High School Reading: Grades 9-10 Quiz: Word Choice And Tone Informational
17 questions · exam conditions
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Word Choice And Tone InformationalQuestion 1 of 17

"The exhibit opens with an arresting photograph of a glacier collapsing into the sea." What does arresting mean here?

Related to police taking someone into custody
Slowing or halting a process
Unusually large in size
Striking and attention-grabbing
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High School Reading: Grades 9-10 Quiz

High School Reading: Grades 9-10 Quiz: Word Choice And Tone Informational

Practice Word Choice And Tone Informational in High School Reading: Grades 9-10 with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Word Choice And Tone Informational, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for High School Reading: Grades 9-10.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

"The exhibit opens with an arresting photograph of a glacier collapsing into the sea." What does arresting mean here?

  1. Related to police taking someone into custody
  2. Slowing or halting a process
  3. Unusually large in size
  4. Striking and attention-grabbing (correct answer)
Explanation: A photograph that opens an exhibit and shows a dramatic event is one that grabs attention, so arresting means striking. The police meaning is the word's most familiar sense, but a photograph cannot take anyone into custody.

Question 2

"Recycling is a drop in the bucket; real gains come from making less waste to begin with." What is the central idea?

  1. Recycling programs should be shut down
  2. Recycling uses up too much water
  3. Recycling and cutting waste matter equally
  4. Cutting waste matters more than recycling it (correct answer)
Explanation: 'A drop in the bucket' means a tiny contribution, so the writer ranks making less waste above recycling. Saying recycling should be shut down goes too far: the writer calls its effect small, not harmful or useless.

Question 3

"The council's 'plan' for the bridge has now entered its ninth year of discussion." Why does the author put plan in quotation marks?

  1. To mark plan as a technical engineering term
  2. To signal doubt that a real plan exists (correct answer)
  3. To show a council member said the word aloud
  4. To stress how important the plan is
Explanation: Scare quotes paired with 'ninth year of discussion' show the author doubts any real plan exists. Thinking a council member is being quoted is tempting, but no speaker is named, and the mocking tone signals irony, not reporting.

Question 4

"The drought did not merely dry the fields; it bleached them to the color of bone." Why does the author use the word bleached?

  1. To stress how severe the damage was (correct answer)
  2. To suggest chemicals harmed the crops
  3. To hint that the fields would soon recover
  4. To describe the fields in neutral terms
Explanation: 'Not merely dry' sets up bleached as a stronger word, and 'color of bone' adds a sense of death, stressing severe damage. The chemical idea is tempting from bleach's literal meaning, but the drought itself is what bleached the fields.

Question 5

"Unlike solitary leopards, lions are gregarious, living and hunting in groups called prides." Gregarious most likely means

  1. Living mostly alone
  2. Living in social groups (correct answer)
  3. Aggressive toward rivals
  4. Active mainly at night
Explanation: The phrase after the comma, 'living and hunting in groups,' defines gregarious as social. Choosing 'living mostly alone' misses the contrast signal 'unlike,' which shows solitary describes leopards, the opposite of lions.

Question 6

In her 1962 book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson argued that the widespread use of chemical pesticides was reshaping ecosystems in ways scientists barely understood. Critics from the chemical industry dismissed her as alarmist, but Carson's careful documentation proved difficult to impeach. She had cited hundreds of peer-reviewed studies, and her conclusions were later endorsed by a presidential science advisory committee. Rather than retreating under pressure, Carson invited scrutiny of her sources, confident that the record would withstand it.

