Vocab #9

Question 1

Bemuse

Question 2

Fallow

Answer 2

Fallow [fal-oh]: (adj.) (Of land) plowed and left unseeded for a season or more; uncultivated.
Not in use; inactive: My creative energies have lain fallow this year.

(n) Land that has undergone plowing and harrowing and has been left unseeded for one or more growing seasons.

(v – used with object) To make (land) fallow for agricultural purposes.

Question 3

Wane

Answer 3

To decline in power, importance, prosperity, etc.: Colonialism began to wane after World War II.

To draw to a close; approach an end: Summer is waning. (Of the moon)

To decrease periodically in the extent of its illuminated portion after the full moon.

(n) A gradual decrease or decline in strength, intensity, power, etc. The drawing to a close of life, an era, a period, etc.

Question 4

Beseech

Answer 4

To beg eagerly for; solicit.

(v – used without object) To make urgent appeal: Earnestly did I beseech, but to no avail.

Question 5

Cantankerous

Question 6

Pique

Answer 6

To wound (the pride, vanity, etc.). To excite (interest, curiosity, etc.): Her curiosity was piqued by the gossip.

To arouse an emotion or provoke to action: to pique someone to answer a challenge.

Archaic. To pride (oneself) (usually followed by on or upon).

Question 7

Conjecture

Answer 7

An opinion or theory so formed or expressed; guess; speculation. Obsolete. The interpretation of signs or omens.

(v – used with object) To conclude or suppose
from grounds or evidence insufficient to ensure reliability.

(v – used without object) To form conjectures.

Question 8

Imperturbable

Question 9

Malice

Answer 9

Law. Evil intent on the part of a person who commits a wrongful act injurious to others.

Question 10

Assail

Answer 10

To attack with arguments, criticism, ridicule, abuse, etc.: to assail one’s opponent with slander.

To undertake with the purpose of mastering: He assailed his studies with new determination.

To impinge upon; make an impact on; beset: His mind was assailed by conflicting arguments. The light assailed their eyes.

Question 11

Eminent

Answer 11

Conspicuous, signal, or noteworthy: eminent fairness.

Lofty; high: eminent peaks. Prominent; projecting; protruding: an eminent nose.

• Don’t confuse with Imminent.

Question 12

Refuse

Answer 12

(adj.) Rejected as worthless; discarded: refuse matter.

Question 13

Relinquish

Answer 13

To give up; put aside or desist from: to relinquish a plan.

To let go; release: to relinquish one’s hold.

Question 14

Unbridled

Question 15

Vivacious

Question 16

Zenith

Answer 16

A highest point or state; culmination.

Question 17

Derelict

Answer 17

(n) A person abandoned by society, especially
a person without a permanent home and means of support; vagrant; bum. Nautical. A vessel
abandoned in open water by its crew without any hope or intention of returning. Personal
property abandoned or thrown away by the owner. One guilty of neglect of duty. Law. Land left
ry by a change of the water line.

Question 18

Querulous

Question 19

Vagrant

Answer 19

Law. An idle person without visible means of support, as a tramp or beggar.

A person who wanders from place to place; wanderer; rover. Wandering idly without
a permanent home or employment; living in vagabondage: vagrant beggars.

(adj.) Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a vagrant: the vagrant life. Wandering or roaming from place to place; nomadic.

(Of plants) straggling in growth. Not fixed or settled, especially in course; moving
hither and thither: a vagrant leaf blown by the wind.

Question 20

Ostracize

Answer 20

To banish (a person) from his or her native country; expatriate. (In ancient Greece) to banish (a 
citizen) temporarily by popular vote.