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Fancy Vocabulary #6

Feel smart and fancy by completing the English words from their definitions. Correct spelling is required.
The previous quiz in this series can be found here (Quiz 5)
Quiz by kiwirage
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Last updated: December 2, 2023
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First submittedNovember 6, 2018
Times taken17,704
Average score45.0%
Rating4.65
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Definition
Answer
Casually indifferent
Nonchalant
Oxen's harness
Yoke
Engaged to be married
Betrothed
Lying face upwards
Supine
Encourage, urge strongly
Exhort
Skip or leap playfully
Gambol
Riddle, puzzle
Enigma
Timid or meek person
Milquetoast
Abandonment of religious faith
Apostasy
Excessively fat
Corpulent
Definition
Answer
Angry rant, outburst
Tirade
Wine expert
Sommelier
Glowing with light
Lambent
Lacking awareness
Oblivious
One-eighth of a mile
Furlong
Wealthy, luxuriant
Opulent
The art of discourse
Rhetoric
Dull, uninteresting
Jejune
To threaten, endanger
Imperil
Sleepwalker
Somnambulist
43 Comments
+3
Level 48
Jul 1, 2020
please accept "Somnambulant"
+4
Level 66
Aug 21, 2024
somnambulant is an adjective the question requires a noun
+5
Level 86
Feb 8, 2025
The noun is somnambulator, which isn't accepted.
+1
Level 63
Feb 8, 2025
It's archaic. Somnambulist is correct. I may add it as a type-in, though, closer to the date this hits the front page.
+3
Level 86
Feb 8, 2025
Why wait if it's a correct answer?
+2
Level 63
Feb 9, 2025
Because it’s archaic, as I said; ie not a currently used word. If I do add it, it’ll be closer to front-page day in case there are other changes needed to the quiz. Making multiple edits to the quiz in one go is better than making regular changes as complaints come in.
+2
Level 91
Feb 10, 2025
I'm not arguing one way or the other, but I tried Somnambulator as well. I knew the verb "(to) somnambulate", but didn't know the noun form and took a guess...
+1
Level 76
Mar 13, 2025
This.
+1
Level 72
Mar 14, 2025
I'd say "The noun" is somnambulist. You could argue whether or not to use words that are not in use anymore. (it can give quite a bit of difficulties in a spelling quiz, since nearly (Alternative forms; nerely, nerly, neerely, nearely (all obsolete)) every word used to be spelled differently.)

But I just did some research (since I had never heard of somnambulator) and found this; "OED's only evidence for somnambulator is from 1822, in the writing of Prichard." And also according to ngram it is basically non-existent. Which made me question if it ever was really a word.

But after some more digging I found one earlier use (The life or Charles Brockden Brown, 1814) Also a few more later ones, though they all were just quoting Prichard (a treatise on the diseases of the nervous system).

At some point, the word did start to show up in medical dictionary (first still mentioning Prichard "Worchester, 1860" but after about 1900 there are some without source )

+1
Level 72
Mar 14, 2025
In short, at one point it actually was a word since it showed up in dictionaries of the time (pointing you to somnambulist, or mentioning "rare" like in Allen's synonyms and antonyms, 1921), However I have only found 2 original sources for the word, the rest is just referring back to the original use. So even at a time when it was not archaic the use seems to have been limited.

Here is the ngram btw

It was an interesting rabbit hole :) most of the morning gone already haha. Better point my attention elsewhere now :)

+2
Level 70
Jan 31, 2021
could you also accept obtuse as an answer for "lacking awareness"
+1
Level 66
Mar 13, 2025
well now you're just being obtuse.
+1
Level 67
Jul 14, 2021
19/20 or top 1.4% of test takers. I know too many useless words! 🤣
+2
Level 61
Aug 9, 2021
Love these puzzles. This is the first time I came upon a new word: lambent.
+4
Level 50
Aug 13, 2021
Ugh stupid American inversion of the meaning of "nonplussed". Couldn't get it out of my head and get the real answer.
+1
Level 85
Mar 14, 2025
I got a wrong answer. Must the the Americans' fault!
+2
Level 46
Oct 11, 2021
"nonchalant" needs a better definition, I think. I know what it means but didn't get it. In six quizzes I've missed this and one other.
+1
Level 61
Nov 30, 2023
"Nonplussed" could also fit the definition for "nonchalant".
+5
Level 66
Aug 21, 2024
From Merriam Webster: "NOTE: The use of nonplussed to mean "unimpressed" is an Americanism that has become increasingly common in recent decades and now appears frequently in published writing. It apparently arose from confusion over the meaning of nonplussed in ambiguous contexts, and it continues to be widely regarded as an error."

