How Robust Is Your High School Vocabulary?

If you go back on a promise or a treaty, you've "reneged" on it. Did you notice the similarity to "renegade"? That's not coincidental. "Renegare" means "to deny" in Latin, giving us both words.

"Intuition" is something like a guess or a hunch; "intuitive" is the noun form. It has such a sage, canny sound that Silicon Valley borrowed the verb "intuit" for a line of accounting software.

You might be more familiar with this one in its noun form, "predestination." Or not — we suppose that one's not terribly common, either. But the root word "destiny" is certainly recognizable, and "predestinate" is something that's fated to happen.

"Neurology" is the medical field dealing with the brain and the nerves. Nerve cells are called "neurons," and the chemistry of the brain is referred to as "neurochemistry."

In philosophy, "ethics" is the branch dealing with intrinsic right and wrong, to the extent that those things can be determined. More practically, "ethics" means the rules you live by, sometimes as an individual and sometimes as a group.

You're probably familiar with the abbreviation "Aux" over those little input holes on electronics. They're for auxiliary cables or devices, the ones that you use less often. Another common use of this term was "Ladies' Auxiliary" for a women's group that supported an organization that was, by default, made up of men. With increasing integration, this term has fallen out of favor.

In biology, "habitat" refers to an animal's preferred surroundings, when conditions are suited for it. This word has been adopted by architecture buffs and designers, who sometimes refer to creating an ideal "habitat" for human beings.

The root of this word is the Latin "dextra," meaning "right hand." Because more than 75 percent of the human population is right-handed, the Romans associated the right hand with skill and adeptness. But if you use both ("ambos") hand equally well, it's as if you have a "right hand" on both sides.

The root of "compulsory" is "compel," which might be a more familiar word. In the synonym "mandatory," you'll notice the syllable "mand-", which is related to "mandate" and "command." Either word you choose, it's an order!

To be "bereaved" is to have recently suffered the loss of someone close to you. It's almost always used in this capacity: so far, we haven't adapted it to mean the grief stemming from a divorce, nor the loss of a house due to foreclosure.

Unsurprisingly, this word is related to "flower." Novice public speakers are sometimes guilty of being florid in an attempt to move the audience, meaning they use excessively fancy speech. Alternate meanings of "florid" are "ruddy, reddish" or "full-blown" (as with a disease).

This is a case of a pair of related words becoming really unbalanced in terms of use (see also "ruth" and "ruthless"). "Intrinsic" means "by nature, in essence" and is frequently heard. "Extrinsic" refers to a quality that is added on or not inherent. For example, a horse is intrinsically an animal or an herbivore; extrinsically, it's a form of transportation.

This is why a beautician is also called an "aesthetician." In general, an "aesthete" is someone who cares about appearance and artistic merit, which, carried too far, can be a negative. For example,consider that person who just had to have a vintage Mini Cooper instead of a Subaru, and therefore is always late because of mechanical trouble.

You might be familiar with the noun "affiliate" for a local TV station that carries national-network programming: "The local NBC affiliate." This word looks the same as a noun and a verb; the adjective form is "affiliated."

This term often comes up in medical settings, so there's a nice symmetry with the related word "ambulance." The ambulance takes you to the hospital, where the goal is to get you ambulatory again as soon as possible.

This highfalutin' field got its name in a very simple way: In a compilation, an editor put Aristotle's writings on the subject right after his writings on physics, therefore, "meta physics." The actual subject of metaphysics isn't easily explained, or understood, like the related field of "quantum physics."

The Word Police will tell you that "reticent" means "shy, reserved" and "reluctant" means unwilling. This is true, but because of the similarity in form, it was probably inevitable that the first word would come to stand in for the second. Merriam-Webster defends this use, pointing out that "reticent" has been used in this way since the mid-19th century.

Sorry if you were fooled by "the roots of words." That's "etymology," and we're doing a lot of that in this quiz! But "entomology" is the study of insects. Don't include spiders or ticks, though: That's "arachnology."

The root is the Latin word "caro," meaning "flesh." So in Spanish, "carne" is meat (and "asada" means grilled or broiled). An "incarnation" is an appearance in the flesh, like a god becoming an avatar. And carnations are believed to get their name from their red or pink, flesh-like, colors.

We suppose a virgin birth is a kind of beginning, but that definition is a little too narrow for our purposes. A "genesis" is a beginning. It was adapted to "Genisys" for one of the "Terminator" movies, which retold the beginning of the series (and completely made a hash of it, according to some fans).

In the original Latin, "ceruleanus" was a chameleon color that could be described as blue, green or gray, or having elements of all three. (Think of the ocean under different light conditions). In English, the definition has settled on "blue."

"Ferrous" means "related to or containing iron." Some colorful writers refer to blood as having a "ferrous" taste, but we suspect they are back-engineering from knowing that blood contains iron, more than a familiarity with the taste of iron!

This word is a simple mashup of the early French "presti" for "quick" and Latin "digitus" for "finger." So it refers mainly to magic that relies on sleight of hand — not, for example, mentalist acts. Sidebar: If your tax preparer's work resembles sleight of hand, it might be time to look for someone new.

The noun form is "commendation," which means a statement of approval. It's close to "praise," but the two can't generically replace each other, as a "commendation" is often more formal or official.

This word is forever linked to the doomed ship. However, it takes its name from the "titans," a race of giants in Greek mythology, and generally refers to something that is very large.

This term is borrowed from the nautical world. "Port" is left and "starboard" is right. You won't need these very often unless you go into the Navy, but they can be fun to use in an ironic sense. Next time you're on a road trip, point out an interesting geographic feature "off to starboard" to your companions.

Yes, before it was a social media platform, "discord" meant "disagreement" and "conflict." The antonym is "accord," an old-fashioned word for "agreement" you can find in the Bible: "Now all the believers were in one accord." (Acts 2:1)

So is there an antonym, spelled "chalant"? Not so. This word comes from the Latin "non" and "chalare" (the latter meaning, "to be warm.") While that leaves the door open for a word like "chalant" to mean "concerned or invested," the English language just didn't go in that direction.

If you're "indispensable," you're the go-to guy or gal at work or elsewhere. Good for you! However, heed writer Elbert Hubbard's warning: "The graveyards are full of indispensable men."

This is a timely word when threats of tariffs and trade wars are in the news every day! However, our favorite use of this word is a headline from The Onion: "Area man puts embargo on Pier 1 crap."

If something is "questionable," you're right to doubt whether it is true, accurate, or a good idea. This term used to mean "leaving (someone or something) open to lawsuits," but that one has fallen out of use. (Thanks to Merriam-Webster's site for this clarification; the M-W site is highly recommended for all sorts of inquiries about language!)

Somebody "fickle" can't be counted on; they don't stand firm in the face of changing circumstances. A sidenote about "disinclined": You can't be "disinclined" in general. This word requires an infinitive verb — you're "disinclined to" do something.

To "relinquish" something is to surrender it. This is another word with a false prefix: Despite the first syllable being "re-", there is no verb "linquish," and to "relinquish" does not mean giving it up a second time.

"Dissuade" does have a kind of whispery, soft sound ... but it doesn't have anything to do with volume. It's the opposite of "persuade," and can be done quietly or in a very loud voice.

People like the word "metaphor," and often use it when they mean "simile." The key is, a simile used a helper word such as "like" or "as": "The wine flowed like water." A metaphor simply says that one thing is another: "Wine is water around here."