Words and Their Meanings Quiz

Words and Their Meanings

• Abeyance: A temporary suspension.
• Ambivalent: Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something.
• Beleaguer: To trouble or harass someone, often with many problems or difficulties.
• Carte blanche: Complete freedom to act as one chooses.
• Cataclysm: A large-scale, violent event.
• Debauch: A wild party or period of excessive indulgence.
• Éclat: Brilliant success or achievement, often with noticeable display.
• Fastidious: Showing great attention to detail; very particular.
• Gambol: To frolic or play in a lighthearted, carefree manner.
• Imbue: To inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality.
• Inchoate: Just begun; incomplete; rudimentary.
• Lampoon: A harsh satire or ridicule.
• Malleable: Capable of being shaped or altered.
• Nemesis: A powerful and often inevitable opponent or source of downfall.
• Opt: To choose to do something.
• Philistine: A person who is uncultured or indifferent to art and culture.
• Picaresque: Characterized by roguish adventures or a series of misadventures.
• Queasy: Feeling sick or nauseous.
• Refractory: Resisting control or treatment.
• Savoir-faire: The ability to deal effectively with people in social situations; tact.
• Aberration: A departure from what is normal.
• Ad hoc: For a specific purpose only; improvised
• Bane: A source of great trouble or destruction.
• Bathos: A sudden descent from elevated tone to a commonplace or trivial one.
• Cantankerous: Bad-tempered and argumentative.
• Casuistry: The use of sophisticated reasoning in the defense of questionable practices.
• De facto: In practice; in fact, though not officially.
• Depredation: An act of violence or destruction.
• Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person.
• Harbinger: A person or thing that foreshadows a future event.
• Hedonism: The pursuit of pleasure.
• Lackluster: Lacking energy or enthusiasm.
• Malcontent: Dissatisfied; complaining.
• Mellifluous: Sweet and musical in sound.
• Nepotism: Favoritism shown to relatives or friends.
• Pander: To cater to the wishes or desires of someone, often in a way regarded as immoral.
• Peccadillo: A minor offense or sin.
• Pièce de résistance: The most impressive or important part of something.
• Remand: To send back (a prisoner) to custody.
• Syndrome: A group of symptoms that consistently occur together.
• Avatar: A person or thing representing a larger idea or group.
• Beatitude: State of blessedness; extreme happiness.
• Bête noire: A person or thing that one dislikes intensely.
• Bode: To be a sign or warning of.
• Dank: Damp and unpleasantly cold.
• Ecumenical: Appealing to a broad range of people; unifying.
• Fervid: Characterized by intense emotion.
• Fetid: Having a foul or offensive smell.
• Gargantuan: Enormous.
• Heyday: A period of peak prosperity or success.
• Incubus: A nightmare that weighs someone down.
• Infrastructure: The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities.
• Inveigle: To obtain something by shrewd persuasion or trickery.
• Kudos: Praise or thanks for something done well.
• Lagniappe: A small extra gift or bonus.
• Prolix: Long-winded; talkative.
• Protégé: A person under the care, patronage, or protection of another.
• Sycophant: A person who praises someone excessively to gain favor.
• Tautology: Needless repetition of an idea using different words.
• Truckle: To submit to someone or something in a subservient way.