How Good is Your Vocabulary?

Hey, I got an A+!
PS is quixotic really a synonym of idealistic? bit dodgy imo

"A".

"atheist"?, "lithe"? ..."talisman"?!!?? sheesh.

Where's the quiz for smart people?

A+!

Jonathan -- yes, in the sense that "quixotic" comes from Don Quixote; while more than a little deluded, he *was* certainly an idealist.

"A-"!!

Really dragging down the curve.

Where are the useful words like homoscedasticity, anisotropy, or poikilothermy?

By the way, thanks to long-dead but not forgotten Isaac Asimov, below are the answers to a quiz. What is the subject?

1. unionized
2. periodic
3. WC

Spoiler follows!

Read them as 'un-ionized', 'per-iodic', and 'tungsten carbide'. The subject is chemistry.

I got an A as well. And I even know what homoscedasticity is: it's actually part of my active vocabulary.

Hmm, perhaps this is something not to boast about.

Bob

A+

I'll bet most who didn't get A+ were tripped up by "peruse" -- the usage meaning "to skim over" is so common that this is a almost a trick question. Anyone who uses it to mean "read carefully" has already lost that battle.

Here's one neat collection of "GRE words": http://www.english-test.net/gre/vocabulary/meanings/181/gre-words.php

You can alter the 3-digit number in the URL to navigate, or use the buttons at the bottom. A lot more of a fix than "word of the day."

According to Chambers online:
peruse verb (perused, perusing) 1 to read through (a book, magazine, etc) carefully. 2 to browse through something casually. 3 to examine or study (eg someone's face) attentively.

So, it either means read carefully, or read casually.
I got A, not sure which one I got wrong

I got an A-
I try to increase my vocabulary, but I have a bad memory for words (and names. and places. and dates). That GRE thing looks interesting...

Well I got peruse wrong. I always use it to mean skim, though I normally say that I give something a quick peruse.

I do like words that are their own antonyms.

Here's a nice site full of short essays on words by a guy who does words for a living. - Like, for instance, the OED.

I got an A+! And they say English is a useless major...

A easily - but if you look I think it is fo KIDS!

A easily - but if you look I think it is fo KIDS!
Posted by: sailor

Bah humbug to you as well.

I may have the body of an aged decrepit old man, but I try to retain the mind of a child :o)

Well, I hesitated over "omniscient" (is that "all knowing" or "all understanding"?) but in the end I got it right: A+.

Agnostic: you're right; in casual discourse "peruse" is quickly going the way of "virtually" by rapidly transforming into its antonym.