As used in the passage, the word impeach most nearly means

  1. remove from public office.
  2. publicly accuse of a crime.
  3. call into question. (correct answer)
  4. translate into simpler terms.
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions require you to ignore what a word typically means in isolation and focus on how it functions in the specific passage. A word like impeach has a common political meaning, but here you need to let the surrounding sentences guide you to the intended sense. Look at the clues around impeach. Critics "dismissed her as alarmist," yet her documentation was "difficult to impeach" because she had cited hundreds of peer-reviewed studies. The passage then says she "invited scrutiny of her sources, confident that the record would withstand it." The contrast being drawn is between attacking the credibility of her work versus that work holding up under examination. So impeach here means to challenge the validity or credibility of something — in other words, to call into question, which matches C. A is the trap answer for students who default to the political meaning — impeaching a president means initiating removal proceedings, but Carson wasn't an officeholder, and nothing in the passage concerns office. B ("publicly accuse of a crime") confuses impeach with indict; Carson's critics weren't alleging criminal behavior, only questioning her science. D ("translate into simpler terms") has no textual support at all — it's a distractor testing whether you'll pick something unrelated just because you're unsure. When tackling vocabulary-in-context questions, substitute each answer choice back into the sentence. Only "difficult to call into question" preserves the passage's logic about evidence withstanding scrutiny. Always let context override your first instinct about a word's most familiar meaning.

Question 7

Urban planners have begun to reconsider the sterile efficiency of mid-twentieth-century downtown design. Those older plans, drawn up when automobiles seemed to promise limitless mobility, prized wide roads, uniform building setbacks, and clearly separated zones for working, shopping, and living. The result, however, was often a landscape that functioned but did not invite: streets empty after five o'clock, plazas without benches, and neighborhoods devoid of the small, unplanned encounters that make city life feel alive. Newer designs deliberately reintroduce the messiness planners once tried to eliminate.

As used in the passage, sterile most nearly means

  1. free from harmful bacteria.
  2. incapable of producing offspring.
  3. lacking vitality or character. (correct answer)
  4. expensively maintained.
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions test whether you can set aside a word's most familiar dictionary meaning and choose the definition that fits the passage's tone and argument. The trick is that the "obvious" definition is usually a trap — the test wants the contextual meaning. Look at how the passage uses sterile. It describes mid-century downtowns as efficient but lifeless: "streets empty after five o'clock, plazas without benches, and neighborhoods devoid of the small, unplanned encounters that make city life feel alive." The contrast being drawn is between order and liveliness, not cleanliness or reproduction. So sterile here means devoid of energy and human character — which matches C, "lacking vitality or character." A ("free from harmful bacteria") is the most common medical meaning of sterile, but the passage isn't about hygiene — it's about urban atmosphere. This is the classic "first-definition trap." B ("incapable of producing offspring") is another literal biological meaning. Nothing in the passage concerns reproduction; this choice ignores context entirely. D ("expensively maintained") isn't a recognized meaning of sterile at all. It might loosely connect to the idea of polished downtowns, but it distorts the word and misses the passage's real complaint, which is about lifelessness, not cost. When a vocabulary question gives you a word with a strong literal meaning (like sterile, volatile, or novel), assume the test is probing a figurative or secondary sense. Reread the surrounding sentences and ask, "What quality is the author actually describing?" — then match that quality to the choices.

Question 8

When historians describe the rapid spread of print culture in sixteenth-century Europe, they sometimes speak as though Gutenberg's press precipitated the Reformation almost single-handedly. The reality is more complicated. Movable type had existed in East Asia for centuries without producing anything resembling Luther's revolt. What made the European case different was a convergence of forces—rising literacy in vernacular languages, growing dissatisfaction with church authority, and expanding networks of trade that could distribute pamphlets quickly. The press mattered enormously, but it was a catalyst working within specific conditions, not a cause acting alone.

As used in the passage, precipitated most nearly means

  1. brought about suddenly. (correct answer)
  2. predicted in advance.
  3. condensed from vapor.
  4. fell steeply downward.
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions ask you to determine which meaning of a word fits a specific passage — not which definition is most common in the dictionary. Many words have multiple valid meanings, and the test often uses distractors that are technically correct definitions but wrong for the context. Your job is to substitute each choice into the sentence and see which one preserves the author's meaning. Look at how precipitated functions here: the historians are described as treating Gutenberg's press as if it "almost single-handedly" caused the Reformation. The author then pushes back, saying the press was a "catalyst" — something that triggers or brings about a reaction. So precipitated must mean caused or triggered, which matches choice A, "brought about suddenly." The word "suddenly" also fits because the passage emphasizes the rapid spread of print culture. Choice B ("predicted in advance") confuses precipitated with something like anticipated. Historians aren't saying the press forecasted the Reformation; they're saying it caused it. Choice C ("condensed from vapor") is the literal meteorological meaning — precipitation as rain or snow. It's a real definition, but nothing in the passage involves weather or moisture. Choice D ("fell steeply downward") plays on the related word precipitous, meaning steep, but that's a different word form with a different meaning; the press didn't fall. When tackling vocabulary-in-context items, always plug each option back into the sentence. If the sentence stops making sense — as with C and D here — eliminate it, even if the definition sounds familiar.

