Verbal

Darwin's influence on modern scientific inquiry is largely (i)_______ ; yet while Darwin's ideas inform fields as disparate as genetics and social psychology, one cannot help but think that each group, in (ii)_______ Darwin's ideas, has imparted a slant that might have surprised Darwin.

uncontested; appropriating

While the dense brush can make for tough going, the state park features a wilderness that is virtually _________; some will gladly trade their comfort for a chance to behold fauna few others ever have.

untouched; pristine

While the aviators had hoped for no ____________ meteorological events, the weather became increasingly ____________ , with wind tossing their plane as they crossed the Pacific.

untoward (unfavorable); inclement

Attempting to quell the unrest, the mayor, addressing the gathering mob, highlighted the very grievances that had initially inflamed people's temper, thereby ________ provoking the collective wrath.

unwittingly (ignorant); inadvertently (unexpected)

While conceding that some of the scientific literature has been (i) ________ poorly controlled studies, the faulty use of statistics and even downright fraud, Ellison is (ii) ________ in maintaining that such instances are rare—even a few flawed studies can give us a distorted picture of the phenomenon under study.

vitiated by (impair the quality of); missing the larger point

With characteristic ____________, H.L. Mencken skewered the sacred cows of his time, criticizing social trends and government institutions with equal asperity.

vitriol - abusive or venomous language used to express blame or bitter deep-seated ill will

Because the defendant expressed very little ____________ for his heinous crime, the judge meted out a(n) ____________ sentence.

contrition (the feeling of remorse or guilt that comes from doing something bad); severe (strict)

The travel writer's ______________ towards others he met on his cross-country trip most likely endeared him only to those readers with a misanthropic bent.

cynicism (skeptical)

The idea that the human mind is a blank slate, able to be molded at will, has been challenged by Tennenbaum, whose research shows that not only do infants display certain predilections but also that these preferences may well be ______ .

innate (existing from birth); hard-wired (not learned)

Not merely curious, the new manager was often _______, and would only cease to needlessly interfere in employees work if one of her superiors was present.

intrusive; prying

Favoring quantity over substance, many amateur writers labor under the delusion that the more ____________ the sentence structure the more ____________ the thought being conveyed.

involved (complicated); profound

The kind of journalism that insists on clinging to time-honored forms of reportage is (i) ________ insofar as it fails to exploit social media. At the same time, were a traditional news service, by whole-heartedly embracing the Internet, to disregard the very tools that allowed for its ascendancy in the first place, it would likely (ii) ________.

languishing; suffer a similar fate

Countless generations have been divided on Mendelssohn's ____________—should he inhabit the same pantheon as Bach and Haydn, or be ____________ to the ranks of could-have-beens? After all, it can be argued that his ____________ came at the age of 14 with his Octet in E-flat, a work, many believe, the composer never eclipsed in his remaining twenty-six years.

legacy; relegated; apogee

The chairman of the board, sensing that any effort was futile, became _____ the company's plight, and only shrugged his shoulders when the shareholders notified him that the corporation was insolvent.

apathetic to (no emotion); indifferent to

Popular history attributes the globe model of the Earth to discoveries made on Christopher Columbus' first transatlantic voyage, but this account is (i) ______________, inaccurately characterizing the impact this voyage had. In fact, astronomical texts from the period show that the globe model was already widely (ii) ______________, including by Columbus' crew themselves.

apocryphal (being of questionable authenticity); apprehended

The computer modeling of weather has, since its inception, been fraught with difficulties, yet the fact that it has only had to improve on what, to some, amounts to nothing more than voodoo science made its ______________ all but assured.

ascendancy (the state that exists when one person or group has power over another); primacy (the state of being first in importance)

There was something ineffably ______ about Cleopatra's personality that drew many to her - extant coins, bearing the Egyptian queen's visage, however, have led many to believe that this attribute did not extend to her physiognomy.

attractive; winsome

Fenton's motives were clearly ____________ , yet Fenton tried, in the most ingratiating way, to ____________ his innocence.

base; maintain

Though the CEO was not in accordance with the board's decision to reward employees with a larger than expected annual bonus, she was hardly one to ______________ workers their compensation.

begrudge; deny

In (i) ________ what they see as a culture so dominated by technology as to be rendered incapable of sustained introspection, the authors cast generalizations so wide that all but the hardiest Luddites will remain (ii) ________.

bemoaning (discontent or sorrow); unconvinced

For all his ____________, Honore de Balzac betrayed a remarkable ____________ to the plight of 19th century women, populating his novels with characters sympathetic to women's rights.

boorishness (rude/insensitive); sensitivity

Parson Weems, George Washington's preeminent biographer during the president's life, is responsible for spreading many of the ____________ we today accept as the unvarnished truth.

canards (a false or misleading report or story)

To pundits the author's latest work was ____________ ; with so few people purchasing the book, this critical reception proved to be ____________.

