Vocab Unit 8 - Choosing the right word

After the big snowstorm, the trees seemed to be ____ in white lace.

attired

The two candidates are working hard to get the voters' support, but in my opinion there is no _____ difference between them.

perceptible

Our hopes for a winning touchdown _____ in the last minute when Jim fumbled and South High recovered the ball.

plummeted

In a democracy, we expect people to have _____ views and to express them openly.

divergent

During the prolonged dry spell, the farmers' ____ prayers for rain were seldom answered.

fervent

The _____ and leafless trees seemed to add to the gloom of that wintry scene.

gaunt

When we were kids, our lives pretty much ______, but after high school, we went our separate ways.

abutted

All the heroism of our men could not _____ against the enemy's superior forces.

avail

If we had a good civil service system in this town, the mayor wouldn't be able to put his _____ on the public payroll.

cronies

It didn't take me long to master the _____ greetings, signs, and handclasps that were part of the club's rituals.

cryptic

Let me state my unchanging _____ for those who seek to bring about political change by violent means.

enmity

The senator shocked the nation with charges that Communists had _____ the various branches of our government.

infiltrated

It is a sad fact of experience that postwar political blunders can often _____ or even reverse the results of battlefield triumphs.

nullify

In the unforgettable words of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson ____ to the world that a new nation had been born.

proclaimed

Large numbers of stockholders sent in ______ giving their voting power to the directors of the corporation.

proxies

I pretended that being ignored by the "best people in town" meant nothing to me, but actually those snubs ____ deeply.

rankled

Every day, the homeless go through all the litter baskets on our street, trying to make a living as ________.

scavengers

Before going to college, my brother did a ____ as an apprentice radio operator on an oceangoing tanker.

stint

President Kennedy bore his pain in such a _____ manner that few people realized how much he suffered from his World War II back injury.

stoical

We honor this wonderful woman tonight for her ______ devotion to every good cause in our community.

unflagging