Question 9

Neuroscientists studying memory have found that the act of recalling an event may actually alter the memory itself. Each time we retrieve a recollection, the brain briefly returns it to a fluid, modifiable state before storing it again. Details can be nudged, embellished, or quietly rewritten in light of what we now know or feel. This does not mean our memories are worthless—most retain their essential shape—but it does complicate the assumption that remembering is a simple act of playback, like pressing rewind on a recording. The tape, it turns out, gets edited every time we listen.

As used in the passage, alter most nearly means

  1. erase entirely.
  2. make small changes to. (correct answer)
  3. translate into words.
  4. strengthen and preserve.
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions ask you to figure out what a word means based on how it's used in this specific passage, not just its dictionary definition. The trick is to read around the word and let the surrounding sentences define it for you. Look at what the passage says happens when we recall a memory: details "can be nudged, embellished, or quietly rewritten." The author also notes that "most [memories] retain their essential shape" — meaning the changes are real but modest. So alter here refers to modifying or tweaking a memory, not overhauling it. That matches B, "make small changes to," perfectly. A ("erase entirely") is too extreme. The passage explicitly says memories aren't worthless and keep their essential shape, so nothing is being wiped out. C ("translate into words") introduces an idea the passage never discusses — there's no mention of putting memories into language. D ("strengthen and preserve") is actually the opposite of the passage's point. The whole argument is that remembering isn't a pristine playback; it subtly changes the memory rather than preserving it intact. When tackling vocabulary-in-context items, always substitute each answer choice back into the sentence and check it against the surrounding evidence. Words like alter have several possible shades of meaning, and the test rewards you for picking the shade the author is actually using — here, "gently edited," not "destroyed" or "reinforced."

Question 10

The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959, is often cited as a rare example of international cooperation that has genuinely endured. For more than six decades, its signatories have set aside competing territorial claims, banned military activity on the continent, and preserved Antarctica for scientific research. Attempts to establish comparable regimes elsewhere—over the Arctic seabed, over outer space, over the deep ocean floor—have generally proved more fragile, splintering under commercial or strategic pressure within a generation. What has kept the Antarctic arrangement intact is partly luck and partly the continent's remoteness from most economic interests, but the treaty itself has also proven unusually well designed.

As used in the passage, endured most nearly means

  1. suffered patiently.
  2. grown steadily stronger.
  3. resisted violent opposition.
  4. continued to exist over time. (correct answer)
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions ask you to determine which meaning of a word fits the specific passage, not which definition is most common in isolation. The word "endured" has several possible meanings, so your job is to test each option against the surrounding sentences. Look at how the passage frames the Antarctic Treaty: it has lasted "more than six decades," while comparable agreements have "splintered" within a generation. The contrast is between arrangements that fall apart quickly and one that has lasted. That tells you "endured" here refers to persistence over time, which matches D perfectly. A ("suffered patiently") reflects the most common everyday meaning of "endure"—as in enduring pain—but nothing in the passage suggests the treaty is suffering. This is the classic trap in vocabulary-in-context questions: the dictionary's first definition isn't always the right one. B ("grown steadily stronger") overstates what the passage claims; the treaty has held together, but the author never says it has strengthened. In fact, "partly luck" suggests fragility, not growth. C ("resisted violent opposition") introduces conflict that isn't in the text—there's mention of "commercial or strategic pressure" on other regimes, but no violent opposition to the Antarctic Treaty itself. When tackling vocabulary-in-context questions, cover the word and predict what would fit in the blank based on context clues before looking at the choices. Here, "lasted" or "persisted" would naturally fit—leading you directly to D and helping you avoid the tempting but wrong primary definition in A.

