The End of The Word is Nigh Trivia Game | Vocabulary

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Certainly positive anticipations are not to be had. We target our apprehensions towards the last of our lexicographic favourites, with grandiloquent wordiness, of course, as we lose words thirteen letters or more to the virus. This, perhaps, means that there will be no more facilitations of which of these types of things which, typically, refer to excessive flourishes?

Answer: Accoutrements

Certainly there will be no more OPPORTUNITIES for ILLUSTRATIONS of this caliber to help us define words of immense length. Such a shame. We'll have to delve into OBSCURENESSES...or indulge in ONOMATOPOEIAS to get our messages across. But what happens next?

Certainly we lose all ACCOUTREMENTS-- items which are added to something for a specific purpose, but which are also considered to be something extra (you know, for OVERINDULGING folk like us).

The other selections are not quite the same. ACCOUCHEMENTS are processes in which babies are born; PICTORIALISMS are realistic and scenic portraits or paintings; EMPRESSEMENTS are general sensations of personable warmth. But alas! All of these things will be gone before you can say them any more as the virus takes hold, forcing us to remain forever UNARTICULATED.

2. Oh the horror! Words continue to vanish from our minds, and their disappearing meanings seem to be removing words their very essences. Which of these words refers to the removal of something from its definitive form?

Answer: Disembodying

Our ADAPTABILITY as a species will be put to the test over these coming days. The virus continues to spread and we find that words of twelve letters of more are simply no longer in existence. Before we must become ACCLIMATIZED to a new life without, perhaps we should investigate these words.

When something is DISEMBODYING, it no longer fills the form it once possessed. Words, for instance, are being disembodied from their meanings; they lose their very QUINTESSENCE. The other words are completely different. Edulcoration refers to the sweetening of food while solubility regards the ability of an item to dissolve into another substance. To homologate is to approve of something with someone else.

Suffice to say, the future seems INTIMIDATING. Language will be MYTHOLOGIZED. I'd be speaking UNTRUTHFULLY if I said I wasn't worried.

3. As our language is reduced, we end up thinking more and more about the losses we'll be incurring. What captivating formalities will be torn from our minds next? With the loss of language comes the loss of three of these things, but which could still remain, language or not, to spur our fascination?

Answer: Memorabilia

Eleven, oh eleven! Words escape me! The contagion spreads; the parasites MALICIOUSLY attack in such a DESTRUCTIVE manner.

MEMORABILIA refers to an item or souvenir collected because of a specific event. Who knows-- maybe there will be such items for the sake of REMEMBRANCE of this wretched virus.

All of the other possible answers require language to be enacted. JARGONIZING is done when words specific to particular actions or certain OCCUPATIONS. To poeticize is to be poetic in style, speech, or writing, while SPOONERISMS are a play on words. Words are something we may no longer have.

Such a shame-- we're also losing TYPOLOGISTS and KEYBOARDERS. Oh, how I long for SERENDIPITY. Time is running out!

4. Frustrated? Angry? The virus will extinguish another letter's light; only ten letter words remain in the mental dictionary, shrinking our collective brainpower even more. Which of these, thus, do we lose more of every time our vocabulary diminishes?

Answer: Vernacular

It's been a TUMULTUOUS ride, hasn't it? Sickness permeates as the Babel Virus takes another letter, shrinking our words even more so as it LIQUIDATES the English language.

VERNACULAR is a word used to describe all of the words in a PARTICULAR language or area. In our case, the English VERNACULAR is DECREASING because of the Babel Virus's CONTAGIOUS grip on our VOCABULARY. Within a short time, we'll lose our VERNACULAR entirely and need to figure out a way to converse without speaking.

SCLEROMATA is a specific type of tissue in the human body; SCHIPPERKE is a regional breed of dog; FRICANDEAU is a cut of veal, usually the loin.

5. Nothing like being helpless to a contagion to infuriate one, eh? Which of these words refers to putting an end to something?

Answer: Kiboshing

Sure enough, if you put the kibosh on SOMETHING, it means that it is cancelled and over with; it has been EXHAUSTED to the point of no return and you have dealt the final blow. Soon enough, we'll all be in the same boat no doubt. With only nine letters in our words, LANGUAGES are likely to be a thing of the past.

There will likely be no more KIBITZING as people will no longer be able to give advice at the wrong time. NICTATING, however, will continue unabated; the word refers to the act of blinking. STRIATING will also, likely, be doable as it involves marking something with stripes. Perhaps that shall be how we ENLIGHTEN one another in the future. With STRIATION and NICTATION. Sigh.

