Vocabulary - Nouns

Question 1

trepidation

Answer 1

a feeling of fear or anxiety about something that happen

e.g. she felt a sense of trepidation as she approached the dark, deserted alley

Question 2

illusion

Answer 2

something that seems real but isn’t

e.g. the oasis was just an illusion

Question 3

misanthrope

Answer 3

a person who hates or distrusts mankind

e.g. he pretends to be a misanthrope, but he makes generous anonymous donations to his favourite causes

Question 4

ennui

Answer 4

boredom, weariness

e.g. the students obvious ennui made it challenging for the lecturer to engage them in a discussion

Question 5

demagogue

Answer 5

a leader who appeals to a people’s prejudices

e.g. despite making valid points, the politician’s fervant speeches against the opposing party came across more like a demagogue than a rational candidate

Question 6

Godrian knot

Answer 6

a very complex problem

e.g. solving this puzzle is like a Goridan knot

Question 7

gobbledygook

Answer 7

language that is overly complex, jargon-filled, on unintelligible

e.g. the legal document was filled with gobbledygook that no one could understnad

Question 8

sobriquet

Answer 8

nickname

e.g. because Laura was so small, her father referred to her by the sobriquet of half-pint

Question 9

flibbertigibbet

Answer 9

a frivolous or flighty person who is easily distracted

e.g. her reputation as a flibbertigibbet made her an unreliable friend

Question 10

pulchritude

Answer 10

physical beauty

e.g. he saw beyond her obvious pulchritude and spent time getting to know her

Question 11

nadir

Answer 11

the worst moment; the lowest point of something

e.g. the nadir of my day came when I left the shop and realised my car had a flat tire

Question 12

sybarite

Answer 12

a person devoted to pleasure and luxury

e.g. the singer was a notorious sybarite, insisting on first class arrangements for all of her performances

Question 13

toady

Answer 13

one who flatters in the hope of gaining favours

e.g. the other kids referred to the teacher’s pet as the tenth grade toady

Question 14

bibliophile

Answer 14

someone who really loves books

e.g. she’s a bibliophile with a huge library

Question 15

circumlocution

Answer 15

the act of using excessive words or indirect language to express something

e.g. the student tried to use circumlocution to hide the fact he hadn’t actually completed the assigned reading

Question 16

paradigm

Answer 16

an example that is a perfect pattern or model

e.g. because the new SUV was so popular, it became the paradigm upon which all others were modeled

Question 17

anecdote

Answer 17

a short, humorous account

e.g. after dinner, Marlon told an anecdote about the time he got his nose stuck in a toaster

Question 18

liner

Answer 18

a big ship used for long journeys

e.g. the liner crossed the ocean smoothly

Question 19

boor

Answer 19

crude person, one lacking manners or taste

e.g. Jack was such a boor he would not even hold a door for his mother

Question 20

calumnly

Answer 20

an attempt to spoil someone else’s reputation by spreading lies

e.g. the film was supposed to be a documentary but in the hands of the sensationalist producer it became a calumnly

Question 21

impediment

Answer 21

a fact or event which makes action difficult or impossible

e.g. the main impediment to development is the country’s huge foreign debt

Question 22

bourgeois

Answer 22

a middle class person, capitalist

e.g. many businessmen receive criticism for their bourgeois approach to life

Question 23

torpor

Answer 23

a state of mental or physical inactivity or insensibility

e.g. after overeating on Christmas, I fell into a satisfied torpor

Question 24

solecism

Answer 24

a socially awkward or tactless act

e.g. when the quarterback committed a large solecism, he cost his team the game

Question 25

curmudgeon

Answer 25

cranky person, usually old

e.g. my neighbour is a curmudgeon who keeps the soccer balls that accidentally come into his yard

Question 26

grandiloquence

Answer 26

lofty, pompous language

e.g. the aspiring politician though his grandiloquence would win him votes, but instead he alienated the voters

Question 27

ruse

Answer 27

a trick

e.g. Oliver concocted a ruse for sneaking out of the house to meet his girlfriend

Question 28

sinecure

Answer 28

a well paying job or office that requires little or no work

e.g. the position was meant to be a sinecure, but she took it seriously and worked long hours

Question 29

sycophant

Answer 29

one who flatters for self gain

e.g. students may thing that playing the sycophant will get them better grades, but the teachers never fall for it

Question 30

Decameron

Answer 30

a book made up of ten parts

e.g. he read a Decameron during summer

Question 31

quagmire

Answer 31

a difficult situation

e.g. the teen’s repeated behavioural issues eventually led to a quagmire at school

Question 32

philistine

Answer 32

a person who is guided by materialism and is disdainful of intellectual or artistic values

e.g. when the philistine was invited to the opera, he said the high ticket prices were a waste of money

Question 33

triumvir

Answer 33

one of three people sharing power

e.g. the triumvir ruled the city together