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Words From Other Languages — Set 2: Practice flashcards

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Fifteen sentence-completion questions on the Set 2 words: four choices, one blank, and why the most tempting wrong answer fails.

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Practice deck · part of Words From Other Languages · written against: 200 loanwords English still feels as borrowed; American pronunciation, etymologies per Merriam-Webster; our own selection. Updated 2026-10-10.

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  1. Augustin owns no phone and no television, yet his chatty niece's weekly visits keep him surprisingly ______, quick to name the season's new films, songs and slang.

    A) incommunicado
    B) au courant
    C) kosher
    D) sui generis
    B) au courant

    Well informed about the latest news and trends is au courant. Incommunicado is tempting because Augustin has no phone, but it means cut off from contact, and his niece's visits leave him well informed.
    French
  2. The director who had sneered at every rival's film watched his own movie flop on its opening weekend, and more than one reviewer's write-up carried a hint of ______.

    A) schadenfreude
    B) joie de vivre
    C) esprit de corps
    D) wanderlust
    A) schadenfreude

    Pleasure at someone else's bad luck is schadenfreude. Joie de vivre is tempting because the reviewers sound pleased, but it is delight in being alive, not pleasure in a rival's failure.
    German & Dutch
  3. After twelve rounds, every chef but two had been eliminated, and the finalists battled ______ with a single fish, one stove each and a forty-minute clock.

    A) mano a mano
    B) en masse
    C) sotto voce
    D) ad nauseam
    A) mano a mano

    Head to head, with just two rivals facing off, is mano a mano. En masse is tempting after a crowded contest, but it means all together as one group, and only two chefs remain.
    Italian & Spanish
  4. After the two-mile open-water swim, Odette waded ashore, dropped onto the warm sand and sighed, "______ at last," before dozing off in the sun.

    A) terra firma
    B) hinterland
    C) terra incognita
    D) boondocks
    A) terra firma

    Solid, dry ground as opposed to water is terra firma. Terra incognita is tempting because it also names land, but it means land no one has mapped or explored, and Odette has reached an ordinary beach; the hinterland lies inland, not at the water's edge.
    Latin & Greek
  5. At the old mosques of Cairo, visitors leave their shoes with an attendant at the door and usually hand him a little ______ when they collect them.

    A) baksheesh
    B) kudos
    C) nosh
    D) skosh
    A) baksheesh

    A small payment given for a service is baksheesh. Kudos is tempting as a reward, but kudos is praise or credit, not something you hand over.
    Middle Eastern Languages
  6. Retiring at seventy, the founder split her job three ways: the hardware chain's finance chief, its head buyer and her own daughter would govern together as a ______, each with an equal vote.

    A) troika
    B) camarilla
    C) entourage
    D) kibbutz
    A) troika

    Three people sharing leadership are a troika. Camarilla is tempting as a small group around power, but a camarilla is a ring of unofficial, often secret advisers, and these three lead openly.
    Other Languages

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More Words From Other Languages decks

Set 1: MeaningsSet 1: Quick DrillsSet 1: In ContextSet 1: PracticeSet 2: MeaningsSet 2: Quick DrillsSet 2: In Context

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About these cards

Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.

Checked against:

  • Senses, parts of speech and pronunciations checked against Merriam-Webster.com, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Cambridge learner's dictionary; all definitions, notes and example sentences are original.
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