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Question 1

tedium

Answer 1

UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
If you talk about the tedium of a job, task, or situation, you think it is boring and rather frustrating.
She began to wonder whether she wouldn’t go mad with the tedium of the job. [+ of]
Synonyms: boredom, monotony, dullness, routine

Question 2

sobbing

Answer 2

1. VERB
   When someone sobs, they cry in a noisy way, breathing in short breaths.
   She began to sob again, burying her face in the pillow. [VERB]
   Her sister broke down, sobbing into her handkerchief. [VERB]
   Synonyms: cry, weep, blubber, greet [Scottish] More Synonyms of sob
   sobbing UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
   The room was silent except for her sobbing.
2. VERB
   If you sob something, you say it while you are crying.
   ‘Everything’s my fault,’ she sobbed. [VERB with quote]
3. COUNTABLE NOUN
   A sob is one of the noises that you make when you are crying.
   Synonyms: cry, whimper, howl

Question 3

Flea

Answer 3

COUNTABLE NOUN

A flea is a very small jumping insect that has no wings and feeds on the blood of humans or animals

Question 4

stick out

Answer 4

1. PHRASAL VERB
   If you stick out part of your body, you extend it away from your body.
   She made a face and stuck out her tongue at him. [VERB PARTICLE noun]
   He stuck his hand out and he said, ‘Good evening.’ [VERB noun PARTICLE]
2. to stick your neck out
3. PHRASAL VERB
   If something sticks out, it is very noticeable because it is unusual.
   The things that stuck out were his cockiness and his four-letter words. [VERB PARTICLE]
   What had Cutter done to make him stick out from the crowd? [VERB PARTICLE + from]
4. to stick out a mile
5. to stick out like a sore thumb
6. See stick it out

Question 5

neuroses

Answer 5

VARIABLE NOUN
Neurosis is a mental condition which causes people to have unreasonable fears and worries over a long period of time.
He was anxious to the point of neurosis.
She got a neurosis about chemicals and imagined them everywhere doing her harm. [+ about]
Synonyms: obsession, phobia, anxiety

Question 6

oracle

Answer 6

COUNTABLE NOUN

In ancient Greece, an oracle was a priest or priestess who made statements about future events or about the truth.

Question 7

influx

Answer 7

COUNTABLE NOUN [usually singular]
An influx of people or things into a place is their arrival there in large numbers.
…the first large influx of immigrants to arrive on these shores. [+ of]
…the influx of American popcorn into the British market.
Synonyms: arrival, flow, rush, invasion

Question 8

reproach

Answer 8

1. VERB
   If you reproach someone, you say or show that you are disappointed, upset, or angry because they have done something wrong.
   She is quick to reproach anyone who doesn’t live up to her own high standards. [VERB noun]
   She had not even reproached him for breaking his promise. [VERB noun + for]
   Synonyms: blame, criticize, rebuke, reprimand More Synonyms of reproach
2. VARIABLE NOUN
   If you look at or speak to someone with reproach, you show or say that you are disappointed, upset, or angry because they have done something wrong.
   He looked at her with reproach.
   Public servants and political figures must be beyond reproach.
   Synonyms: censure, blame, abuse, contempt More Synonyms of reproach
3. VERB
   If you reproach yourself, you think with regret about something you have done wrong.
   You’ve no reason to reproach yourself, no reason to feel shame. [VERB pronoun-reflexive]
   We begin to reproach ourselves for not having been more careful. [V pron-refl + for]
4. SINGULAR NOUN [usu N to n]
   If you consider someone’s actions or behaviour to be a reproach to a group of people, you consider them to be harmful or insulting to that group.
   The shootings and bombings were ‘a scandal and reproach to all of us’.
   Synonyms: disgrace, shame, slight, stain

Question 9

parable

Answer 9

COUNTABLE NOUN
A parable is a short story, which is told in order to make a moral or religious point, like those in the Bible.
…the parable of the Good Samaritan. [+ of]
The story is a pleasing parable of the problems created by an excess of wealth.
Synonyms: lesson, story, fable, allegory

Question 10

compulsive

Answer 10

1. ADJECTIVE [ADJECTIVE noun]
   You use compulsive to describe people or their behaviour when they cannot stop doing something wrong, harmful, or unnecessary.
   …a compulsive liar.
   He was a compulsive gambler and often heavily in debt.
   Synonyms: obsessive, confirmed, chronic, persistent More Synonyms of compulsive
   compulsively ADVERB [ADVERB with verb, ADVERB adjective]
   John is compulsively neat and clean, he’s terrified of germs.
2. ADJECTIVE
   If a book or television programme is compulsive, it is so interesting that you do not want to stop reading or watching it.
   The second series of this drama has been explosive, compulsive viewing.
   These chilling heroines make Hart’s books compulsive reading.

Question 11

resent

Answer 11

VERB
If you resent someone or something, you feel bitter and angry about them.
She resents her mother for being so tough on her. [VERB noun]
I resent being dependent on her. [VERB noun/-ing]
Synonyms: be bitter about, dislike, object to, grudge