Wordsmart Sentence Completion
futile
A D+ average and no extracurricular interests to speak of meant that applying to Harvard was ____, but Lucinda hoped against hope.
Compelling
A _____ argument for buying a security system is one that makes you go out and buy a security system.
Distended
A _____ belly is one symptom of malnutrition.
fraternity
A _____ is an organization of men who have bound themselves together in a relationship analogous to that of real brothers.
Hedonist / Hedonism
A _____ practices _________ twenty-four hours a day.
Hypothetical / Hypotheses
A _________ explanation is a hypothesis, the plural of which is ______.
Circumscribed
A barbed-wire fence and armed guards _____ the movement of the prisoners.
Auspicious
A clear sky in the morning is a(n) _____ sign on the day of a picnic.
Harbinger
A cloud of bad breath and body odor, which preceded him by several yards everywhere he went, was Harold's _________.
Comprises
A company _____ employees.
flouts
A driver _____ the traffic laws by driving through red lights and knocking down pedestrians.
Comprise
A football team _____ eleven players on offense and eleven players on defense.
Anomaly
A house without a roof is an _______--a cold, wet _______.
Debacle
A political debate would become a(n) _____ if the candidates began screaming and throwing dinner rolls at each other.
Disinterested
A referee should be _____. He or she should not be rooting for one of the competing teams.
Aberration
A snowstorm in June is a(n) _____; snow doesn't normally fall in June.
Anomaly
A snowy winter day is not an _______, but a snowy July day is.
Debilitated/ Debilities
A surgeon who becomes _____ is one who has lost the ability to operate on the _____ of other people.
Cosmopolitan
A truly _____ traveler never feels like a foreigner anywhere on Earth.
Autocratic
A two-year-old can be very _____—he wants when he wants it.
Acumen
A woman who knows how to turn one dollar into a million overnight might be said to have a lot of business _____.
Compendium
A yearbook often contains a _____ of the offenses, achievements, and future plans of the members of the senior class.
Arbiter
A(n) _____ of fashion determines what other people will wear by wearing it herself.
faction
At the Republican National Convention, the candidate's _____ spent much of its time shouting at the other candidate's ________.
Avowed
At the age of twenty-five, Louis finally _____ that he couldn't stand his mother's apple pie.
euphemism
Aunt Angie, who couldn't bring herself to say the word death, said that Uncle George had taken the big bus uptown. "Taking the big bus uptown" was her _____ for dying.
fervor
Avid baseball fans frequently display their ___ for the game by throwing food at bad players.
Atheist
Hadley had always imagined a big religious wedding, but Emma, a life-long _____, preferred a Vegas elopement.
Ascendancy
Handheld gadgets have been in _____ for the past few years.
frugality
Hannah's ____ annoyed her husband, who loved spending money on tech gadgets.
Gesticulated
Harry _____ wildly on the other side of the theater in an attempt to get our attention.
Appreciate
Harry bought Joe's collection of old chewing-tobacco tins as an investment. His hope was that the tins would _____ over the next few years, enabling him to turn a profit by selling them to someone else.
Cajoled
I didn't want to give the speech, but Enrique _____ me into doing it by telling me what a good speaker I am. As it turned out, he simply hadn't been able to find anyone else.
Alleges
If I say, "Cedrick _____ that I stole his hat," I am saying two things.
Conjecture
If forced to _____, I would say the volcano will erupt in twenty-four hours.
Dextrous
Ilya was determined not to sell the restaurant on eBay; even the most _____ negotiator could not sway him.
Dissipated
Ilya's anger _____ as the day wore on, and he gradually forgot what had upset him.
Criterion
In choosing among the linemen, the most important _____ was quickness.
Desultory
In his _____ address, Rizal skipped from one topic to another and never came to the point.
Heyday
In his _________, Vernon was a world-class athlete; today he's just Vernon.
Ascetic
In his effort to save money, Roy led a(n) _____ existence: He never went out, he never ate anything but soup, and he never had any fun.
fettered
In his pursuit of an Olympic gold medal, the runner was ____ by multiple injuries.
enfranchised
In the United States, citizens become ____on their eighteenth birthdays.
Coup
In the attempted _____ in the Philippines, some army officers tried to take over the government.
Anachronism
In this day of impersonal hospitals, a doctor who remembers your name seems like a(n) _____.
