Reader\'s Digest Australia - 07.2019

July• 2019 | 143

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR

Word Power

BRAIN POWER

BY SAMANTHA RIDEOUT

1.catalyst– A: person who creates
a catalogue. B: reversal in fortune.
C: low-priority task. D: something
that sparks a change.

2.occlude– A: hide from view or
consideration. B: block off.
C: take charge. D: eliminate.

3.caustic– A: legally recognised
as the cause of something. B: with
burning pain. C: bitingly sarcastic.
D: extremely flammable.

4.volatile– A: unstable and
unpredictable. B: in accordance with
one’s will. C: plentiful. D: flooring
used in aeroplanes.

5.bromidic– A: promoting fraternal
feeling. B: salty. C: clichéd. D: profane.

6.distil– A: interrupt someone’s
thought. B: spend one’s savings.
C: let farmland return to a wild
state. D: extract key points.

7.miscible– A: randomly
assembled. B: missing the mark.

C: mossy. D: able to be mixed.

8.substrate–A: underlying layer.

B: poorly reviewed. C: short.

D: financially needy.

9.buffer– A: protein powder.

B: protective barrier.

C: continue interminably.

D: make plain for all to see.

10.osmosis– A: process of losing

bone density. B: state of growth.

C: gradual, unconscious assimilation

of knowledge. D: confusion.

11.adduct– A: eye-level public

advertising space. B: move a limb

inward. C: calculate a grand total.

D: return home.

12.litmus test– A: decisive test.

B: unfair test. C: counterintuitive

test. D: impossible test.

13.inert– A: buried underground.

B: maladapted to the environment.

C: slow or powerless to move.

D: inside the heart.

Chemical Attraction

These chemistry terms have taken on less technical,

more general meanings outside the lab.