Question 11

Architects working in earthquake-prone regions have long known that rigidity can be a liability. A building that refuses to bend under seismic stress will eventually snap; one that sways within controlled limits will often survive. Modern designs therefore incorporate deliberate flexibility—base isolators that let a structure shift relative to the ground, dampers that absorb kinetic energy, frames engineered to flex without failing. The counterintuitive lesson is that safety in an unstable environment often depends less on strength than on the willingness to yield.

As used in the passage, incorporate most nearly means

  1. form into a legal corporation.
  2. build in as an essential feature. (correct answer)
  3. briefly consider as an option.
  4. combine with unrelated elements.
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions ask you to determine which meaning of a word fits the specific way it's used in the passage. Since many words have multiple valid definitions, your job is to identify which meaning the surrounding sentences actually support—not just which definition you've seen before. Look at how incorporate functions in the sentence: "Modern designs therefore incorporate deliberate flexibility—base isolators... dampers... frames engineered to flex." The passage then lists specific structural components that are built directly into the design. The dash introduces examples of features that are integral to how the buildings function during earthquakes. That matches B) "build in as an essential feature"—the flexibility isn't an afterthought; it's a core engineering choice. A) plays on the most common everyday meaning of incorporate (as in forming a business), but nothing in this passage concerns law or business entities. This is a classic trap: the most familiar definition isn't always the contextually correct one. C) misreads the sentence as if architects are merely weighing flexibility as a possibility. But the passage describes flexibility as already implemented through specific technologies, not as something under consideration. D) suggests combining unrelated elements, but the components listed (isolators, dampers, flexible frames) are all directly related to the design's seismic purpose. Nothing in the passage suggests randomness or mismatch. When tackling vocabulary-in-context questions, substitute each answer choice back into the sentence and ask which one preserves the author's meaning. The "dictionary-correct" answer often loses to the "context-correct" one—always let the passage, not your first instinct, decide.

Question 12

For decades, economists spoke of consumers as though they were rational actors—individuals who calmly weighed costs and benefits, gathered the information they needed, and chose whatever option maximized their well-being. Behavioral research has since dismantled that portrait. Real people, it turns out, are swayed by the order in which choices are presented, by how a question is framed, by what their neighbors are doing, and by countless other factors that classical theory dismissed as noise. The consumer of the textbooks was a useful fiction; the consumer of the shopping aisle is something considerably stranger.

As used in the passage, rational most nearly means

  1. expressible as a ratio of integers.
  2. emotionally detached and cold.
  3. willing to change their mind based on evidence.
  4. guided by careful, self-interested calculation. (correct answer)
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions ask you to determine which meaning of a word fits the specific way it's being used in the passage—not just its dictionary definition. Words like rational have multiple valid meanings, so your job is to find the one the author intends. Look at the surrounding clues. The passage defines rational actors as people who "calmly weighed costs and benefits, gathered the information they needed, and chose whatever option maximized their well-being." That's a description of deliberate, self-interested decision-making—exactly what choice D captures with "guided by careful, self-interested calculation." Choice A relies on the mathematical meaning of rational (as in rational numbers). While this is a real definition, nothing in the passage concerns fractions or integers, so it doesn't fit the context. Choice B is a tempting trap because rational is often loosely associated with being unemotional. But the passage never says these consumers lack feelings—it says they calculate carefully. "Cold" and "detached" go beyond what the text supports. Choice C describes open-mindedness or intellectual humility, which isn't what the economists' model emphasized; their fictional consumer wasn't defined by updating beliefs but by optimizing outcomes. When tackling vocabulary-in-context questions, always substitute each answer choice back into the sentence and ask which one preserves the author's meaning. Beware of choices that offer a real definition of the word but one that doesn't match how it's being used here—these are the most common traps on reading tests.

Question 13

Journalists who cover science face a persistent temptation: to inflate the significance of preliminary findings in order to attract readers. A study of forty mice in a single lab becomes, in the headline, a breakthrough that could transform human medicine. The researchers themselves usually know better and hedge their claims carefully in the published paper, but hedges make poor copy. By the time the story reaches the front page, tentative correlations have hardened into confident predictions, and readers are left with an impression the underlying evidence cannot support.

