Move Over Spelling Bee, Vocab Is in Town

Were you a word whiz when you were a kid? Well, you missed your chance by several years. The Game Show Network is behind a new competition that tests the mettle of high school students in vocabulary. They're calling it the National Vocabulary Championship and the finals are today at the New York Public Library. Among the 50 finalists in today's competition is Micah Jordan, the New York Citywide Champion. Jordan, who is 16, hails from The Bronx, and attends Pablo Neruda Academy for Architecture and World Studies, beat out 95 other students in the city championships. A quick look at the finalists shows that there are 3 other New Yorkers in the competition as well. The grand prize for the winner includes $40,000 towards college tuition.

While the finals won't air until April 15th on the Game Show Network, you can participate at home...with some sample questions (.pdf file). Questions are supposed to be similar to vocabulary quesitons on the SAT. Some examples:

Choose the word least like the other: Wizened, Sanctioned, Gnarled
Pick the word that best answers the question. Which word is an antonym for "disrespectful"? Reverent, Superfluous, Dubious, Blashpemous