Word Power ANSWERS

1. luminary (b) brilliant person. Her photographic memory has helped Barbara become a luminary in the world of bridge.

2. gloaming (C) twilight. As I walked in the gray gloaming, I heard an owl hooting in the distance.

3. refract (A) bend. The sunlight refracted through the prism in the window, splashing tiny rainbows on the walls.

4. parasol (b) sunshade. In addition to wearing SPF 50 daily, Lorraine often carries a parasol.

5. translucent (A) allowing light through. Cook the onions until they’re translucent, removing them before they brown.

6. scintillate (C) give off sparks. When the campfire starts to scintillate, we can settle in for an evening of sing-alongs and stories.

7. beacon (A) guiding light. Bring a good beacon to set up at your base camp.

8. sconce (b) light fixture. Elijah looked at dozens of sconces before settling on ones he liked.

9. incandescent (A) white-hot. A glassblower can turn incandescent liquid glass into a piece of art.

10. heliotropic (A) turning toward the sun. Young sunflowers are heliotropic, facing east at dawn and following the light westward.

11. diurnal (C) active in daytime. After working the graveyard shift for a year, Anjali asked to switch to a diurnal schedule.

12. fox fire (b) glow from a fungus. Certain kinds of mushrooms produce fox fire, an eerie blue-green light.

13. filament (b) wire in a light bulb. Thomas Edison chose a type of bamboo for his electric light’s filament.

14. spectrum (b) band of colors. Ellen Jean’s beautiful paintings use every hue in the spectrum.

15. effulgent (C) shining brilliantly. The effulgent full moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the forest.

Vocabulary Ratings

9 & BELOW: flicker

10–12: blaze

13–15: conflagration