As used in the passage, inflate most nearly means

  1. fill with air or gas.
  2. raise the price of.
  3. exaggerate the importance of. (correct answer)
  4. criticize unfairly.
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions test whether you can set aside a word's most common dictionary meaning and choose the one that fits the passage's specific use. The trick is to substitute each answer choice back into the sentence and see which one preserves the author's argument. Here, the passage criticizes journalists for making preliminary science sound bigger than it really is: a small mouse study becomes a "breakthrough," tentative findings "harden into confident predictions." So inflate is being used figuratively to describe blowing up the perceived importance of modest results. That matches C, "exaggerate the importance of," perfectly — it captures the whole point of the paragraph. A is the literal, physical meaning of inflate (like a balloon or tire). It's the definition you'd give first if asked out of context, which is exactly why it's a trap — the passage isn't about air or gas. B refers to another common use of inflate, as in prices or currency rising. Nothing in the passage discusses cost, money, or economics, so this meaning doesn't fit. D, "criticize unfairly," has nothing to do with inflate at any level; if anything, journalists in the passage are doing the opposite of criticizing — they're overpraising. It's a distractor meant to tempt students who skim. When you see a vocabulary-in-context question, remember that the most familiar meaning of the word is often not the answer. Always plug each choice into the sentence and ask which one keeps the author's meaning intact.

Question 14

Long before the invention of refrigeration, coastal communities in Scandinavia developed elaborate techniques for preserving fish. Cod was split, salted, and hung from wooden racks along the shore, where cold, dry winds could slowly cure the flesh over weeks or months. The finished product, hard as a plank and nearly indestructible, could be stored for years and traded across half of Europe. Merchants prized it precisely because it defied the ordinary rules of spoilage that governed nearly every other food.

As used in the passage, cure most nearly means

  1. restore to good health.
  2. resolve an emotional problem.
  3. harden by chemical treatment.
  4. preserve through drying. (correct answer)
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions ask you to identify how a word functions in this specific passage, not what it means in general. Many words have several dictionary definitions, and the test almost always includes a common meaning as a trap. Your job is to substitute each option back into the sentence and see which one preserves the author's meaning. Here, the passage describes cod being "split, salted, and hung from wooden racks" so that "cold, dry winds could slowly cure the flesh over weeks or months." The surrounding details — salting, hanging in dry wind, producing something "hard as a plank" that resists spoilage — all point to a food-preservation process. That matches D, "preserve through drying," perfectly. A ("restore to good health") is the most familiar meaning of cure, but fish flesh isn't sick — this is the trap for students who grab the first definition that comes to mind. B ("resolve an emotional problem") is a figurative use ("that cured my sadness") that has no basis in a passage about food storage. C ("harden by chemical treatment") is tempting because the finished cod is described as hard, but hardness is a result of the process, not its purpose, and the passage emphasizes wind and air rather than chemicals. Salt here draws out moisture; it isn't a chemical reaction in the sense C implies. When tackling vocabulary-in-context questions, always plug each choice into the sentence and prioritize contextual clues over the word's most common meaning — the "obvious" definition is usually the decoy.

Question 15

The debate over minimum-wage increases often generates more heat than light. Economists on opposing sides marshal statistics that seem, at first glance, to point in opposite directions. A closer look, however, reveals that many of these disputes turn not on the underlying data but on the assumptions built into each model. When one analyst assumes that employers respond to higher labor costs primarily by cutting jobs, while another assumes they respond by raising prices or accepting narrower profit margins, the resulting predictions will diverge sharply—even if both are working from the same dataset. The disagreement is thus more methodological than empirical.

