Vocabulary Quiz 4

This is the last. It has been fun creating the quizzes; mostly because it enabled me to re-visit the words I’ve been collecting throughout the years. I hope you enjoyed them, and discovered a few useful words to add to your vocabulary. If you’re a real word fanatic, go back through the quizzes and identify the 5 answers in each quiz that did not match one of the words. Try to find the word that is defined by the unused answers. You’re on your own, however, because this is where I stop. As usual there are 20 words and 25 answers. Five of the definitions will not apply.

1) quiddity 2) recondite 3) revenant 4) sapid 5) serried 6) solecism
7) stochastic 8) sumptuary 9) telluric 10) tergiversator 11) termagant
12) thaumaturgy 13) threnody 14) traduce 15) trenchant 16) usufruct
17) velleity 18) withes 19) xoanon 20) zymotic


A) dirge; B) caused by fermentation; C) overabundance D) essential nature of something; inconsequential distinction; E) keen, cutting; F) last speaker in program; G) carved statue of a deity, usually made of wood; H) wish without action to achieve it; I) dealing with matters that require profound or specialized knowledge; J) artificial sweetener; K) involving random or probabilistic behavior; L) working of miracles; M) flagrant grammatical error; N) shrewish woman; O) make disparaging personal remarks; P) fertilized ovum; Q) ghost who appears many years after death; R) terrestrial, from the earth; S) stems or twigs used to bind materials together; T) very crowded; U) theory that only the self exists; V) flavorful, tasty; W) one who changes sides in a cause, or makes ambiguous statements; X) limiting budget; Y) legal use of another’s possessions or profit.


ANSWERS: 1-D; 2-I; 3-Q; 4-V; 5-T; 6-M; 7-K; 8-X; 9-R; 10-W; 11-N; 12-L; 13-A; 14-O; 15-E; 16-Y; 17-H; 18-S; 19-G; 20-B.

Vocabulary Quiz 3

You should find this quiz easier than the previous two, but nonetheless useful. The same format will be used with 20 words and 25 answers. Five of the answers will not apply.

1) maieutic 2) meretricious 3) minatory 4) moiety 5) mordant 6) nacre 7) nielloed 8) nugatory 9) obloquy 10) obsecration 11) obviate 12) optative 13) otiose 14) panegyric 15) parthenogenic 16) pasquinade 17) peroration 18) perspicacious 19) prolix 20) psephology


A) cannon volley; B) worthless; C) long and wordy; D) study of elections; E) fiery; F) Socratic method of inquiry intended to bring out latent ideas by asking questions; G) flashy, tawdry; H) formal praise; I) development of an egg without male fertilization; J) verb mood indicating the expression of a wish; K) slander, defamation; L) study of sub-atomic particles; M) biting sarcasm; N) indolent, without purpose; O) publicly posted, usually anonymous, lampoon; P) threatening; Q) act of beseeching; R) dental procedure; S) either of two parts, not necessarily equal; T) black ornamental work filling an incised design; U) separation of genetic material; V) discerning, penetrating understanding; W) mother of pearl; X) end of an oratory, summing up of points in a speech; Y) make unnecessary, get rid of

ANSWERS: 1-F; 2-G; 3-P; 4-S; 5-M; 6-W; 7-T; 8-B; 9-K; 10-Q; 11-Y; 12-J; 13-N; 14-H; 15-I; 16-O; 17-X; 18-V; 19-C; 20-D.