6. Good grief! Words in the English language continue to diminish; the Virus has pared them down to eight letters or less. As we subtract more from our wordlists, we realize that, as it's eventual, we'll need to dispose of many items. Which of these does not relate to the knowing of language and, as such, would not need to be disposed of?

Answer: Isograph

An ISOGRAPH is a line drawn on a map and, as it does not use written LANGUAGE, like English, in order to be read, it would not need to be tossed aside. Road maps, however, would likely be trashed-- streets wouldn't exist in the same sense. A PHYSICAL map, however, would use an ISOGRAPH to denote a BOUNDARY or border.

All of the other options are used in LANGUAGE, however, so we will have to WITHDRAW them from our lives. A MONOGRAM is a letter (or INITIALS) used to denote that an item belongs to someone. Both the GRAPHEME and the MORPHEME are small units of LANGUAGE and can not be divided any further; they are the SMALLEST FRAGMENT in the grammar and build-up of their LANGUAGE.

7. Seven letters is all that remains; we've been sitting around as the virus does nothing but whittle away at English as we know it. Which of these words refers to a much better time in history-- a time in which we would not have needed to worry about such trivial matters?

Answer: Halcyon

The term 'HALCYON days' refers to a time in HISTORY in which all could PROSPER and be merry. At a time we could REFLECT on the words of ENGLISH and not need to bide our time, FEELING the ILLNESS CONSUME every last letter until, FINALLY, we would be mute, silent, and APHONIC.

NERVOUS is almost an ANTONYM for halcyon as it refers to a sense of unease or ANXIETY.
SYZYGAL is a QUALITY, but not USUALLY when one speaks of days. If something is SYZYGAL, it is ALIGNED; this mostly regards the Earth, the sun, and ANOTHER body in space (a planet or the moon, for EXAMPLE).
PASTERN, as a word in this CONTEXT, is right out of the mix. It's a bone in the leg of a horse and bears no MEANING RELATED to a time in HISTORY.

8. Maybe we should accept what's yet to come. With six letter words being all that's left in the roster, there's no chance at hope. There's no reason to be angry or let your temper get the best of you. If you aren't doing either of these things, it likely means that you also do not evoke which of these traits, moods, or ways of being?

Answer: Ornery

To be ORNERY is to be mean in SPIRIT or show a poor TEMPER TOWARD any odd thing, so HAVING this trait would put you in a bad mood with such a virus still MOVING AROUND.

To be SERENE or STOKED or PLIANT would, for sure, mean that you are not ORNERY in this case. To be SERENE is to be calm in the face of STRIFE. If you're STOKED, you're eager and ready to face down the THREAT. Being PLIANT means that you can HANDLE what may APPEAR right now or in the FUTURE.

And the FUTURE is COMING. We will, for sure, drop a LETTER again as the Babel Virus takes hold and WREAKS havoc on our words and minds.

9. Well, here we are near the end of the whole thing. With such short words still left to use, we have to think with care. Any ideas? Which of these words can refer to a thing that can be asked?

Answer: Query

A QUERY is used to find a TRUTH or end a DOUBT. What you were just ASKED, for one, was a QUERY ABOUT the word QUERY.

A QUOTE is a line said by a man or WOMAN over a TRACK of time; SHORT or long, a QUOTE is MEANT to EDUCE the idea of that BEING.
A QUEST does not REFER to word play or LINGO in any SENSE. It can be a trek or a trip, OFTEN with fun... or PERIL.
A QUEUE is a line; the word is most used in the U.K., not the U.S.

As we run down the CLOCK, will we hold on to the last few WORDS in our HEADS or will they SPILL out, FRIED by the VIRUS' FINAL THROE?

10. Time is nigh! A word can fail like THAT. Let this be a time to laud our last hour. What word can mean 'gala', 'bash', or 'ball'?

Answer: Fete

A JET� is a JUMP with one FOOT out in the air.
METE is a WORD USED to MEAN 'dole' or 'dish out'.
SATE can MEAN THAT one is FULL (of FOOD, for one).

WHAT NEXT? WITH all of THIS at its end, how do we go on?

We LOOK. We see. We do not TALK.

CIAO. So LONG. Bye.

Source: Author kyleisalive

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The End of The Word is Nigh Trivia Quiz

As the rapidly-spreading contagion known only as the Babel Virus takes a stranglehold, we find ourselves losing the English language one letter at a time. Words are diminishing! Can we save them before time runs out?

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