| Name _____________________________ | Date ___________________ |
| Multiple Choice |
| ______ | 1. | solemn |
| a. coming or resulting from a natural impulse or tendency; without effort or premeditation; natural and unconstrained; unplanned | ||
| b. a furtive departure or entrance. | ||
| c. artificially or stiffly formal; pompous; affected. | ||
| d. deeply sincere, sometimes because religious in character. |
| ______ | 2. | sphinx |
| a. serious or earnest | ||
| b. most important or significant; supreme; paramount. | ||
| c. (cap.)Class. Myth. a monster, usually represented as having the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. Seated on a rock outside of Thebes, she proposed a riddle to travelers, killing them when they answered incorrectly, as all did before Oedipus. When he answered her riddle correctly the Sphinx killed herself. | ||
| d. fixed, settled, or permanent. |
| ______ | 3. | stigma |
| a. stiffly dignified or formal, as speech or literary style; pompous. | ||
| b. a long-lasting mark or stain on one's character or reputation, esp. of disgrace or reproach. | ||
| c. in Egyptian mythology, a creature with a lion's body and the head of a human or animal. | ||
| d. a plate made by this process. |
| ______ | 4. | sovereign |
| a. stiffly dignified or formal, as speech or literary style; pompous. | ||
| b. 3. Older Use. to celebrate in a sonnet or sonnets. | ||
| c. a monarch or other royal ruler. | ||
| d. (used with a sing. verb) the mathematical study of numerical information, esp. representative information about a limited portion of a population that is used to make generalized conclusions about the whole. |
| ______ | 5. | stipend |
| a. grand or majestic. | ||
| b. a person who has sovereign power or authority. | ||
| c. fixed or regular pay; salary. |
| ______ | 6. | statistics |
| a. a piece of music for a single performer. | ||
| b. (used with a pl. verb) a number of pieces of numerical information. | ||
| c. of illegitimate birth; bastard. | ||
| d. happening without outward forces or causes. |
| ______ | 7. | stilted |
| a. to make guesses or wonder about something (often fol. by on, about, or the like). | ||
| b. stiffly dignified or formal, as speech or literary style; pompous. | ||
| c. Biol. (of two or more parts, plants, etc.) having a similar appearance but a different structure. |
| ______ | 8. | squelch |
| a. any periodic payment of money, such as a salary or allowance. | ||
| b. (of natural phenomena) arising from internal forces or causes; independent of external agencies; self-acting. | ||
| c. (used with a pl. v.) the numerical facts or data themselves. | ||
| d. to put down, suppress, or silence, as with a crushing retort or argument. |
| ______ | 9. | stealth |
| a. a process, now often replaced by more advanced methods, for making metal printing plates by taking a mold of composed type or the like in papier-mâché or other material and then taking from this mold a cast in type metal. | ||
| b. 4. (cap.)Mil. a U.S. Air Force project involving a range of technologies, with the purpose of developing aircraft that are difficult to detect by sight, sound, radar, and infrared energy. | ||
| c. Med. a mental or physical mark that is characteristic of a defect or disease |
| ______ | 10. | speculate |
| a. state of affairs; stage of development. | ||
| b. a set form; convention. | ||
| c. to engage in a risky business transaction that promises the possibility of large profits. |
| ______ | 11. | solitary |
| a. being, traveling, or living without others; alone; unaccompanied. | ||
| b. Physiol., Med. something that excites an organism or part to functional activity. | ||
| c. in Greek mythology, a creature with the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle, such as the creature that terrorized Thebes and was destroyed when Oedipus guessed its riddle. |
| ______ | 12. | status |
| a. a periodic payment, esp. a scholarship or fellowship allowance granted to a student. | ||
| b. a person's position or rank in relation to others. | ||
| c. Zool. a small mark, spot, or pore on an animal or organ.the eyespot of a protozoan.an entrance into the respiratory system of insects. |
| ______ | 13. | stimulus |
| a. something that rouses or accelerates action, feeling, or thought. | ||
| b. formal, solemn, and reserved in character. | ||
| c. to engage in thought or reflection; meditate (often fol. by on, upon, or a clause). | ||
| d. a piece of music for a single performer. |
| ______ | 14. | solo |
| a. a long-lasting mark or stain on one's character or reputation, esp. of disgrace or reproach. | ||
| b. of a dark shade or condition. | ||
| c. a flight in an airplane during which the pilot is unaccompanied by an instructor or other person | ||
| d. dirty or foul, as from neglect. |
| ______ | 15. | stereotype |
| a. a set form; convention. | ||
| b. of settled or sedate character; not flighty or capricious. | ||
| c. dignified. | ||
| d. any performance, as a dance, by one person. |
| ______ | 16. | spurious |
| a. gloomy, depressing, or dismal | ||
| b. Biol. (of two or more parts, plants, etc.) having a similar appearance but a different structure. | ||
| c. (of a person) given to acting upon sudden impulses. | ||
| d. something that provokes a response, esp. in an organ, nerve, or gland. |
| ______ | 17. | stately |
| a. dignified. | ||
| b. something that provokes a response, esp. in an organ, nerve, or gland. | ||
| c. a monarch; a king, queen, or other supreme ruler. | ||
| d. a person's position or rank in relation to others. |
| ______ | 18. | sporadic |
| a. a standardized and usu. oversimplified conception held in common by many people. | ||
| b. in a stately manner. | ||
| c. occurring irregularly or in a thinly scattered manner in time or space. | ||
| d. a fourteen-line poem that usu. rhymes, often in accordance with one or another of certain traditional patterns. |
| ______ | 19. | squalid |
| a. wretched; miserable; degraded; sordid. | ||
| b. to cause to make a squishing, sucking sound. | ||
| c. Pros. a poem, properly expressive of a single, complete thought, idea, or sentiment, of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according to one of certain definite schemes, being in the strict or Italian form divided into a major group of 8 lines (the octave) followed by a minor group of 6 lines (the sestet), and in a common English form into 3 quatrains followed by a couplet. |
| ______ | 20. | sonnet |
| a. in Greek mythology, a creature with the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle, such as the creature that terrorized Thebes and was destroyed when Oedipus guessed its riddle. | ||
| b. something that rouses or accelerates action, feeling, or thought. | ||
| c. Law. the standing of a person before the law. | ||
| d. 3. Older Use. to celebrate in a sonnet or sonnets. |
| ______ | 21. | somber |
| a. not likely to change; firmly established. | ||
| b. gloomy, depressing, or dismal | ||
| c. deeply sincere, sometimes because religious in character. |
| ______ | 22. | spontaneous |
| a. a fourteen-line poem that usu. rhymes, often in accordance with one or another of certain traditional patterns. | ||
| b. a metal plate for printing or the process of making such a plate. | ||
| c. happening freely or done by impulse; not forced. | ||
| d. grave, sober, or mirthless, as a person, the face, speech, tone, or mood |
| ______ | 23. | staid |
| a. a set form; convention. | ||
| b. reliable; loyal. | ||
| c. of settled or sedate character; not flighty or capricious. | ||
| d. to buy, produce, or build something in anticipation of an increase in its price. |
| ______ | 24. | solar |
| a. dark and dull, as color, or as things in respect to color | ||
| b. powered by the sun's energy. | ||
| c. isolated, as a single instance of something; being or occurring apart from others. |
| ______ | 25. | steadfast |
| a. morally repugnant; sordid. | ||
| b. (of natural phenomena) arising from internal forces or causes; independent of external agencies; self-acting. | ||
| c. not likely to change; firmly established. | ||
| d. any performance, as a dance, by one person. |