This fun quiz is all about strange but elegant English words. Sometimes I’ll give you a definition, and let you choose the right word; and sometimes I’ll give you a word and let you choose the definition. Let us know how you get on! 🙂
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Data correct per Oxford Dictionaries. Cover image: Public domain.
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Question ofWhat does “to degust” mean?- 
					
To taste food or drink carefully
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To vomit
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To discuss distasteful matters
 
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Question ofWhich word means “clockwise or in the direction of the sun’s course”?- 
					
Dight
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Deasil
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Divagate
 
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Question ofWhat is a discobolus?- 
					
A disc jockey
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A person skilled in the art of dinner-table conversation
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A discus thrower
 
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Question ofWhat does “disenthral” mean?- 
					
Awaken from a dream
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Set free from enslavement
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Come down from a drug-induced high
 
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Question ofWhich term means an interpreter for travellers in the Near East?- 
					
A dragoman
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A deedy
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A deipnosophist
 
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Question ofWho or what is a dwaal?- 
					
In Germanic mythology, a member of a race living underground
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A dreamy, absent-minded state
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Someone born with an extra digit on hands or feet
 
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Question ofAnother term for a a striptease performer?- 
					
Divagator
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Decubitionist
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Ecdysiast
 
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Question ofWhat does “effable” mean?- 
					
Able to be described in words
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Given to swearing
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Polite and gracious
 
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Question ofAnother word for blushing- 
					
Dariolary
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Divarication
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Erubescence
 
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Question ofWhat is the meaning of “emmetropia”?- 
					
Perfect vision
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Inability to judge distances, weights, etc.
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Severe nausea
 
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Question ofWhich of the following means “the eating of insects”?- 
					
Doryphory
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Entomophagy
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Deracination
 
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Question ofWhat is the meaning of “emacity”?- 
					
Cosy and comfortable
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Tendency to thinness
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Fondness for buying things
 
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Question ofWhat is an Eucatastrophe?- 
					
The end of Europe as we know it
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Brexit
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A happy ending
 
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 Norman Darlo
							Norman Darlo
					 
					
I only have 7 correct answers
That’s really quite good for a second-language English speaker, Vidocka! Thanks for taking the quiz 🙂
9/13, very interesting quiz, a lot of new fascinating words for me!!!
That is an extremely high score, Anastasia! Most native speakers are unfamiliar with many of these 🙂
Five out of 13 on this quiz.
Almost a pass, Deep! Thanks for taking the quiz 🙂
My pleasure to take on this quiz.
3 only correct, oh no. haha! A fun quiz. Thanks!
Haha, so long as it was fun, that’s what matters!
You got 7 out of 13 right!
Not so bad
Not a bad score – this was a tough quiz!
very informative quiz keep it up
Thank you, Unka! I just might 🙂
Very tricky Norman!! I only got 9 correct. Groans…
Great quiz!!
9/13 is not groan-worthy, not when the quiz is this hard! You did good 🙂
Quiz: Strange but Elegant Words, D – E
You got 8 out of 13 right!
Anything above 50% is a good score on this hard quiz, Branka!
You got 7 out of 13 right!
That’s a pass, Snezana = over 50% 🙂
You got 5 out of 13 right! Hmm? Guessing is just not my game. LOL.
That’s the thing with guessing: you can be lucky or you can be unlucky! Thanks for giving it a try 🙂
Well either Virily or I did it again. I got 12 out of 13 but when I wanted to continue my comment Virily disappeared and went back to its previous page. The on that I missed was number 12 as the word “emacity” strangely resembles the french word « émacié » which in French means very skinny almost to the bones. OK I lied, some of the them I googled… but I did not lie about number 12.
Well done, however you achieved it! We also have that word ’emaciated’ in English, same as émacié, but they are from a different Latin root than emacity, which comes from emō = I buy. Émacié, on the other hand, comes from Latin macer = thin, whence also maigre.
Quiz: Strange but Elegant Words, D – E
You got 10 out of 13 right!
Great quiz Norman.
Very impressive, Carol! I remember you scored very high on the first part (A – C) too 🙂