As used in the passage, methodological most nearly means

  1. concerning the procedures used to reach a conclusion. (correct answer)
  2. based on personal political preference.
  3. reliant on outdated economic theory.
  4. focused on gathering additional evidence.
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions ask you to determine a word's meaning based on how it functions in the passage, not based on its dictionary definition in isolation. The trick is to substitute each answer choice back into the sentence and see which one preserves the author's argument. Here, the passage sets up a contrast: economists using the same dataset reach different conclusions because they build different assumptions into their models. The final sentence contrasts "methodological" with "empirical." Since "empirical" refers to the data/evidence itself, "methodological" must refer to something else — specifically, the approach or procedures analysts use to interpret that data. That matches A perfectly: the disagreement concerns the procedures used to reach a conclusion. B is wrong because the passage never mentions politics or personal preferences; it focuses on analytical assumptions, which are technical, not ideological. C is wrong because nothing in the passage suggests the theories are outdated — the disagreement is between contemporary analysts using different models, not old versus new ones. D is the opposite of what the passage says: the author explicitly notes the dispute is not about gathering more evidence, since both sides work from the same dataset. A useful strategy: when a vocabulary question hinges on a contrast word (here, "methodological" vs. "empirical"), define the opposing term first. Once you know "empirical" means "based on data/observation," you can deduce that its counterpart must involve something other than data — namely, method or procedure. Contrast clues are among the most reliable tools for these questions.

Question 16

The rise of citizen science—research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists—has transformed several fields of study. In ornithology, for example, professional researchers once had to rely on their own limited fieldwork or on the sporadic reports of a handful of dedicated hobbyists. Today, thanks to smartphone applications that allow anyone to log a sighting, scientists receive a deluge of data from thousands of contributors every hour. This flood has forced institutions to develop sophisticated algorithms simply to sift through submissions and flag the ones most likely to be reliable.

As used in the passage, the word deluge most nearly means

  1. a modest but steady stream.
  2. an overwhelming quantity. (correct answer)
  3. a destructive natural disaster.
  4. a carefully filtered selection.
Explanation: Vocabulary-in-context questions ask you to figure out what a word means based on how it's used in this specific passage—not just its dictionary definition. The trick is to read around the word, look for signals about tone and scale, and then test each choice by plugging it back in. Here, the passage contrasts the old situation ("limited fieldwork" and "sporadic reports of a handful") with today's situation, where "thousands of contributors every hour" send data. The word deluge is then reinforced by "This flood," and the sentence tells you institutions need "sophisticated algorithms simply to sift through submissions." Every clue points to a huge, hard-to-manage amount of information—making B, "an overwhelming quantity," the best fit. A ("a modest but steady stream") is the opposite of what the passage describes; the whole point is that the data volume has exploded beyond what humans can handle. C ("a destructive natural disaster") leans on the literal meaning of deluge (a flood), but the passage isn't describing destruction—just an overwhelming amount. This is a classic trap: the most literal meaning isn't always the contextual meaning. D ("a carefully filtered selection") describes what the algorithms produce after sifting, not the raw incoming data that deluge refers to. When a vocabulary word has multiple possible meanings, always let the surrounding sentences—especially restatements like "This flood"—guide you to the meaning the author intends. Watch out for answer choices that grab a literal or secondary meaning of the word but ignore the passage's context.

Question 17

The novelist Zadie Smith once observed that good style is transparent: it lets the reader see the world of the story without noticing the glass in between. Writers who work hard at ornament—unusual metaphors, elaborate rhythms, sentences that call attention to their own construction—can produce dazzling effects, but they also risk drawing the reader's eye away from what the sentence is actually about. The greatest prose stylists, Smith argues, are often those we scarcely notice as stylists at all, precisely because their sentences do their work so quietly.

As used in the passage, transparent most nearly means

  1. unobtrusive and easily looked through. (correct answer)
  2. honest and openly free from deception.
  3. showy and obviously artificial in effect.
  4. simple and widely accessible to readers.
Explanation: Smith builds a metaphor: prose style is like a pane of glass. Good style "lets the reader see the world of the story without noticing the glass in between," and the best stylists are those "we scarcely notice as stylists at all" because their sentences work "quietly." So here transparent describes writing you look through rather than at — writing that goes unnoticed. That matches "unobtrusive and easily looked through." "Honest and openly free from deception" is the word's most common everyday meaning (think "transparent motives"), but the passage is about noticing style, not about truthfulness. "Showy and obviously artificial in effect" is the opposite of what Smith praises; she criticizes writing that "calls attention to its own construction." "Simple and widely accessible to readers" confuses transparency with easy readability or popularity, but Smith is discussing whether readers notice the style, not how large the audience is. When a word is used figuratively, let the surrounding imagery — here, the glass — define it rather than the dictionary.