Definition to Word
I didn't believe his claims; in fact, I was rather ...
What is "incredulous"?
Don't importune the teacher by asking to use the bathroom every ten minutes, please!
What is "to bother/trouble with requests"?
This stem stands alone as a word, but can also go in front of -ography and -ic, and behind de-
What is "crypt"?
Any word using the stem "ego" probably has to do with this
What is "I"/"me"?
-scope, -organism, -economics, and -processor can all be prefixed with this stem meaning "small"
What is "micro"?
The erudite man could see through the sophist's words.
What is "The educated man could see through the bad logician's/specious reasoner's words"?
I refuse to explain what apophasis is, even though I'm doing it right now!
Explain how this sentence makes sense.
What is, "Apophasis means to discuss something by denying it, so the person who said this is using apophasis anyhow"? (Answer may vary!)
The indolent student neglected to catch up on his essay work for class
What is "lazy"?
I usually spend my Sundays in a state of lassitude, resting up from the previous week's work.
What is "languor" or "tiredness"?
Tele-, trans-, and pass- can all go at the beginning of this stem meaning "carry"
What is "port"?
Someone who particularly loves a particular category of person or object is called a word ending with this stem meaning "lover of"
What is "phile"?
If you are interested in murder mysteries, you would be interested in this stem meaning "blood"
What is "sangui"?
The neophyte soldier complained that his punishment for lateness was not commensurate to his infraction.
What is, "The new soldier complained that his punishment for lateness was not proportional (of like measure) to his infraction"?
Another word to use for moving in a wavelike motion
What is "undulate"?
A plaque in Prague Castle commemorates the event which started the Thirty Years' War in 1618, when two governors and their secretary were thrown out of a window. This is one of two famous ________________________ of Prague
What are "defenestrations"?
-lent as a stem means "full of"; another stem with the same meaning is ...
What is "ous"?
Anything that has to do with "graph" has to do with this action
What is "writing"?
"Punctual" and "puncture" both contain the stem "punct", which means this
What is "point"?
After he stopped circulating around high society, his once-elegant speech style turned into a rather déclassé persiflage.
What is, "After he stopped circulating around high society, his once-elegant speech style turned into a rather low-class flippant style"?
Define the three vocabulary words: "The mendacious husband pretend to be an uxorious man to have his affairs with impunity."
What is...?
Mendacious = lying, untruthful
Uxorious = wife-doting/loving
Impunity = without penalty/punishment
Another word for "prohibition"
What is "interdiction"?
The esculent greens were greedily gobbled by the lost hikers.
What is "edible"?
You can do this to a criminal AND to an idea
What is "apprehend"?
The words "nihilism" and "annihilation" both contain the stem "nihil," meaning this
What is "nothing"?
"in" can mean "into" for some words, but in others it can have this somewhat surprising meaning
What is "not"?
My friend's perfidy in disclosing my secret to someone else nonplussed me; I was ambivalent about continuing the friendship.
My friend's faithlessness in disclosing my secret to someone else perplexed/confused me; I had mixed feelings about continuing the friendship.
The architect Frank Lloyd Wright is known to be someone who is self-taught, otherwise known as an...
What is "autodidact"?
The novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde features a man who fails to get into an altercation with his enemy because his enemy is actually his alter ego
What are "heated dispute" and "second self"?
Acerbity can refer both to someone's words or personality, and to the taste of their drink, because it means...
What is "sharp or bitter"?
A complex, Plexiglass, and perplex all contain the stem "plex," which actually means...
What is "weave"?
You can accurately predict, when reading words beginning with it, that this stem means "before"
What is "pre"?
The philanderer's obsequies were attended by many of his decidedly non-sedate ex-lovers.
What is "the womanizer's [man who loves affairs'] funeral rites were attended by many of his decidedly uncalm ex-lovers"?
Idee fixe, neurosis, and psychosis all have to do with mental disturbances. Give an example of one of them.
(multiple answers possible)
If the illuminati want to establish a hegemony over the countries of the world, explain in your own words who wants to do what:
What is, "the enlightened intellectuals want to gain total control over the countries of the world"?
proto-, medi-, and fin- are stems that help you understand position or order, because they mean...
What are "first", "middle", and "end" or "last"?
TRANSLATE into normal English: The numinous mendicant's cupidity for human food was given a desultory rebuke by the saturnine captain of his spaceship.
What is, "The supernatural beggar's greed for human food was given a rambling reprimand by the gloomy captain of his spaceship"?