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Questions and Answers
What does it mean to 'grill' someone in an investigative context?
What does it mean to 'grill' someone in an investigative context?
What is the meaning of the term 'hamper'?
What is the meaning of the term 'hamper'?
Which word means to eliminate something?
Which word means to eliminate something?
What does the term 'reciprocate' imply?
What does the term 'reciprocate' imply?
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What does 'sustain' mean in the context of challenges?
What does 'sustain' mean in the context of challenges?
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What does 'innocuous' mean?
What does 'innocuous' mean?
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Which of the following words is synonymous with 'inherent'?
Which of the following words is synonymous with 'inherent'?
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What does 'impede' mean?
What does 'impede' mean?
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What is the meaning of 'austerity' in the context of financial policy?
What is the meaning of 'austerity' in the context of financial policy?
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What does 'displace' refer to?
What does 'displace' refer to?
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Which branch of science focuses on the study of fossils?
Which branch of science focuses on the study of fossils?
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What term describes the study of traditional stories and myths?
What term describes the study of traditional stories and myths?
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In an experiment, which group is defined as the control group?
In an experiment, which group is defined as the control group?
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Which term refers to the classification system in biology?
Which term refers to the classification system in biology?
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What does the term 'indigenous' refer to?
What does the term 'indigenous' refer to?
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Which of the following sciences studies the brain?
Which of the following sciences studies the brain?
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What term is used to describe a positive or negative charge in electricity?
What term is used to describe a positive or negative charge in electricity?
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Which word best describes a system of ranking that is opposite of egalitarian?
Which word best describes a system of ranking that is opposite of egalitarian?
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What does the term 'saturate' refer to in a scientific context?
What does the term 'saturate' refer to in a scientific context?
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What is the purpose of empirical data in scientific research?
What is the purpose of empirical data in scientific research?
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Study Notes
Branches of Science
- Astronomy: the study of stars and planets
- Botany: the study of plants
- Cognitive Science, Neuroscience: the science of the brain
- Ecology: the study of the natural world
- Entomology: the study of insects
- Genetics: the study of genes
- Geology: the study of rocks
- Ornithology: the study of birds
- Paleontology: the study of fossils
- Zoology: the study of animals
Branches of Social Science and Humanities
- Anthropology: The study of human behavior and social organization. It can include linguistics, biology, and archaeology.
- Archaeology: The study of historical human activity through the recovery or excavation (digging up) of physical objects.
- Economics: The study of monetary systems
- Ethnography: The study of individual cultures
- Folklore: The study of traditional stories and myths
- Sociology: The study of everyday human social behaviors and interactions at a specific time
Key Science-Related Terms
- Advantageous: providing an advantage
- Charge: in electricity, positive or negative
- Control group: in an experiment, the group in which the variable being tested is not changed
- Empirical: relying on hard data
- Hierarchy (adj., hierarchical): system of rank; opposite of egalitarian
- Isotope: alternate form of an element
- Indigenous: native
- Inhibit: prevent, impede (e.g., a response)
- Innovative: new and revolutionary
- Metabolism: the process of converting food to energy
- Microbial: relating to microscopic organisms
- Pigment: color
- Predisposed: having a tendency toward
- Regenerate: regrow
- Replicate: repeat (an experiment) and obtain the same results
- Saturate: to become completely soaked with
- Stimulus: something that provokes a specific response
- Symbiosis (adj., Symbiotic): interaction between two organisms living close together, benefits both
- Taxonomy: classification system
- Trait: characteristic
- Velocity: speed
Make a Claim
- Advance
- Posit
- Proffer
- Speculate
