Thank you for reading the Vaughan’s Vocabulary column each week. I enjoy writing it and I appreciate each reader. The column is a fun way to expand our vocabularies.
See how you do with this week’s word quiz. Please let me know how well you did.
1. Which one is a synonym for lengthy?
A. sententious
B. extended
C. parsimonious
D. obstreperous
E. ubiquitous
I teach not to begin a presentation by looking down and to strive for lengthy intervals of unbroken eye contact with the audience. No. 1 is B.
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2. trope (TROHP)
A. a carrying case
B. sweet tasting
C. any literary or rhetorical device that uses words in other than their literal sense
D. a word, phrase or image used in a new and different way to create an artistic effect
Let trope rhyme with rope. Think of trope as the use of a word or expression in a figurative sense. Both C and D are correct for No. 2.
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3. trousseau (true-SO)
A. the attire collected by a groom for his marriage
B. the clothes and linen collected by a bride for her marriage
C. a box in which items are stored
D. de rigueur
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4. rue (ROO)
A. a darker shade of blue
B. a darker shade of red
C. regret, sorrow
D. pride
B is the answer for trousseau and C is the answer for rue.
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5. balmy (BAH-me)
A. mild and refreshing; soft, soothing
B. cold, frigid
C. pungent
D. valorous
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6. lassitude (LAS-suh-tood)
A. moral integrity
B. a condition of weariness or debility
C. being free from restrictions
D. the angular distance north or south from the equator of a point on the earth’s surface
Thanks to Dictionary.com for the definition of balmy, which is A. Aside from A, balmy means aromatic, fragrant (the qualities of balm). One who is crazy, foolish or eccentric could be described as balmy. Remember, the “l” in balmy is silent.
No. 6 is B. What I have for D is a definition of latitude.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Don Rodney Vaughan is the pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church near Eupora and is on the faculty of East Mississippi Community College, Golden Triangle Campus. Contact him at dvaughan@eastms.edu.
