Vocabulary Quiz

(I'm sure my former students are groaning at that headline. As a teacher, I was BIG on vocabulary lessons.) :-)

A couple of weeks ago Jack Rosenthal had a column in the New York Times Sunday magazine. He offered words that are often used incorrectly--and he called them phantonyms.

His list reminded me of my own mental list of words I often see misused. So I've combined his list and my list and come up with a little quiz for you to test your knowledge.

Ready to play? For each word, choose the best definition.

1. Fulsome: a) brimming full, overflowing.

b) disgusting, excessive, insincere

c) smelly

2. noisome: a) aggravating

b) noisy

c) smelly, unhealthful

3. Enormity: a) great wickedness, a monstrous act

b) enormous, gigantic

c) not normal

4. disinterested: a) removed from a grave, exhumed

b) uninterested

c) unbiased or impartial

5. enervated: a) exhausted

b) energized

c) lifted above the ordinary

6. fortuitous: a) lucky

b) unfortunate

c) happening by chance

7. penultimate: a) next to last

b) the ultra-ultimate, the top or best

c) literally, the level top of a mountain peak

8. presently: a) now, in this moment

b) in a little while

c) bestowing a gift

9. restive: a) restless

b) restful

c) stubborn, balky

10. notorious: a) famous

b) well-known for doing wrong

c) the actions of a notary public

11. inflammable: a) able to catch fire

b) unable to catch fire

c) flammable

Ready to score your answers? Correct answers are: 1-B, 2-C, 3-a, 4-c, 5-a, 6-c, 7-a, 8-b, 9-c, 10-b, 11: A and C. Flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. :-)

How'd you do?

~~Angie