Deleterious
Is watching a lot of TV really _____? Of course not.
egocentric
It never occurred to the ______musician that his audiences might like to hear someone else's songs every once in a while.
extricate
It took two and a half days to _____ the little girl from the abandoned well into which she had fallen.
Indiscreet
It was _____ of Laura to tell Salima how much she hated Bailey's new hairstyle, because Salima always tells Bailey everything.
Eccentric
The ______ inventor spent all his waking hours fiddling with what he said was a time machine, but it was actually just an old telephone booth.
Cosmopolitan
Marcello's interests were _____—he liked Greek wine, German beer, Dutch cheese, Japanese cars, and French fries.
Assimilated/ Assimilation
Margaret didn't have any friends when she first went to the new school, but she was gradually _____—she became part of the new community. When she was chosen for the cheerleading squad, her _____ was complete.
extrovert
Maria was quite an _____; she walked boldly into the roomful of strange adults and struck up many friendly conversations.
comprehensive
Maria's knowledge of English is _____; she even understands what comprehensive means.
Abortive
Marie and Elizabeth made a(n) _____ effort to bake a birthday cake; that is, their effort did not result in birthday cake.
Chasm
Mark was so stupid that his girlfriend wondered whether there wasn't a _____ where his brain should be.
Dogmatic
Marty is _____ on the subject of the creation of the world; he sneers at anyone whose views are not identical to his.
Copious
Matt had a _____supply of nails in his workshop. Everywhere you stepped, it seemed, there was a pile of nails.
Belied
Melvin's smile _____ the grief he was feeling; despite his happy expression he was terribly sad inside.
Heyday
The _________ of the British Navy ended a long, long time ago.
erudite
The _____biologist was viewed by many of his colleagues as a likely winner of the Nobel Prize.
elusive/eluded
The _____criminal was next to impossible for the police to catch. (The criminal ____ the police.)
Reconcile
The accountant managed to _____ the company books with the cash on hand only with great creativity.
Culpable
The accountant's failure to spot the errors made him _____ in the tax-fraud case.
Gesticulated
The after-dinner speaker _____ in such a strange way that the audience paid more attention to his hands than to his words.
exasperating
The algebra class's refusal to answer any questions was extremely _____ to the substitute teacher.
Approbation
The ambassador's actions met with the _____ of his commander in chief.
Gravity
The anchorman's nervous giggling was entirely inappropriate, given the _________ of the situation.
Circumvented
The angry school board _____ the students' effort to install televisions in every classroom.
Disseminated
News is _____ through many media: internet, radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and gossips.
Appropriated
Nick _____ my lunch; he grabbed it out of my hands and ate it. So I _____ Ed's.
empirical
Nicky's idea about the moon being made of pizza dough was not ______.
explicitly
No one ____ asked us to set the barn on fire, but we got the impression that that was what we were supposed to do.
Autocratic
No one at our office liked the _____ manager. He always insisted on having his own way, and he never let anyone make a decision without consulting him.
Definitive
No one could find anything to object to in Cindy's _____ explanation of how the meteorite had gotten into the bathtub.
Beleaguered
No one could leave the _____ city; the attacking army had closed off all the exits.
Credence
No one could prove Frank's theory, but his standing at the university helped it gain _____.
Gravity
No one realized the _________ of Myron's drug addiction until it was much too late to help him.
Dissolution
Nothing could prevent the _____ of the Jesse Ventura Fan Club after he retired to seek a political career.
Heterogeneous
On Halloween the children amassed a _______ collection of candy, chewing gum, popcorn, and cookies.
Capitulated
On the twentieth day of the strike, the workers _____ and went back to work without a new contract.
Beleaguered
Oscar felt _____ at work. He was months behind in his assignments, and he had little hope of catching up.
Amiable
Our _____ guide made us feel right at home in what would otherwise have been a cold and forbidding museum.
Contingent
Our agreement to buy their house is ______ upon the sellers' finding another house to move into. That is, they won't sell their house to us unless they can find another house to buy.
Aesthetic
Our art professor had a highly developed _____ sense; he found things to admire in paintings that, to us, looked like garbage.
fecund
Our compost heap became increasingly ____ as it decomposed.
Compelled
Our consciences _____ us to turn over the money we had found to the authorities.
