture.”)

(Astute – ability to notice & understand things clearly)

Question 10

Astute

Answer 10

Astute – ability to notice, & understand things clearly, shrewd

(Latin: astus = craft)

(Shrewd – sharp powers of judgement, astute)

Question 11

Abstrude

Answer 11

Abstrude – thrust or hide away, push

(Latin: ab = from & trudere = push)

Question 12

Abstruse

Answer 12

Abstruse – difficult to understand, confusing, puzzling, obscure

(E.g. “An abstruse philosophical inquiry.”)

Question 13

Iconoclast

Answer 13

Iconoclast – person attacking established or traditional concepts, principles & laws

(image destroyer)

Question 14

Errare humanum est,

perseverare autem diabolicum

Answer 14

Errare humanum est, perseverare autem diabolicum –

Latin: “To err is human but to persist [in error] diabolical”

Question 15

id est

Answer 15

id est (i.e.) – Latin: that is (to say), it is

Question 16

E pluribus unum

Answer 16

E pluribus unum – out of many, one of many (US motto)

Question 17

Halcyon

Answer 17

Halcyon – peaceful, tranquil, happy (time in the past)

(Greek mythology – halcyon bird with power to calm rough ocean waves every December so she could nest)

(E.g. “She recalled the halcyon days of her youth.”)

Question 18

Et cetera

Answer 18

Et cetera (ect.) – Latin: and the rest, and others, and so forth