Vocabulary Workshop Level F Unit 6

vicarious

Although most of us lead a quiet, humdrum sort of life, we can all get a(n) ? thrill from the achievements of Olympic athletes .

insurgents

Although the ? were defeated by the government's forces, a small group escaped into the mountains, where it kept the spirit of rebellion alive.

sinecure

Anyone who refers to my job as a(n) ? should spend just one day in my place!

Synonym for disparagement

Aspersion

disabuse

At the very outset of the term, I urged you to ? yourself of the idea that you can pass this course without hard, regular work.

Antonym for gracious

Brusque

Synonym for curt

Brusque

anomalous

Can you imagine anything as ? as a successful drama coach who has never acted on the stage?

Synonym for rebuke

Castigate

Synonym for devise

Contrive

Antonym for peace-promoting leader

Demagogue

Synonym for agitator

Demagogue

Synonym for set straight line

Disabuse

Synonym for limit

Fetter

Synonym for abominable

Heinous

megalomania

His conceit is so great and so immune to the lessons of experience that this must be considered a kind of ?.

ennui

His endless talk about himself and his interests produces ? in others.

contrive

I find it hard to understand how they were able to ? such an elaborately underhanded scheme in so short a time.

aspersions

I welcome honest criticism, but I deeply resented their on my sincerity and good faith.

transgressed

In his determination to be blunt and honest, he has ? the limits of good taste.

Antonym or compliant

Insurgent

Synonym for radical

Insurgent

heinous

Is there any other crime in history as ? as the attempt of the Nazis to annihilate so-called inferior racial groups?

Antonym for humility

Megalomania

Synonym for self-regard

Megalomania

cajoled

Resorting to rather farfetched promises, I finally ? Tina into going to the prom with me.

brusque

Rude questions call for ? answers, and mine is "No!"

castigated

Since he had always been quiet and retiring, we were amazed when he stood up at the meeting and ? the chairperson for failing to give everyone a chance to speak.

surreptitious

The ? way in which they planned the undertaking shows that they were aware of its illegal character.

fetters

The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln once and for all broke the ? that bound African Americans to a life of servitude.

transmute

The alchemists of the Middle Ages, who were both mystics and primitive chemists, hoped to ? base metals into gold.

immutable

The one fact about nature that seems completely ? is that everything is subject to change.

demagogue

The speaker's blatant appeal to the emotions of the crowd smacked more of the ? than of a true leader of the people

Antonym for genuine

Vicarious

bizarre

Wearing ? masks at Halloween is a tradition that goes back many centuries.

His conduct after his mother's death was so (anomalous, brusque) that I must conclude he was not in full possession of his faculties.

anomalous

By casting (sinecures, aspersions) on the ability and character of others, you reveal the misgivings you have about yourself.

aspersions

Have you ever heard of anything as (bizarre, brusque) as an experimental technique to test the intelligence of cows?

bizarre

Many of Mark Twain's contemporaries found his essays amusing, but others cringed at his (immutable, brusque) commentary.

brusque

What hurt my feelings was not so much his refusal to give me a job as the (brusque, vicarious) way in which he told me that he had nothing for me.

brusque

He's so tight with his money that it's just about impossible to (cajole, transmute) a nickel out of him, no matter how worthy the cause.

cajole

I spent all morning trying to (cajole, fetter) our frightened cat our from under the house.

cajole

In Gullliver's Travels and other writings, Jonathan Swift (cajoled, castigated) the human race for its follies and wickedness.

castigated

I cannot understand how she was able to (disabuse, contrive) a meeting between two people who had refused to have anything to do with each other.

contrive

A favorite ploy of the (anomalous, demagogue) is to appoint a convenient scapegoat upon whom a misguided populace can vent its anger.

demagogue

My uncle Rick seems unable to (cajole, disabuse) himself of the idea that he is still capable of the feats he performed in his youth.

disabuse

With the innumerable activities open to a young person like you, I can't understand why you would suffer from (ennui, megalomania).

ennui

Government bureaucracy was hobbling many programs with (fetters, aspersions) of red tape.

fetters

For ancient Romans, fleeing from the battlefield was the most (heinous, immutable) act of cowardice a soldier could commit.

heinous

The institutions of our society, far from being (immutable, anomalous), are in the process of change at this very moment.

immutable

A(n) (insurgent, heinous) group at the convention refused to accept the choices of the regular party leaders.

insurgent

Her opinion of her own importance is so grotesquely exaggerated that we have to come to regard her as a (megalomaniac, demagogue).

megalomaniac

Although her new position bore a high-sounding title, it was really little more than a(n) (insurgent, sinecure).

sinecure

While Joan was sleeping soundly in her tent, oblivious to nocturnal creatures, a snake made its (brusque, surreptitious) way across the campsite.

surreptitious

If, as they now claim, they were not aware of the illegal character of their undertaking, why did they plan it so (cajolingly, and surreptitiously).

surreptitiously

The coach put his faith in his team, hoping they would not (contrive, transgress) the bounds of their training and violate protocol.

transgress

He may have kept within the letter of the law, but there is no doubt that he has (cajoled, transgressed) the accepted moral code.

transgressed

The task of education, said the speaker, is to (transgress, transmute) the primitive selfishness of the child into socially useful modes of behavior.

transmute

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie books were so vivid that, as a child, I felt I was (vicariously, surreptitiously) experiencing the realities of pioneer life.

vicariously

Living (vicariously, immutably) through her children, my neighbor pushes her sons and daughters into every extracurricular activity imaginable.

vicariously