Words' Worth Trivia Quiz

Answer: femoral

The femoral artery is in the thigh, and it provides the main blood supply to the leg and thigh. If it is severed, oxygenated blood cannot get to the brain and death will come quickly.

Answer: temerity

Although sometimes confused, timidity is the opposite of temerity. Temerity is defined as extreme boldness or confidence, audacity and rashness, i.e., a foolhardy contempt for danger.

Answer: hoi polloi

The hoi polloi are the masses, the common people. For some reason, perhaps because of the similarity in sound, many people confuse it with 'hoity-toity' which means snobbish or haughty, condescending and patronizing.

Answer: burrows

The confusion here may lie with the similar sound of borrows and burrows. While 'borrows' is taking something from the owner for some period of time, 'burrows' is the act of digging a hole or tunnel under the ground for use as a dwelling. I stuck in the homonyms 'boroughs' and 'burros' just for confusion.

Answer: honed

'Homed' as a verb means to return home, as in homing pigeons. 'Honed' is an adjective which means to sharpen, as in a knife or one's skills, i.e., to improve, make more effective or perfect.

Answer: cited

The confusion here may be among the homonyms 'sight', 'site' and 'cite'. Sight has to do with the sense of seeing and the ability to observe, while a site is an area where something, e.g., a building or monument, is being erected. The correct answer is the past tense of 'cite' which means to quote.

Answer: incisive

The word 'derisive', which means expressing contempt or ridicule, clearly makes no sense when considering the end of the sentence. In fact, the only choice that does accurately express the meaning is 'incisive', which is defined as sharp-witted, keen and clear-thinking.

Answer: elicit

The word illicit comes from the Latin "in licitus", meaning not lawful. It refers to acts that are illegal and not morally acceptable. Its meaning is far different from the sound-alike word, elicit, which means to extract or draw out, often referring to information.

Answer: figuratively

I created this question to express one of my pet peeves. It annoys me when someone uses the word 'literally', which is defined as actually or exactly, instead of the appropriate 'figuratively' or metaphorically. If you fail a test, you may feel like dying, but it is not an actual event that occurs.

Answer: loquacious

Here we have the word 'taciturn', meaning uncommunicative or saying little, in direct opposition to the rest of the sentence which requires a word that means talkative or garrulous. I chose the answer 'loquacious' from the Latin 'loqui', meaning 'talk', because it sounds so 'hoity-toity'.