Consonant
Our desires were _____ with theirs; we all wanted the same thing.
Civilly
Our dinner guests conducted themselves _____ when we told them we weren't going to serve them dinner after all. They didn't bang their cups on the table or throw their plates on the floor.
exonerated
Our dog was _____ when we discovered that it was in fact the cat that had eaten all the doughnuts.
Circumvented
Our hopes for an early end of the meeting were _____ by the chairperson's refusal to deal with the items on the agenda.
Disparate
Our interests were _____: Cathy liked to play with dolls, and I liked to throw her dolls out the window.
facetious
Our proposal about shipping our town's garbage to the moon was ______, but the first selectman took it seriously.
Creditable
Our record in raising money was very _____; we raised several thousand dollars every year.
expedited
Our wait for a table was _____ by a waiter who mistook Angela for a movie star.
Degenerated
Over the years, the nice old neighborhood had _____ into a terrible slum.
facile
Paolo's poems were ______ rather than truly accomplished; if you read them closely, you soon realized they were filled with clichés.
foibles
Patti's ____ included a tendency to prefer dogs to people.
fatuous/ infatuated
Pauline is so pretty that her suitors are often driven to _____ acts of devotion. They are _____ with her.
egalitarian
People often lose interest in _____ measures when such measures interfere with their own interests.
Copiously
Phil ate _____ at the banquet and went home feeling quite sick.
emigrated
Pierre _____from France because he had grown tired of speaking French. Pierre became an émigré (EM uh gray).
Archetype
Plato is the _____ of all philosophers.
Chicanery
Political news would be dull were it not for the _____ of our elected officials.
Agrarian
Politics in this country often pit the rural, _____ interests against the urban interests.
Aristocratic
Polo, which Prince Charles enjoys, is often said to be a(n) _____ sport because it is typically played by privileged people.
Recapitulate
So few students paid attention to Mr. Hernandez that he had to _____ his major points at the end of class.
Aptitude
Some rare students have a marked _____ for taking SAT. They earn high scores without any prep.
Complacent
The _____ camper paid no attention to the poison ivy around his campsite, and ended up going to the hospital.
Arduous
The _____ car trip was made even more difficult by the fact that all four tires went flat, one after another.
Apprehensive
The _____ child clung to his father's leg as the two of them walked into the main circus tent to watch the lion tamer.
Amorous
The _____ couple made quite a scene at the movie. The movie they were watching, Love Story, was pretty _____ itself. It was about a(n) _____ couple, one of whom died.
Caustic
The _____ detergent ate right through Henry's laundry.
Beleaguered
The _____ executive seldom emerged from his office as he struggled to deal with the growing scandal.
Arcane
The _____ formula for the cocktail was scrawled on a faded scrap of paper.
Circumspect
The _____ general did everything he could not t put his soldiers at unnecessary risk.
Credulous
The _____ housewife believed that she had won a million dollars through an email scam.
Disparate
The _____ interest groups were united only by their intense dislike of the candidate.
exacting
The _____ math teacher subtracted points if you didn't show every step of your work.
Deluded
The _____ mental patient believed that he was a chicken sandwich.
eclectic
The _____ menu included dishes from many different countries.
ethereal
The _____ mist on the hillside was delicate and beautiful.
ethereal
The _____ music we heard turned out to be not angels plucking on their harps but the wind blowing through the slats of the metal awning.
Confluence
The _____ of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers is at St. Louis; that's the place where they join together.
Ascendancy
The _____ of the new regime had been a great boon for the economy of the tiny tropical kingdom.
Cursor
The _____ on Dave's computer made a cursory sweep across the data as he scrolled down the page.
Duplicitous
The _____ salesman sold the red sports car to someone else even though he had promised to sell it to us.
Bucolic
The _____ scene didn't do much for the city child, who preferred screaming fire engines and honking horns to the sound of babbling brook.
Diffident
The _____ student never made a single comment in class.
Docile
The _____ students quietly memorized all the lessons their teacher told them.
Choleric
The _____ watchdog would sink his teeth into anyone who came within biting distance of his doghouse.
Burgeoning
The _____ weeds in our yard soon overwhelmed the grass.