- Hypothesize
Support a Claim
- Bolster
- Buttress
- Substantiate
Question a Claim
- Ambivalence
- Skepticism
- Rebut
- Refute
Think about
- Grapple with
- Mull over
- Ruminate about
Draw A Conclusion
- Infer
- Surmise
Provide Sources
- Attribute
- Cite
Large Amount
- Multitude
- Plethora
- Profusion
Small Amount
- Dearth
- Paucity
Different, Diverse
- Disparate
- Heterogeneous
- Eclectic
Noticeable, Striking
- Conspicuous
Coming Together
- Converge
- Integrate
- Intersect
Moving Apart
- Diverge
- Distinctive
- Salient
Harmless
- Benign
- Innocuous
Inborn
- Inherent
- Innate
- Intrinsic
Additional General Vocabulary
- Adept: skilled
- Adversary: opponent
- Align ( oneself with): support or adopt the position of
- Authentic: genuine
- Centrality: state of being central or essential
- Complement: to complete or perfect
- Comprehensive: thorough, complete (NOT to be confused with comprehensible, which means "understandable)
- Contingent: dependent upon
- Confer: give, grant
- Corollary: a statement or condition that logically results from a proven argument
- Contemporary: current
- Cultivate: grow, raise, e.g., crops
- Judicial: related to the law
- Marginal: unimportant
- Mitigate: make less severe
- Preliminary: occurring before the main event
- Prevail: win; adj. Prevalent, Prevailing: widespread; generally accepted, e.g., the prevailing theory
- Reciprocate: respond to an action or behavior with the same action/ behavior
- Rudimentary: very basic
- Successor: person who inherits another's position
- Displace: to force someone or something from its home or habitat
- Disposition: personality
- Ideology: belief system
- Impede, Inhibit: prevent; get in the way of
- Indigenous: native
- Inherent, Innate, Intrinsic: inborn, existing in something by definition
Common Second Meanings
- Afford: Grant (e.g., an opportunity)
- Appreciate: To take into account, recognize the merits of, OR to increase in value
- Arrest: To stop (not just put handcuffs on a criminal)
- Assume: To take on responsibility for, acquire (e.g., to assume a new position)
- Austerity: Financial policy to reduce excess spending on luxury or non-essential items
- Badger: To pester or annoy (e.g., reporters repeatedly badgered the candidate after the scandal broke)
- Bent: Liking for. Synonym for penchant, predilection, proclivity
- Capacity: Ability
- Chance: To attempt
- Channel: To direct something (e.g., energy, money) toward a specific purpose
- Check: To restrain, control, or reduce (e.g., the vaccine checked the spread of the disease)
- Coin: To invent (e.g., coin a phrase)
- Compromise: To endanger or make vulnerable (e.g., to compromise one's beliefs)
- Constitution: Build (e.g., a football player has a solid constitution)
- Conviction: Certainty, determination. Noun form of convinced.
- Couch: To hide
- Discriminating: Able to make fine distinctions (e.g., a discriminating palate)
- Doctor: To tamper with
- Economy: Thrift (e.g., a writer who has an economical style is one who uses few words)
- Embroider: To falsify, make up stories about
- Execute: To carry out
- Exploit: Make use of ( does not carry a negative connotation)
- Facility: Ability to do something easily (e.g., a facility for learning languages)
- Foil: v. To put a stop to (e.g., to foil a robbery)
- Grave/ Gravity: Serious(ness)
- Grill: To question intensely and repeatedly (e.g., the police officers grilled the suspect thoroughly)
- Hamper: To get in the way of or hinder
- Harbor: To possess, hold (e.g., to harbor a belief.)
- Hobble: Prevent, impede
- Plastic: Able to be changed, malleable (e.g., brain plasticity)
- Provoke: Elicit (e.g., a reaction)
- Realize: To achieve (a goal)
- Reconcile: To bring together opposing or contradictory ideas
- Relay: To pass on to someone else (e.g., to relay information)
- Relate: To tell, give an account of (a story)
- Reservations: Misgivings
- Reserve: To hold off on (e.g., to reserve judgment)
- Ruffled: Flustered, nonplussed
- Sap: To drain (e.g., of energy)
- Scrap: To eliminate
- Shelve/Table: To reject or discard (e.g., an idea or proposal)
- Solvent: Able to pay all debts (usually used in a business context)
- Sound: Firm, stable, reliable, valid (e.g., a sound argument)
- Spare, Severe: Unadorned, very plain
- Static: Unchanging (i.e., in a state of stasis)
- Sustain: To withstand
- Uniform: Constant, unvarying
- Unqualified: Absolute
- Upset: To interfere with an expected outcome
Words that Look Negative But Aren't
- Critic/ Criticism: A critic is a person who writes commentary-either positive or negative- about a subject, e.g., art, music, or sports.
- Discern/ discerning: To recognize or distinguish; perceptive
- Ineffable: Indescribable, sublime, beyond words
- Infallible: Unable to be wrong
- Ingenious: Clever, brilliant
- Ingenuous: Na'ive
- Inimitable: Unique, one-of-a-kind
- Innate: Inborn, natural
- Innocuous: Harmless
- Intrinsic/ Innate: Inborn, a natural part of
- Invaluable: Having immense value, priceless
- Unassuming: Modest
- Unqualified: Absolute
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