The Collected Word Definition Quizes

Last updated February 15 2023 – To be continued

Oh-Oh Word Quiz

This quiz is all about words that… which… of… uh… there is no theme in this word quiz. But they are presented in alphabetical order, so there is that for what it’s worth. And there is a pretty animated pic at the top, too, as well, also, in addition, to boot. Only from terrycolon.com, the site that gives you more.

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dastard

1. furious green sleep
2. bowl for serving primordial soup
3. over-educated imbecile
4. underhanded sneaky prick

foible

1. story with a silly lesson
2. thin end of a sword
3. short end of the stick
4. slapstick rubber knife

imperator

1. biggest big muckity-muck
2. gremlin causing maddening glitches
3. dimple-making machine
4. irrepressible smart ass

pismire

1. steaming, stinking mud puddle
2. caste one step above untouchable
3. urinal for women
4. teeny-weeny ant

zetetic

1. snore inducing
2. Czech distance runner
3. investigative
4. last but not least

Filed 2/15/23

Oh-Oh Word Quiz

Click on cartoon to replay animation

After doing none last year, this is already the second word quiz of 2023. Might be a vintage year for vocabulary tests. Vintage, a word that comes from… ah, but that would be giving it away for some future quiz. Perhaps, maybe, could be, we’ll see.

This quiz is all about words ending in -oon, for no reason other than words ending in -oon are fun. Balloon, cartoon, spittoon, macaroon. Fun and tasty, too.

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dragoon

1. Cross-dressing Mafioso
2. Fire-breathing thug
3. Head of a SE Asian tribe of headhunters (that is, a chief, not a severed head)
4. Cavalryman who fights hand-to-hand on foot

Walloon

1. Belgian that’s almost a Frenchman
2. Balloon frame house wall
3. Painted-on entrance some cartoon characters can enter, some can’t; cave painting
4. Dutch version of Humpty Dumpty

poltroon

1. Cross between a chicken and a raccoon
2. That long pole gondoliers use to make the boat go
3. Trapper’s cache of animal skins
4. Wussy little fraidy-cat

pantaloon

1. One trouser (half of a pair)
2. Short-sighted dotty old buffoon
3. Bird toe that’s on backwards
4. Five pieces of eight (about a half doubloon; one loon)

spadroon

1. Combination fork/spoon/knife/can-opener
2. Those weird fluted collars worn in the 1500s
3. Handled pointy thing for stabbing and cutting people
4. Squadron of French planes in WWI

Words of the Times for 2022 (But Will still Be Going Strong in 2023)

Haven’t done one of these in a long while, but what the hey, let’s revisit the old dictionary pop quiz bit fun. You say you don’t find the dictionary pop quiz bit all that fun? There’s a word for people like you, though you won’t find it in the quiz, so there. Ha ha, I’ll have my fun without you.

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officious

1. Looking like a prototypical work cubicle, only without the charm
2. Like a nitpicking busybody
3. Sporting a shiny badge and a pretentious title
4. Marked by bloat and inefficiency; bureaucratic

peculate

1. To flex one’s chest muscles alternately in rhythmic fashion
2. To stab repeatedly with a fork
3. To recite vulgar doggerel in an inappropriate social setting
4. To embezzle shared or public property

anomie

1. A person who is neither friend nor foe
2. The faulty light that makes a string of christmas lights fail
3. Social instability caused by erosion of standards and values
4. Home sweet home of carpenter ants

subreption

1. A hole in the sole of a shoe
2. Deliberately misleading half truth
3. Damage from depth charges
4. A deserved underrating

plutocrat

1. Progressive from another planet (or planetoid, nobody is sure)
2. Cartoon dog in charge of Disney World
3. Ruler from hell (named after the Greek God of the underworld, Pluto)
4. Someone who rules by virtue of their wealth.

Real Words I Didn’t Just Pull Out of My… Uh… Hat

A short collection of odd little words that sound unreal but are really real. I ran across them in crossword puzzles and in one case an old book by PG Wodehouse. Just try and guess what they mean. See if your guess is better than mine. I didn’t know any of them.

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dorp

1. Video midget goofball
2. Slavic peon
3. Small window at the top of a door
4. Goat “droppings”
5. Small village

slub

1. Slovenly lazy lout
2. Axle grease made of pig fat
3. Moron
4. Undissolved sludge at the bottom of a hot beverage mug
5. Bit of blobby yarn

drey

1. Two-wheeled cart
2. Baby donkey
3. Rat’s nest
4. Mare’s nest
5. Squirrel’s nest

simoom

1. Indonesian monkey
2. Gin-based Indian cocktail
3. Really long Alpine bass horn
4. Horsehair fly swatter
5. Hot dust storm

Today’s Word-of-the-Day Words, Uh Quiz

This time around it’s either a word-of-the-day in word quiz format or a word quiz with only two words. Of the day. Making it a semi quiz. Or maybe a demi quiz. Whatever it is this is all she wrote for this entry. Though she is me and not a she, but that’s the figure of speech and who am I to say otherwise? They also say brevity is the soul of wit. So rather than paltry, think of this entry as… who am I kidding, it’s a couple of useless words you’ll never need. Still, there is the pointless animation. Enjoy.