Blithe
The ______ birds in the garden were making so much noise that Jamila began to think about the shotgun in the attic.
fraternal
The ______ feelings of the group were strengthened by monthly fishing trips.
elliptical
The announcement from the State Department was purposely _____—the government didn't really want reporters to know what was going on.
elusive/eluded
The answer to the problem was ____; every time the mathematician thought he was close, he discovered another error. (Or, one could say that the answer to the problem _____the mathematician.)
empirical
The apple-dropping experiment gave the scientists ____evidence that gravity exists.
Conventional
The architect's _____ designs didn't win him awards for originality.
Augment
The army _____ it's attack by sending in a few thousand more soldiers.
Definitive
The army completely wiped out the invaders; its victory was _____.
Contrived
The artist was widely admired for his originality, but his paintings seemed _____ to me.
Connoisseur
The artist's work was popular, but _____ rejected it as amateurish.
Concurred
The assistant wanted to keep his job, so he always _____ with his boss.
Brevity
The audience was deeply grateful for the _____ of the after-dinner speaker's remarks.
esoteric
The author's books were so _____that even his mother didn't buy any of them.
Docile
The baby raccoons appeared _____ at first, but they were almost impossible to control.
Chasm
The bad guys were gaining, so the hero grabbed the heroine and swung across the _____ on a slender vine.
fomented
The bad news from abroad _____ pessimism among professional investors.
Beset
The bereaved widow was _____ by grief.
Charisma
The glamorous presidential candidate had a lot of _____; voters didn't seem to support him so much as be entranced by him.
Clemency
The governor committed an act of _____ when he released all the convicts from the state penitentiary.
Arbitrary
The grades Mr. Simone gave is English students appeared to _____; they didn't seem related the work the students had done in class.
Desecration
The graffiti on the front door of the school is a _____.
Clique
The high school newspaper staff was a real _____; they all hung out together and wouldn't talk to anyone else. It was hard to have fun at that school if you weren't a member of the right clique. The cheerleaders were cliquish as well.
Antecedent
The horse-drawn wagon is a(n) _____ of the modern automobile.
Desiccated
The hot wind _____ the few grapes remaining on the vine; after a day or two, they looked like raisins.
fetters
The housewife's young children were the ____ that prevented her from pursuing a second Master's degree.
Awry
The hunter's bullet went _____. Interest of hitting the bear, it hit his truck.
Discernment
The ill-mannered people at Tisha's party proved that she had little _____ when it came to choosing friends.
Bereaved
The new widow was still _____ when we saw her. Every time anyone mentioned her dead husband's name, she burst into tears.
Genre
The novel is one literary _____. Poetry is another.
Disparate
The novel was difficult to read because the plot consisted of dozens of _____ threads that never came together.
Commensurate
The number of touchdowns scored by the team and the number of its victories were _____ (both zero).
expatriated
The rebels were ____ by the nervous general, who feared that they would cause trouble if they were allowed to remain in the country.
Compelling
The recruiter's speech was so _____ that nearly everyone in the auditorium enlisted in the Army when it was over.
Chronicled
The reporter _____ all the events of the revolution.
Undaunted
The rescue crew was _____ by the flames and ran into the burning house to look for survivors. The entire crew was dauntless in its effort to save the people inside.
Avarice
The rich man's _____ was annoying to everyone who wanted to lay hands on some of his money.
Arcane
The rites of the secret cult were _____; no one outside the cult knew what they were.
Animosity
The rivals for the state championship felt great _______ toward each other. Whenever they ran into each other, they snarled.
Bastion
The robbers terrorized the village for several weeks, and then escaped to their _____ high in the treacherous mountains.
Adulation
The rock star grew to abhor the _____ of his fans.
Eccentric
The rocket followed an ______course; first it veered in one direction, then it veered in another, then it crashed.
Distinguish
The rodent expert's eyesight was so acute that he was able to _____ between a shrew and a vole at more than a thousand paces.
Autocratic
The ruthless dictator's _____ reign ended when the rebels blew up his palace with plastic explosive.
extraneous
The salad contained several _____ ingredients, including hair, sand, and a single dead fly.
Circuitous
The salesman's route was _____—it wound aimlessly through many small towns.
Gratuitous
The scathing review of the movie contained several _________ remarks about the sex life of the director.
Grandiose
The scientist's _________ plan was to build a huge shopping center on the surface of the moon.
