Vocab Level H Unit 8 Completing the Sentence

How is one to explain that strange _____ from the habits and standards that he had followed for so many years?

Aberration

As there was no agency concerned with race relations, the Mayor created a(n) _____ committee to deal with such matters.

Ad Hoc

The pitcher's lightning fastball has proved the _____ of many a celebrated home-run hitter.

Bane

Those sentimentalized effusions introduced a note of _____ into what should have been an occasion marked by dignity and restraint.

Bathos

He had been happy-go-lucky as a young man, but years of disappointment and misfortune have turned him sour and ______.

Cantankerous

The history of the world teaches us that we should never let ourselves be blinded by the meretricious _____ of a demagogue, no matter how appealing it may appear at first glance.

Casuistry

I find myself in the position of ______ supervisor; now I would like to have the title, salary, and privileges that go along with the job.

De facto

It took years for that country to recover from the ____ wrought by the Second World War and its concomitant social and economic dislocations.

Depredations

Her visits to the nursing home are motivated not by a detached sense of duty but by a genuine _____ for those who are lonely.

Empathy

Is it too optimistic to hope that your willingness to undertake that thankless task is the ______ of a new maturity and a more responsible attitude?

Harbinger

Though he had embraced a creed of unabashed ____ in his youth, he ended his life among a group of ascetics living in the desert.

Hedonism

It was hard to believe that the eager, vibrant youth I had known was now this shabby derelict, staring into space with ____ eyes.

Lackluster

Yes, I believe in helping out relatives, but I haven't spent a lifetime building this business to make it a monument to ____.

Nepotism

Yes, you have scored a quick commercial success, but you have done it only by _____ to low and depraved tastes.

Pandering

I think you are showing poor judgment in condemning them so severely for what is after all, little more than a(n) _____.

Peccadillo

Would it be ungracious of me to suggest that the ____ of the feast, given on the menu as "filet mignon," had the taste and texture of old shoe leather?

Piece de resistance

Because they have followed a policy of bringing in executives and supervisors from the outside, instead of promoting from within their own ranks, the office is filled with grumbling _____.

Malcontents

Like everyone else, I was charmed by the _____ tones of the speaker, but later I could extract very little real meaning from what she had said.

Mellifluous

Those cases that call for further attention will be ______ to the proper agencies.

Remanded

A high temperature, yellowish complexion, and general feeling of fatigue are all characteristic of the mononucleosis ______.

Syndrome