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“Word Power”: Words from the American Heritage Science Dictionary

April 1st, 2007 2:05pm JST (1 year, 4 months ago)

Cumulative Reader's Digest “Word Power” posts:
(in reverse order of posting)

7.	Science Words
6.	Jon Stewart / The Daily Show
5.	Summer (“dog” and “can” words)
4.	Culinary Words
3.	Financial Parlance
2.	Scholastic Aptitude Test
1.	George Washington Inaugural Address

This Reader's Digest “Word Power” comes from the April 2005 issue, and is made up of a bunch of words from the American Heritage Science Dictionary.

Science. Now, if there's a subject where I should get them all right, this is it. Sigh, I missed four. That still rates as excellent, but it certainly doesn't feel it.

How will you do?

Choose which of the four possible selections best represents the meaning of the word

1.	bayou n.	wooded area. narrow bay. rotten stump. marshy stream.
2.	fissure n.	crack. crease. dip. seam.
3.	concave adj.	curved outward. completely flat. curved inward. linked together in a series.
4.	hexagon n.	six-sided shape. nine-sided shape. man-made fiber. twelve-sided shape.
5.	secrete v.	to steal. eliminate. stretch out. produce and discharge.
6.	absorption n. — act of:	expanding. removing. assimilating. purifying.
7.	proboscis n.	microscopic creature. testing device. sound theory. nose.
8.	inoculate v.	to eliminate entirely. increase slowly. create as new. introduce for purposes of protection.
9.	deciduous adj.	shedding, as with leaves. inconclusive. divisible by units of ten. related to sound, as in volume.
10.	tundra n.	arid plain. shootlike plant leaf. cold, treeless area. extremely flammable substance.
11.	slough v.	to separate. shed. wash. mix.
12.	simian adj.	resembling a monkey. chemically volatile. polished. raw.
13.	malleable adj.	erroneous. precise. unable to be shaped. able to be shaped.
14.	berm n.	type of beaker. celestial body. narrow ledge. iceberg.
15.	indigenous adj.	marked by a reddish blue tint. native to a particular region. made via volcanic action. in a fixed migratory pattern.

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Comments so far....

Unlike cooking, I have a reasonable background in science. And given my own significant proboscis, I wasn’t about to miss the word.

The only one I was unsure of was “berm”, which I sort of half-guessed at, and was correct.

— comment by Sam on April 2nd, 2007 at 5:38pm JST (1 year, 4 months ago) — comment permalink

15 for 15! Booyah.

Of course, that and $1.75 will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

— comment by Michael Friedl on April 5th, 2007 at 4:12am JST (1 year, 4 months ago) — comment permalink