Synonyms Questions and Answers

Answer: A

It is make dull.

To stupefy is to make someone unable to think or feel clearly, from the same Latin root as stupid and stupor. Talking nonsense is what a stupefied person might do, not what the word means.

Answer: C

It is cloudy.

Nebulous means hazy and indistinct, from the Latin nebula, a cloud - the same word astronomers use. Eternal has nothing to do with it.

Answer: A

It is curse.

Malediction is from the Latin for speaking ill, and is the opposite of benediction. An epitaph is written on a grave; a tactless remark is merely clumsy.

Answer: A

It is lasting a long time.

Chronic means persisting over a long period, from the Greek chronos, time - the opposite of acute in medicine. Occasionally describes frequency, not duration.

Answer: C

It is combine.

To coalesce is to come together to form one whole, from the Latin for growing together. Associate and conspire describe people acting together rather than things merging.

Answer: D

It is champion.

The protagonist is the leading figure in a drama or a cause, from the Greek for first actor in the contest. The antagonist opposes him - and note that protagonist means first, not pro-anything.

Answer: C

It is perplex.

To beset is to trouble persistently or to surround and harass - beset by doubts, beset by enemies. Perplex is the nearest of the four; deprive and deny take something away rather than press upon.

Answer: B

It is pour off.

To decant is to pour liquid from one vessel to another, leaving the sediment behind, from the Latin canthus, the lip of a jug. Bisect and bequeath are unrelated.

Answer: A

It is fluent.

Glib means speaking readily but without depth or sincerity. Stammering is its opposite in manner, and the criticism the word carries is that the fluency is too easy to be trusted.

Answer: D

It is opposite.

Antithesis is the direct opposite of something, from the Greek for setting against. In rhetoric it is the balancing of contrary ideas in one sentence.