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demijohn

1. Portable, temporary toilet unit
2. Union suit with short sleeves and legs
3. Large, narrow-necked bottle
4. Small, eared cup for hot cocoa
5. Son of John

semiotics

1. Self-driving big trucks
2. Otics with bits missing
3. An ancient people responsible for killing the Dead Sea
4. People sleepwalking through life, zombies light
5. Study of symbols

Grow Your Word Grasp

The usual group of five words to test your vocabulary powers. Are they in reverse alphabetical order for a reason? Is that a hint or a red herring? How about the illo, clue or misdirection? What about these questions, trick or treat? Take the quiz, then decide for yourself.

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stentorian

1. As dishonest as a senator
2. High handed and arbitrary
3. Snooty and disrespectful in manner
4. Vocally loud and powerful
5. Full of hot air

sesquipedalian

1. Given to ponderous circumlocution employing polysyllabic terminology
2. Quick with ad libs and retorts
3. Grouped in sixty equal divisions
4. Six-legged
5. (Of a person) eighteen inches tall

risible

1. Easily awakened
2. Stretchy and flexible
3. Highly excitable; easily aroused; prone to panic at the drop of a hat
4. Obviously inferior
5. Laughable

dogsbody

1. Fawning follower
2. Detective
3. Drudge, menial
4. Woodworking bench clamp
5. Part between the head and tail that legs are attached to

autodidact

1. Car regulation
2. Egomaniac
3. Driveway with a grass strip down the middle
4. Self-taught person
5. The leader of a cult of personality

Amplify Your Word Aptitude

A packet of words the avid reader will probably have stumbled upon. Or stumbled over if they didn’t know them. Do you?

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mnemonic

1. Barely audible
2. Possessed by a mnemon
3. Of the secret order of mumblers
4. Memory aid
5. Word with a silent letter

ukase

1. Ukelele luggage
2. Self storage unit
3. Smells bad, tastes good
4. All capital letters
5. Dictator’s dictate

abattoir

1. Seminary leader’s home-office
2. Ladies private chamber
3. Slaughterhouse
4. Cesspool
5. Place where bats hang out

callipygian

1. Measured with precision
2. Bodacious booty
3. Like circus music
4. West coast bird species
5. Itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny

bucolic

1. Unruly lock of hair
2. Crying like a baby
3. Pastoral
4. Naïve
5. Vaping addict

Which Starts with P and That Stands for Phrase

This time around, instead of word definitions, phrase meanings. Or even phrases more or less meaning other phrases. In which case, “Close is a cigar.” You’ll see. Take the test.

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Parthian shot

1. Half a jigger
2. Lucky guess
3. Way off the mark
4. Parting shot

Pavlovian response

1. “Like a moth to a flame”
2. “I was only following orders”
3. “Say the first word that comes into your head”
4. “That rings a bell”

penny dreadful

1. Nerd’s girlfriend
2. World’s worst dollar store
3. Pulp fiction
4. Garage sale

Procrustean bed

1. “No matter how I cut it down, it’s still too short”
2. “I’ll make it work”
3. “One size fits all”
4. “All fit one size”

pyrrhic victory

1. “The operation was a success, but the patient died”
2. “We have met the enemy and he is us”
3. “Fighting fire with fire”
4. “We was robbed”

Wise up to Words of Whimsey

Here’s a quintet of mystery words we ran across reading some Dorothy L. Sayers classic Whodunnits featuring her famous sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey. Who, from her description, we always imagined looked a lot like Mr. Peanut. But maybe that’s our whimsey. Anyway, we didn’t know the following five words, do you?

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confute

1. Turn the tables
2. Cross dress
3. Compound an error
4. Prove wrong
5. Add up the numbers wrong

seriatim

1. Like fleas on a dog
2. Like ducks in a row
3. Like moths to a flame
4. Like birds of a feather
5. Like sardines in a can

epicene

1. Of a gourmand
2. Overindulgent
3. Having hairy ears
4. Throwaway bit at the end of a movie or play
5. Androgynous

perspicuity

1. Sweating like a pig
2. Having good taste in handbags
3. Lucidity
4. Misty rain
5. Adherence to the letter of the law

ultramontane

1. At high elevation
2. East of Eden
3. North by Northwest
4. West of Java
5. South of the Alps

Perfect Your Word Prowess

We dutifully bring you another chance to know your nouns, verify your verbs, define your determiners, and generally impress yourself with how many words you know the meaning of. Or will know after you take the pop quiz. Need we explain more? Surely you know how a multiple choice test works by now.

