Verbal Advantage – Level 01 Word 21 – Word 30 MCQ Test

Word List

• Word 21: Creed [rhymes with need]

Belief, professed faith or opinion, especially a system of religious belief. Synonyms include doctrine and dogma.

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In the United States it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on race or creed, belief.

Creed comes from the Latin credo, “I believe,” the source of the English word credo (KREE-doh or, like the Latin, KRAY-doh). A credo is a declared set of beliefs or opinions.

Credo and creed are synonymous. Credo is the more learned (LUR-nid) word, usually reserved for a formal declaration of belief. Creed is used more generally of any professed faith or opinion.

The Latin credo is also the source of incredible, not believable, credible, believable, and credulous (KREJ-uh-lus). Credulous means inclined to believe, willing to accept something as true without questioning. Credulous and gullible are synonymous. To a credulous person, even the most outrageous tall tales seem credible.

• Word 22: Tawdry [TAW-dree, rhymes with Audrey]

Cheap and showy, gaudy, garish, sleazy.

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Legend has it that tawdry comes from the phrase “tawdry lace,” a corruption of “Saint Audrey lace,” a type of lace sold at Saint Audrey’s fair in England. Apparently the lace was of inferior quality, thus over time the word tawdry came to mean cheap and showy. Today the word may be used both literally and figuratively. A person may wear tawdry clothing or have a tawdry reputation.

• Word 23: Peevish [PEE-vish]

Irritable, cross, complaining, fretful, ill-humored and impatient, difficult to please.

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There are peevish moods, peevish remarks, and peevish looks. A peeve is something that irritates or annoys: “Her pet peeve is a wet towel left on the bed.” Peevish means irritable, ill-humored, full of complaints.

• Word 24: Arduous [AHR-joo-us]

Very difficult, hard to achieve or accomplish, requiring great effort. “Compiling the annual report is an arduous task.” “Raising children is an arduous responsibility.”

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Synonyms of arduous include strenuous, laborious, and toilsome.

• Word 25: Personable [PUR-suh-nuh-buul]

Attractive, pleasing in appearance, handsome, comely, fair, presentable.

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In recent years, personable has come to be used to mean having a nice personality. You should avoid using the word in that way. The words sociable, affable, and amiable already suggest people who are friendly, pleasant, and approachable. There is no need for personable to take over this sense. An awkward or unbecoming person, no matter how friendly and pleasant, cannot correctly be personable. Reserve personable for someone who is either attractive in appearance or attractive both in appearance and personality.

• Word 26: Resolute [REZ-uh-loot]

Firmly determined or settled, resolved, having a set opinion or purpose, steadfast, unwavering, persevering.

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Resolute comes from the Latin resolvere, the source also of the verb to resolve, which means to decide, determine, settle once and for all: “After much debate, the board of directors resolved to go ahead with the five-year plan.” “The lawyers tried to resolve the case out of court.” Resolute means resolved in one’s opinion or purpose: “He was resolute about earning a master’s degree and starting a successful business.”

Antonyms of resolute include irresolute, unsteady, and vacillating (VAS-i-lay-ting).

• Word 27: Supposition [SUHP-uh-ZISH-in]

An assumption, theory, hypothesis.

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To suppose means to assume as true, put something forward for consideration. A supposition is something supposed, an idea put forward for consideration.

A hypothesis (hy-PAHTH-uh-sis), a conjecture (kun-JEK-chur), and a supposition are all assumptions or theories.

A hypothesis is a preliminary or incomplete theory based on insufficient evidence: “There are conflicting hypotheses about the origin of the universe.” (The plural, hypotheses, is pronounced hyPAHTH-uh-seez.)

A conjecture is an assumption based on so little evidence that it is merely an educated guess: “Every week we hear different conjectures about trends in the stock market.”

A supposition may be based on ample evidence or no evidence at all, and may be either sensible or irrational: “His suppositions about the company’s financial condition proved consistent with the facts.”

• Word 28: Arbitrary [AHR-bi-TRAIR-ee or -TRERee]

Unreasoned, based on personal feelings or preferences rather than on reason, logic, or law: “An arbitrary price for a product is not necessarily a fair price”; “His arbitrary decisions have cost the company a lot of money.”

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Arbitrary comes from the same Latin source as the words arbiter (AHR-bi-tur) and arbitrator (AHR-bi-TRAY-tur). Arbiter and arbitrator both mean a judge or umpire who makes a final decision or resolves a dispute. Arbitrary means making discretionary judgments or decisions that may or may not be fair or reasonable.

Arbitrary has two other useful meanings. It may mean determined or arrived at in a random or illogical manner. For example, the arrangement of furniture in a room may be arbitrary, without an evident theme or pattern; arbitrary decisions are arrived at in a hasty, haphazard way. Arbitrary may also mean exercising unrestrained or absolute power: an arbitrary government has no regard for individual liberty.

• Word 29: Monotonous [muh-NAHT-uh-nus]

Lacking variety, tediously uniform, unvarying and dull.

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Monotonous means literally having one continuous sound or tone. It combines the word tone with the prefix mono–, one, single. The prefix mono- appears in many English words, including monogamy (muh-NAHG-uh-mee), marriage to one person; monocle (MAHN-uh-kul), a single eyeglass; and monogram (MAHN-uhgram), two or more letters woven into one.

That which is monotonous is boring because it lacks variety. A monotonous speaker says the same thing again and again in the same tone of voice. Monotonous music is dull and repetitive. A monotonous job is one where the routine never changes. The corresponding noun is monotony (muh-NAHT’n-ee), a tedious lack of variety.

• Word 30: Legacy [LEG-uh-see]

Something handed down from the past, an inheritance.

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Legacy may be used in two ways. It may mean a gift of money or property provided by a will, an inheritance, bequest: “Her wealthy uncle left her a generous legacy.” It may also mean anything inherited or passed down through time: “The cultural legacy of ancient Greece and Rome has shaped Western civilization.”