Words with the same meanings and survive the synonym challenge Quiz

Javascript is not currently enabled on your browser.
If you do have Javascript enabled:
This site uses javascript to make the magic happen.
Please turn on javascript and reload this page, or use a more current browser (like Firefox)

You might also like these games:
5-Letter Frenzy (Same Letter Thrice)	Week Words	Vowel Sandwich

There are 28 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

The Synonym Challenge Quiz

by citkeane

Created Jun 13, 2012 in Language
Featured Mar 20, 2013
Game Plays 42,580

Report a Mistake

Friend Scores and Standings

Loading friend results....

Top Games Today in Language

Top Games with Similar Tags

Top User Games in Language

Archived comments: show them

	707penguin:	Mar 20th, 2013 at 17:06 GMT		41 points
	I've always thought of "benevolent" as meaning "good" and "benign" as meaning "not bad."

	Figment:	Mar 20th, 2013 at 17:31 GMT		41 points
	Indict and arraign do not mean the same thing. Two completely separate things. An arraignment is a reading of charges against someone. Indictment is when someone is formally charged. An individual can be arraigned without ever being indicted.

	Tom_q:	Mar 20th, 2013 at 17:32 GMT		2 points
	Me too... As in "a benign tumor". Then again I'm not a native English speaker.

Comment below threshold: show it

	citkeane:	Mar 20th, 2013 at 19:24 GMT		2 points
	I think it's worth pointing out the definition of a synonym - "a word having the same or NEARLY THE SAME meaning as another in the language". I would argue that indict and arraign are similar enough as to not be an issue (most online thesauruses seem to agree, listing arraign as a synonym of indict and vice versa). The benign/benevolent one I posted about in the archived comment but, in short, the definition of benign is "gracious, or having a kindly disposition". I guess most people only associate it with diagnosing tumours but it has a much more general meaning aside from that.

	lauriab:	Mar 20th, 2013 at 19:28 GMT		17 points
	OK, but what about arid and desiccant? They are not the same part of speech. Arid is an adjective and desiccant is a noun. A desiccant dries things out. Then maybe it will become arid, but I don't think that makes them synonyms. There is no case where you could replace one with the other and get a grammatically correct sentence.

	citkeane:	Mar 20th, 2013 at 19:51 GMT		8 points
	@lauriab, Desiccant is also an adjective, as well as a noun. I can find quite a few dictionary sources confirming as much. I think I'll quit trying to defend the quiz now. Thanks to the admin for the publish. Hopefully, some Sporclers are enjoying it. :D

	jawa88:	Mar 20th, 2013 at 22:19 GMT		2 points
	Totally knew "deleterious" from Singin' in the Rain. I got more answers than Calvin Coolidge! Put together!!

	Gridley:	Mar 20th, 2013 at 22:44 GMT		6 points
	Yessir, @citkeane, I enjoyed it -- especially since they all matched up. Thanks for the quiz.

	AracleMiraz:	Mar 20th, 2013 at 23:19 GMT		6 points
	Loquacious speakers should be sure not to imbibe any alcoholic beverages, as they could lead to one speaking several ulterior susurrations with certain undertones of innuendo, which could lead to one arraigning you for your avarice and idiosyncrasies. :)

	dancastro:	Mar 21st, 2013 at 01:44 GMT		7 points
	"What's the difference between a disaster and a calamity?" "If Prime Minister Gladstone fell into the River Thames, it would be a disaster. If someone rescued him, it would be a calamity" (OK, the joke is almost 150 years old, but it's the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the pair disaster/calamity).

	DeliciousPoop:	Mar 21st, 2013 at 02:28 GMT		1 point
	i thought my vocabulary was a lot better than that....... shameful showing

	skine:	Mar 21st, 2013 at 05:35 GMT		3 points
	"Avarice" okay "Greed" Dammit! Now I have the opening song from Muppet Christmas Carol stuck in my head.

	GuyWitBluGlasses:	Mar 21st, 2013 at 19:11 GMT		3 points
	I have to disagree with covert and ulterior: Ulterior refers to the future, your 'ulterior motives' refer to planning to gain something in the future. Although it often refers to when someone hides that information, it is not part of the definition. One can always be upfront and honest about their ulterior motives. I'm buying a house, I intend to live in it. I expect the market price to increase in the next few years, and plan to sell it when it does. Therefore I have an ulterior motive in its purchase.

	beforever:	Mar 22nd, 2013 at 12:48 GMT		3 points
	Is the synonym challenge supposed to be a sort of homonym for the cinnamon challenge? 'Cause that's so clever.

	AndrewHeckm:	Mar 22nd, 2013 at 16:27 GMT		1 point
	I write for a living, and I found some of these puzzling.

	kagomeshuko:	Mar 25th, 2013 at 15:40 GMT		0 points
	I'm going to follow you. I'd appreciate if you follow me, too. That way we can be Sporcle friends. Thanks! I won't be upset if you don't, though. It'd just be nice to have you as a Sporcle friend!

	sonar1313:	Apr 11th, 2013 at 02:47 GMT		1 point
	"Desiccant" is an adjective but it still doesn't mean "arid." It means that something has the ability to dry something else out such as a desiccant powder. The word that should be here is "desiccate."