captivating; ironic

To the senior manager, unsolicited opinions, even if the views expressed did not necessarily (i) ______________ his own views, were (ii)______________ ; thus, employees had learned to be (iii)______________ lest they no longer found themselves in his good graces.

clash with; nettlesome (cause irritation); reticent (disinclined to talk)

Mulcahy, in averring that most literary criticism has become so filled with abstruse jargon as to be practically indecipherable to anyone save its practitioners, is himself (i) ___________: his main point will be discernible only to the very community he seeks to (ii) ___________.

complicit; impugn (attack as false or wrong)

Despite striking parallels in class stratification between ant and human societies, the progressive forms of government sprouting up over the last few centuries indicate that our lots are far less ________.

constrained

Ironically, for someone whose novels were populated with characters typically marked by a(n) (i)____________, the author himself made tabloid news with exploits that suggested not even a (ii) ____________.

consummate urbanity; modicum (small amount) of civility

Since memories of recent events tend to be far more accessible, during a prolonged economic upswing investors often ________ plausible scenarios forecasting a recession.

discount

After a bout of the flu, Sue was unable to _____ between certain foods, with many flavors taking on a bland note.

discriminate; differentiate

Gearing up for the 2008 Olympics, the city of Beijing worked with impressive ____________: the National Stadium, colloquially referred to as the Bird's Nest, a work of such grandiosity that most municipalities would have labored five years to complete, was finished in less than half that time.

dispatch (prompt and efficient)

What is the greatest novel of all-time? Many top-100 lists have been proffered, purporting to resolve this very issue. Yet the ____________ those compiling these rankings suggests that any definitive list is not ____________.

divergence of opinion of; forthcoming

The travelogue is a thorny genre, even for seasoned writers, for one must ______________ a curious balance between inspired navel-gazing and reportage with a cosmopolitan slant.

effect

Eschewing the acerbic tone used in his previous reviews of Kingley's works, Clarke was far more ______________ in his latest article, balancing the curmudgeonly with the avuncular.

equitable; evenhanded

Cave paintings recently found hundreds of feet below the surface in southern France suggest that prehistoric man viewed animals as central to both his rituals and existence. Whether this focus results from the idolization or subjugation remains ____________ — for every painting of a beast riddled with spears, there exists another in which man is depicted in a far more ____________ role, arms outspread as though in obeisance.

equivocal (confusing); deferential (showing respect)

Some note that the increase in the Native American powwow—an intertribal affair of song, dance, and storytelling, all intrinsic aspects of Native American culture—serves to (i) ______________ the very culture it presumably aims to (ii) ______________. They argue an overarching cultural narrative emerges, one that (iii)______________ the narrative of any one tribe.

erode; foster; subsumes (include/absorb)

Based on a spate of hospitable planets--or Goldilocks planets, as scientists affectionately dub them--recently found orbiting the stars of three distinct solar systems, astronomers have been able to ____________ the number of earth-like planets in the universe, a figure much higher than previously estimated.

extrapolate (draw from specific cases for more general cases)

Rather than relying on camouflage, some organisms sport the same pattern of brightly colored markings as their poisonous counterparts to ______________ toxicity in hopes of warding off potential predators.

feign (faking, not real); bluff (synonym of feign)

There is nothing more ____________ for first time writers than to see that their cherished ideas are actually far less ____________ than they had imagined. Often a publisher, or even a friend, will point out that another writer already captured the same plot twist, or created an almost identical fictional world. This feeling stings even greater when the publication of the neophyte writer's work ____________ that of the more popular author; apparently the public often erroneously believes that the lesser known writer's work is derivative.

galling (annoying/humiliating); novel (interestingly new or different); precedes

True, to the classically trained ear, Haydn's early works can often seem ____________, a mishmash of motifs from which anything fresh has been wrung dry by subsequent composers—to the ears of Haydn's contemporaries, however, Haydn's music was ____________.

hackneyed (overused); refreshingly novel (new or different)

Montreaux, initially ________ as the forerunner to the evolving 20th century cinematic idiom, experienced a decline that was as precipitous as his rise was meteoric.

hailed (celebrate something); lauded (praise)

Some minor governmental bungling in the environmental sector can ____________ what many watchdog organizations are declaiming as gross negligence: indeed entire swathes of once fertile land now gone barren ____________ flaws in state policy.

hardly account for; cannot solely be attributed to

In conservative scientific circles, embracing an unorthodox theory, especially one that is backed up by little empirical evidence, is tantamount to ____________; indeed, any scientist who does so may be ____________ .

heresy; ostracized

Long regarded as one of the most dangerous summits, Mt. Rainier presents numerous challenges— ____________ weather can form from seemingly innocuous clouds, making the slopes so ____________ that even the most ____________ hiker can be caught unawares.