Concise
The scientist's explanation was _____; it was brief and it helped us understand the difficult concept.
farcical
The serious play quickly turned _____ when the leading man's belt broke and his pants fell to his ankles.
euphemistically
The sex-education instructor wasn't very effective. She was so embarrassed by the subject that she could only bring herself to speak ______ about it.
explicit
The sexually ____ movie received an X rating.
foundered
The ship ____ shortly after it hit the iceberg.
Daunting
The size of the players on the visiting team was_____; the players on the home team began to perspire nervously.
Amorphous
The sleepy little town was engulfed by an_____ blob of glowing protoplasm—a higher intelligence from outer space.
Degenerate
The slum neighborhood was _____.
Dissipated
The smoke _____ as soon as we opened the windows.
Dormant
The snow fell silently over the _____ village, which became snarled in traffic jams the following morning.
fidelity
The soldiers couldn't shoot straight, but their ___ to the cause of freedom was never in question.
Coalition
The southern _____ in Congress is the group of representatives from Southern states who often vote the same way.
Daunted
The steepness of the mountain _____ the team of amateur climbers, because they hadn't realized what they were in for.
Coup
The student council's great _____ was persuading Foo Fighters to play at our prom.
exacting
The surgeon's _____ task was to reconnect the patient's severed eyelid.
fabrication
The suspected murderer's alibi turned out to be an elaborate ______; in other words, he was lying when he said that he hadn't killed the victim.
Caustic
The teacher's _____ criticism of Sally's term paper left her in tears.
edify
The teacher's goal was to____ her students, not to force a handful of facts down their throats.
Despondency
The team fell into _____ after losing the state championship game by a single point.
elusive/eluded
The team played hard, but victory was _____and they suffered another defeat. (Victory ____ the hard-playing team.)
Abridged
The thoughtful editor _____ the massive book by removing the boring parts.
Benign
The threat of revolution turned out to be _____; nothing much came of it.
Assuaged
The thunderstorm made the baby cry, but I _____ her fears by singing her lullaby.
Distended
The tire ____ alarmingly as the forgetful gas station attendant kept pumping more and more air into it.
Catalyst
The tragic hijacking provided the _____ for Congress's new anti-terrorist legislation.
ephemeral
The tread on those used tires will probably turn out to be ______.
Appeased
The trembling farmer handed over all his grain, but still the emperor was not _____.
Archaic
The tribe's traditions are _____. They have been in force for thousands of years.
Discrete
The twins were identical but their personalities were _____.
Bemused
The two stood _____ in the middle of the parking lot at Disneyland, trying to remember where they had parked their car.
effaced
The vandals ____the delicate carving by rubbing it with sandpaper.
Curtailed
The vet _____ his effort to cut the cat's tail with the lawn mower. That is, he stopped trying.
Anecdote
The vice president set the crowd at ease with an _______ about his childhood desire to become a vice president.
eminent
The visiting poet was so _____ that our English teacher asked the poet for his autograph. Our English teacher thought the poet was preeminent in his field.
Concord
The war between the neighboring tribes ended thirty years of _____.
Covenant
The warring tribes made a(n) _____ not to fight each other anymore.
Capricious
The weather is often said to _____. One minute it's snowing; the next minute it's 120 degrees in the shade.
exacerbated
The widow's grief was ____ by the minister's momentary inability to remember her dead husband's name.
Conjured
The wizard _____ an evil spirit by mumbling some magic words and throwing little powdered eye of newt into the fire.
enigmas
The wizard spoke in riddles and ____, and no one could understand what he was saying.
exulted
The women's team ____ in its victory over the men's team at the badminton finals. They were exultant.
Beguile
The word _________ also means to deceive, but in a charming and not always bad way.
Assiduous
The workmen were _____ in their effort to get nothing done; instead of working, they drank coffee all day long.
endemic
The writer Tom Wolfe coined the term "Me Decade" to describe the egocentricity ______in the 1970s.
Histrionic
The young actor's _________s made everyone in the audience squirm.
Ardor
The young lovers were oblivious to everything except their _____ for each other.
Desecration
Their act of vandalism was a _____.
Gratuitous
Their attack against us was _________; we had never done anything to offend them.
Grandiose
Their house was genuinely impressive, although there were a few _________ touches: a fireplace the size of a garage, a kitchen with four ovens, and a computerized media center in every room.