emphasis mine.

+3
Level 62
Feb 8, 2025
ok but it"s been used in published writing. unless the word terrific means scary to you
+1
Level 66
Feb 27, 2024
I like these quizzes.
+1
Level 92
Jan 25, 2025
Agreed, these are brilliant and should all be featured. Today I learnt about the comic strip character Milquetoast. Nonchalant is perfect how it is - nonplussed means confused. Obtuse (outside of the Shawshank Redemption at least) means an angle between 90 and 180 degrees
+2
Level 79
Mar 13, 2025
Shawshank is correct. Obtuse comes from the Latin word obtusus, meaning "blunted or dull." Its figurative definition of "stupid, not acutely sensitive or perceptive" has been in use since approximately 1500, while the geometric definition you mention dates to around 1560.
+1
Level 57
Mar 13, 2025
As far as I'm concerned I see "obtuse" meaning "stupid" considerably more often than with the angular meaning. I do probably read too much Billy Bunter though.
+2
Level 84
Feb 1, 2025
Well crap. Here I was starting to get annoyed that "jejeune" wasn't accepted, only to learn that I have been spelling that word wrong for the entire 46 years of my life.

There's my learning for today!

(In my defence, I first learned the word as a schoolchild when I was in a French school, and in French the word is indeed spelled with that extra "e." I just never noticed that it wasn't in English. But still.)

+1
Level 57
Mar 13, 2025
Like you I only discovered "jejeune" isn't the right word a year or two ago, but I am obviously considerably more cleverer than you because I was a youthful 42 or 43 or something. So there.
+3
Level 85
Feb 8, 2025
+2
Level 80
Feb 8, 2025
I remember someone wishing my mother a "corpulent son-in-law". He was not a native English speaker and I think to him the word denoted a man of substance and wealth.
+1
Level 81
Feb 8, 2025
For 'riddle, puzzle' I was thinking of a verb, not a noun 🤦‍♂️
+1
Level 81
Mar 13, 2025
Did the same again 🤦‍♂️
+1
Level 74
Feb 9, 2025
something's wrong. I typed MILQUETOAST more than once, didn't get it right. Same with OPULENT.
+2
Level 88
Feb 10, 2025
So, the word isn't spelled "apostacy". My lesson for the day.
+1
Level 86
Mar 13, 2025
Could not get 'lamplit' out of my head.
+3
Level 73
Mar 13, 2025
I wouldn't say "corpulent" means "excessively fat", it's more "big bodied" than "obese".
+1
Level 79
Mar 13, 2025
+1
Level 58
Mar 13, 2025
Totally enjoyed it. Two thumbs up!
+1
Level 75
Mar 13, 2025
Great quiz. Learned two new words.
+1
Level 75
Mar 13, 2025
Surprised lambent so low. Must be a low overlap between gears of war players and jetpunkers.
+1
Level 31
Mar 13, 2025
God I'm so *oblivious*, missed 3 of the top five words, but got lambent somehow.
+1
Level 72
Mar 14, 2025
I got 13/20, not bad for a "foreigner" :) (average is 10 atm). Least guessed one I got was the sleepwalker, I did try a few spellings for the skip one, but didn't manage to get it correct.
+1
Level 63
Mar 14, 2025
Please accept sunny side up /s
+1
Level 52
Mar 15, 2025
I got 1 correct, and i thought i was good at English
+1
Level 44
Mar 17, 2025
nonchalant dreadhead