Vocabulary Word Builder - Based on '61 Hours,' by Lee Child

This vocabulary challenge is based on words from 61 Hours, a crime drama by Lee Child.

If you enjoy word challenges or learning new words, in context, then take a minute to complete this word challenge.

The novel is a crime drama featuring popular drifter, gumshoe, and former MP Jack Reacher. The Jack Reacher series by Lee Child takes readers on diabolical adventures all over the United States.

Each word will be presented with three alternative definitions. Try to choose the best definition. To make it easier a quoted passage from the book 61 Hours, by Lee Child follow each vocabulary word. Answers are the end of the vocabulary quiz.

Some of these words are challenging, but some of them you may find familiar. The definitions will remain very basic for the sake of simplicity. Good luck.

1. Furtive - A) secretive, B) wasteful, D) unabashed

"Visits fro nervous local seamstresses and the furtive disposal of lengths of surplus fabric upset him mightily." p 50

2. Sepulchral - A) religious, B) pristine , C) funereal

"Reacher woke up at ten to seven, to a silent sepulchral world." p 92

3. Banality - A) bothersome existence B) common predictability, C) necessary existance

"If not, they would talk about the banality of evil." p143

4. Redacted - A) false B) edited C) explained away

"Check Congressional appropriations for me. The purpose will be redacted, but the money will be listed." p 173

5. Disquisition - A) question and answer, B) questionnaire, C) elaborate discussion

"She got into a long disquisition on the state's history." p 199

6. Somnolent - A) lifeless, B) shattered, C) sleepy

"The other two entered every room, bold as you like, guns drawn, for close-up in-their-faces flashlight examinations of the somnolent forms they found." p 204

7. Protuberance - A) protrusion, B) notch, C) addition

"The proturbance was like a welded steel box." p 335

8. Superfluous - A) wordy, B) meaningless, C) extra or unnecessary

"You're superfluous." p 327

9. Maelstrom - A) downspout, B) whirlpool, C) leak

"The round chamber, once still and dry and ancient, was soaked with chemical stink and boiling with fumes, the fuel suddenly close to an inch deep, with small urgent waves racing outward from a frothing maelstrom directly under the roaring pipe." p 486

10. Collegial - A) legal, B) friendly, C) sporting

"They had fruit for dessert and coffee and then they cleared the table and washed the dishes, all of them together, part professional, part collegial." p 420

Answers: 1 - A, 2 - C, 3 - B, 4 -B , 5 - C, 6 - C, 7 - A , 8 - C, 9 - B, 10 - B

If you got 8 - 10 correct you are word wise.

5 - 7 correct answers means you have an astute understanding of vocabulary.

If you got 3 - 5 answers correct, take heart, you are resourceful and learning well.

If you got 1 or 2 correct, why not study the words and give yourself a do-over.