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Challenging Words

Subjects : english, vocabulary
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Dirge - lament - a sorrowful speech or poem






2. Fresh and clean; uncorrupted ex - A ... beach






3. Assuage - relieve - to make more bearable - placate






4. To add ornamental or fictitious details - adorn - bedeck - elaborate






5. No variation; tediously the same in sound






6. To expand like a woman in labor






7. A puzzle - a mystery - conundrum - perplexity






8. Passion - excitement - fervor - ardency






9. Growth process from conception to birth - pregnancy - gravidity






10. Hackneyed - trite - commonplace - quotidian






11. Peripheral - irrelevant - digressive - extraneous diverting - inconsequential






12. To polish






13. Eject/discard like in excess fuel






14. To perceive or recognize






15. Unsettled - swaying - fluctuate - vacillate - wandering from one place to another - waver






16. Speak - plead - or argue in favour of






17. The highest point (of something) - zenith - pinnacle






18. Humble oneself in a demeaning way - cringe - fawn - toady - kowtow - bootlick






19. Elaborated to excess: overdone - extremely excited: agitated - hectic - frenzied - heated Ex - She became ... when she heard that her child was missing






20. Funeral bell/ omen of death






21. Deep hole






22. Impossible to penetrate - impregnable






23. Finely sensitive to feelings or in perception. Ex - ... of the danger posed by the approaching hurricane






24. Impossible to see through - preventing the passage of light - obscure






25. To judge a dispute - adjudge - adjudicate - intervene - referee - rule






26. Expressing yourself easily or characterized by clear expressive language






27. Meal or mealtime - feast - banquet






28. Bucolic - rural






29. Coalesce - fuse






30. Ornament against evil/talisman/fetish






31. Commonplace - everyday occurrence - banal






32. A gradual increase or the peak of a gradual increase. Ex - complaints about stifling smog conditions reached a ...






33. Something bringing change to something else indirectly - impetus - goad - stimulant






34. To taint or tarnish - besmirch - defile






35. To grow together and form a single whole - amalgamate - fuse - condense






36. Flamboyant/verve/dash






37. Capricious; randomly chosen; tyrannical






38. Caution/thrift/widom






39. Clearly and directly stated - opposite of implicit






40. Nonsensical talk - specialized language - argot - cant - slang






41. Growing in number quickly/spawn






42. A ghost of a living person seen just before his or her death - apparition - bogeyman - phantasm






43. Adamant - stubborn -unruly - obstinate - intransigent






44. Frolicsome/ playful






45. Know or understood by only a few - abstruse - arcane






46. Self-evident truth - adage - maxim - apothegm






47. An orator who appeals to the passions and prejudices of his audience - false leader






48. Recklessly wasteful; extravagant; profuse; lavish






49. Tending to be thrifty or cheap - prudence - sparing - parsimony






50. Point of culmination/ pinnacle/ acme