inclement; precarious (fraught with danger); well-prepared

According to Lackmuller's latest screed, published under the title, Why We Can't Win at Their Game, special interest groups not nominally tied to ecological concerns have become so (i) ___________ the process of environmental policymaking that those groups who actually aim to ensure that corporate profit does not trump environmental health have been effectively (ii) __________. Lackmuller's contention, however, is (iii) __________ in that it fails to account for the signal achievements environmental groups have effected over the last 20 years—often to the chagrin of big business.

influential in; squelched (overcome); highly misleading

Lambert, in his latest thesis, is guilty of (i) ____________ Nietzsche's conception of eternal recurrence, a scholarly transgression that results mainly from his propensity to (ii) ____________ multiple sources. That his interpretation seems (iii) ____________ may indeed obscure the fact that he liberally combined ideas drawn from numerous works, many of them contemporary, a fact that, in part, accounts for the dubious validity of his overall project.

misconstruing; conflate (mix); cohesive

The term "robber barons", which refers to those powerful business moguls at the turn of the 19th Century, is hardly a(n) ____________, despite some of these robber barons' outward gestures of philanthropy. Infamous for their insatiable ____________, the robber barons were finally held in check by the ascendancy of a more powerful centralized government.

misnomer (misname); cupidity (greedy for money)

Refusing to ____________ his vituperative words, the ambassador only further ____________ members of the multinational committee.

moderate (mitigate); incensed (angered)

By the beginning of the 20th Century, piano pedagogy had advanced fingering technique to such a degree that even students with a ____________ were able, with targeted practice, to execute thorny passages, while exuding the ____________ of a polished salon pianist.

modicum of dexterity; aplomb (coolness and composure under strain)

When confronted with the company's endemic corruption, the employees were ______________, in part because the leadership required strict ethical standards.

nonplussed (unsure how to act or respond); bewildered

For a writer with a reputation for both prolixity and inscrutability, Thompson, in this slim collection of short stories, may finally be intent on making his ideas more ________________ to a readership looking for quick edification.

palatable - acceptable to the taste or mind

Behavioral anthropologists question the (i) ______________ of loyalty among human ancestors. While the fossil record indicates that one million years ago various homo species lived in cooperative communities where pro-social behaviors would likely be (ii) ______________, numerous fossil discoveries suggest that other homo species continued to live as isolated individuals.

pervasiveness; rewarded

Thumbing his nose with equal derision at Mozart as he did at Monet, Thomas was an avowed ____________, treating all arts with contempt.

philistine (ignorant towards artistic values)

A knack for ______, it can be argued, allows one access to a whole range of careers, many of which require one to forsake direct, honest speech.

prevarication (violation); equivocation

As we age, our political leanings tend to become less ________; the once dyed-in-wool conservative can betray liberal leanings, and the staunch progressive may suddenly embrace conservative policies.

pronounced; conspicuous

Imperiled by excessive logging activity, the Canadian snow goose is unusually sensitive to any encroachments into its territory, displaying a(n) ______________ rare amongst waterfowl.

pugnacity; truculence

As soon as his slightest whim was not met, the actor became _____, snapping even at those not involved in the filming of the scene.

querulous (habitually complaining); petulant (easily irritated or annoyed)

The stage of the daytime talk show has become our Roman coliseum: the audience ________ the "guest", who is meant to atone, over a cacophony of jeers, for some unseemly behavior.

reviles (insult someone with abusive language)

For the political demographer, bureaucratic records taken for mundane administrative purposes by local governments are treasure troves, providing ______________ data sets.

riveting (compelling)

(i) ________ internal strife within the current regime, the media firm partial to the splinter group eyeing a coup was perhaps a little too (ii)________ in publishing an editorial critical of the government, which quickly put its house in order, squelched the opposition group, and summarily declared the piece (iii)________.

sensing; hasty (hurry); an act of treason

Many claim that the 19th Century institution of snake's oil—the peddling of items that seldom live up to their vaunted claims—is anything but moribund; one need only look so far as the Internet to see that the tradition is ____________.

thriving

News blogs have become popular, as many offer ____________ commentary not found in most traditional media, which tend to eschew publishing writing that may be deemed offensive by some.

trenchant (forcefulness in thought/expression)

The ____________ common in the earlier days of the regime gave way to a ____________ time, during which few recalled the former pandemonium with anything more than a hint of nostalgia.

tumult (chaos); halcyon (calm)

As the former colony made its long-anticipated transition to republican self-rule, the overall mood was one of profound (i) ______________: many commentators held that, far from promoting an egalitarian society, the change would only further (ii) ______________ the local aristocracy that had first raised the issue of independence.

wariness; entrench

What is currently (i) ______________ civil engineers is not so much a predicted increase in annual precipitation as the likelihood that many storms will come in (ii) ______________, thereby making flooding in lower lying riparian regions (iii) ______________.

worrying; tighter succession; far more likely