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0tiose

1. Shaped like tubular rings
2. Reluctant to speak
3. Flat as a pancake
4. Good for nothing; lazy
5. Fit to feed to pigs

ennui

1. Needle case
2. Immaturity; callowness
3. Yes and no
4. The blues
5. The blahs

dawdle

1. Walk like a bulldog
2. Drag your feet
3. Hit your head
4. Doodle in a book margin
5. Meander awkwardly

catatonic

1. Like a bump on a log
2. Elixir from eastern Spain
3. Flea spray for cats
4. Disastrous
5. Giddy

faineancy

1. Sham fortune telling
2. Engaged bachelor
3. Really bad stage acting
4. Incredibly fine detail
5. Laziness; indolence

Our Ultimate Word Quizzzzz

Ultimate, as in the last, as in the letter Z. Not that this is the last word quiz. Just the first and last one featuring the letter Z.

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zax

1. Bass kazoo
2. Roofing tool
3. Pleated shorts
4. Cheese grater
5. Flooring made of crushed seashells

zeugma

1. Dark green, sticky snot
2. Shed skin of a lizard
3. Dark beer that tastes like molasses and aftershave
4. Circular earthen dwelling with a thatched roof
5. Word modifying two nouns in different senses

zaftig

1. Wacky and sarcastic
2. Indifferent to other’s suffering
3. Slovenian circus
4. Built like a brick ----house
5. Dazed and confused

zori

1. Japanese flip-flop
2. Masked Mexican swordswoman
3. Person from Zor
4. Corkscrew staircase in a minaret
5. Native dog of Indonesia

zyzzyva

1. Sound of sleep apnea
2. Ancient Sumerian god of the undead
3. Type of weevil
4. Anatomical passageway to vent your spleen
5. Wizard’s conical hat

Weigh Your Word Wonkiness

We haven’t done one of these bits in awhile, so here you go. It’s an open question whether these words ever come in handy or you can use them in a sentence. Well, five different sentences. We can’t imagine the sentence that would use all five.

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transubstantiation

1. Excuse to be a cross-dresser
2. Conversion of a PC file to a Mac file and vice-versa
3. Transformation from one substance to another
4. Travelling around the world under water

demesne

1. Tiny and compact
2. Really, really big yard
3. Evil twin
4. Having a hairy back and shoulders

amanuensis

1. Sissy
2. Baroque stringed instrument played with pedals
3. Literary assistant
4. Flaking off of dead skin cells

votary

1. Devotee
2. Person who tabulates election ballots
3. Traffic circle without an exit
4. Optional

palpable

1. Able to be paid online
2. Flat as a pancake
3. Easily turned to mush
4. Tangible, easily felt, or obvious

Verify Your Vocabulary

Another Wednesday, another multiple choice word definition quiz. Need we say more? Hope not, because we don’t have any more. On to the quiz.

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minatory

1. Walk-through maze
2. Like a bull in a china shop
3. So tight he’d skin a fart
4. In the nick of time
5. Meaner than a junkyard dog

venal

1. Of deer meat
2. Drunk on wine
3. Willing to sell out
4. Of dirty sex
5. Type of plastic

afflatus

1. Water borne litter
2. Birth of a notion
3. Bluster
4. Seven year itch
5. Ghost

pecuniary

1. Weird
2. South American rodent
3. Borderline legal
4. Monetary
5. Peevish

dilemma

1. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”
2. “Between a rock and a hard place”
3. “Heads I win, tails you lose”
4. “Can’t win for losing”
5. “There is no good answer”

Examine Your eWord Expertise

Test your noun knowledge, verb verve and all around word wisdom with our latest word definition quiz brought to you by the letter E. Though we don’t imagine you’ll hear any of these words on Sesame Street.

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escheat

1. Cunning getaway plan
2. Government land grab
3. Fee paid on a loan from a pawnbroker
4. Half-hearted effort
5. Unauthorized play by unwritten rules

expiation

1. Making amends
2. Loss of excess heat through panting
3. Revoking of citizenship
4. Communication with hand gestures
5. Giving up after a half-hearted effort

eschew

1. Overact
2. Gum that’s lost its flavor
3. Read the riot act
4. Particularly wet sneeze
5. Don’t touch with a ten foot pole

eleemosynary

1. Slippery as a greased pig
2. Oblivious to right and wrong
3. Charitable
4. Causing confusion
5. Of the 8th through 12th deadly sins

epigone

1. Missing skin
2. Summing up after a Greek play
3. Absolutely the worst example
4. Wannabe
5. Snitch

Had enough? No? There’s more just a click away.

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