Hierarchy
There appeared to be no _________ in the newly discovered tribe; there were no leaders and, for that matter; no followers.
Adulterated
We discovered that the town's drinking water had radioactive waste in it; we discovered, in other words, that it had been _____.
edifying
We found the pastor's sermon on the importance of not eating beans to be most _____.
Glut
We had a _____ of contributions but a dearth, or scarcity, of volunteers; it seemed that people would rather give their money than their time.
forego
We had some of the chocolate cake, some of the chocolate mousse, and some of the chocolate cream pie, but we were worried about our weight so we decided to ____ the chocolate-covered potato chips. That is, we forewent them.
Adverse
We had to play out soccer match under _____ conditions: It was snowing, and only three members of our team had bothered to show up.
Ambiguous
We listened to the weather report, but the forecast was _____; we couldn't tell whether the day was going to be rainy or sunny.
empirically
We proved the pie's deliciousness ______, by eating it.
fauna
We saw little evidence of ___ on our walk through the woods. We did, however, see plenty of flora, or plants.
Covenant
We signed a(n) _____ never to drive Masha's father's car without permission again.
efface
We tried to ____ the dirty words that had been written on the front of our house, but nothing would remove them.
forsake
We urged Buddy to _______ his life with the alien beings and return to his job at the drugstore.
frugal
We were as ____ as we could be, but we still ended up several thousand dollars in debt.
Dubiety
We were dubious about the team's chance of success and, as it turned out, our _____ was justified: The team lost.
Cadence
We wished the tone of Irwin's words would have a more pleasing _____, but he spoke in a dull monotone.
Belittled
We worked hard to put out the fire, but he fire chief _____ our efforts by saying he wished he had brought some marshmallows.
edification
We would have felt lost at the art show had not the excellent and informative programs been provided for our _______.
Assiduous
Wendell was the only _____ student in the entire math class; all the other students tried to copy their homework from him.
Banality
What made Yu fall asleep was the _____ of the dinner conversation.
Agenda
What's on the _____ for the board meeting? A little gossip, then lunch.
Hyperbole
When Joe said "I'm so hungry I could eat a hores," he was using _________ to convey the extent of his hunger.
Egocentric
______ Lou never read the newspaper unless there was something in it about him.
Histrionic
_________ behavior is referred to as ________s.
Husbandry
_________ is the practice of conserving money or resources. To ________ is to economize.
Homogenized / Homogenized / homogeneous
_________ milk is milk in which the cream, which usually floats on top, has been permanently mixed with the rest of the milk. Skim milk is milks from which the layer of cream has been skimmed off. When milk is _________, it becomes a _________ substance - that is, it's the same thought, or uniform.
Confluence
A(n) _____ of many factors (no ice, bad food, terrible music) made it inevitable that the party would be a flop.
Consummate
A(n) _____ pianist is an extremely good one. Nothing is lacking in the way he or she plays.
Desultory
Aadi made a few _____ attempts to start a garden, but nothing came of them.
Dilettantes
Antonella dismissed the members of the ladies' sculpture club as nothing more than a bunch of _____.
Coveted
Any position at MTV is a highly _____ job.
Capricious
Arjun was _____. One minute he said favorite car was a Volkswagen; the next minute he said it was a Toyota.
Circumspect
As a public speaker, Nick was extremely _____; he always took great care not to say the wrong thing or give offense.
encroached
As the city grew, it _____on the countryside surrounding it.
Alleviates
Aspirin _____ headache pain. When your headache comes back, take some more aspirin.
Hackneyed
"As cold as ice" is a _________ expression.
axiom
"Everything that is living dies" is an _____
dictum
"No pain, no gain" is a hackneyed ____of sadistic coaches everywhere
Abdicated
Abby _____ her responsibilities as a vice president by dumping in the garbage the reports she was supposed to present to the board of directors and flying to the Bahamas.
Congregation
About half the _____ attended the sunrise service.
Histrionic
Adele's _________ request for raise embarrassed everyone in the office. She gesticulated wildly, jumped up and down, pulled out handfuls of hair, threw herself to the ground, and groaned in agony.
Eclectic
Adolfo's taste in art was _____. He liked the Old Masters, the Impressionists, and Walt Disney.
Delineated
After Jack had _____ his plan, we had no doubt about what he intended to do.
Digression
After a lengthy _____, the lecturer returned to his speech and brought it to a conclusion.
Desiccated
After a week without water, the _____ plant fell over and died.
Conciliatory
After dinner at the all-you-can-eat pancake house, the divorced couple began to feel _____, so they flew to Las Vegas and were remarried.
Artful
After dinner, the _____ counselor told the campers that there was a madman loose in the woods, thus causing them to lie quietly in the tent.
Coherent
After puzzling over Grace's disorganized Holy Roman Empire essay for almost an hour, Ms. Fabricius needed only twenty minutes to read Arjun's _____ paper on the Defenestration of Prague.
Despondent
After the death of his wife, the man was _____ for many months.
Cognizant
Al was _____ of the dangers of sword swallowing, but he tried it anyway and hurt himself quite badly.
Belligerent
Al was so _____ that the party had the feel of a boxing match.
Aloof
Al, on the roof, felt very _____.
Genre
Alan displayed a great talent for a particular _____: the bawdy limerick.
espoused
Alex _____ so many causes that he sometimes had trouble remembering which side he was on.
Hapless
Alex led a _________ existence that made all his friends' lives seem fortunate by comparison.
Dissipated
Alex won the weekly lottery but _____ the entire winnings in one abandoned, fun-filled weekend.
forsaken
All the guru's followers had _____ him, so he became a real estate developer and turned his temple into an apartment building.
Culinary
Allison pursued her _____ interests by attending the _____ institute. Her first meal, which was burned beyond recognition, was a _____ disaster.
Anecdote
Alvare told an _______ about the time Jessica got her big toe stuck in a bowling ball.
Accosted
Amanda karate-chopped the stranger who _____ her in the street and was embarrassed to find he was an old, blind man.
Hegemony
America once held an unchallenged nuclear _________.
enfranchised
American women were not ______until the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, which gave them the right to vote.
Atheist/ Agnosticism
An _____ himself, Jon concluded from Jorge's spiritual skepticism that they shared similar beliefs. In fact, Jorge's reluctance to affirm or discredit a god's existence reflects his ______.
exigency
An academic ____: You haven't opened a book all term and the final is tomorrow morning.
Blight
An early frost proved a _____ to the citrus crops last year, so we had no orange juice for breakfast.
egocentric
An egoist is an ______person. He believes the entire universe exists for his benefit.
Gregarious
Anna wasn't very _________; she went to the party, but she spent most of her time hiding in the closet.
effusive
Anna's _____ thanks for our silly little present made us feel somewhat embarrassed, so we decided to move to a different lunch table.
Abated /Unabated
Bad weather _____ when good weather begins to return. A rainstorm that does not let up continues _____.
Acerbic
Barry sat silently as his friends read the teacher's _____ comments on his paper.
Malefactors
Batman and Robin made life hell for _____ in Gotham City.
Affectation
Becky's English accent is a(n) _____. She spent only a week in England
exhaustively
Before you use a parachute, you should examine it _____ for defects. Once you jump, your decision is irrevocable.
enigma
Ben is an ____; he never does any homework but he always gets good grades.
enigmatic
Ben's good grades were ________ . So was the wizard's speech.
Aphorism/ Aphoristic
Benjamin Franklin was fond of _____. He was frequently _____.
Audacious
Bert made the _____ decision to climb Mt. Everest in bowling shoes.
Disdain
Bertram viewed the hot dog with _____, believing that to eat such a disgusting food was beneath him.
Assuaged
Beth was extremely angry, but I _____ her by promising to leave the house and never return.
Abstinent
Beulah used to be a chain-smoker; now she's _____ (it was just too hard to get those chains lit).
Ardent
Blanche happily made cakes from morning to night. She was a(n) _____ baker.
Corollary
Bloodshed and death are _____ of any declaration of war.
Apocryphal
Brandi's blog discredited the _____ report of Martians in Congress
Alloy
Brass is a(n) _____ of copper and zinc. That is, you make brass by combining copper and zinc.
Abstract
Bruno doesn't like _____ art; he thinks that a painting should resemble something real, not a lot of splattered paint.
Charlatan
Buck was selling what he claimed was a cure for cancer, but he was just a _____.
extrapolating
By _______ from a handful of pottery fragments, the archaeologists formed a possible picture of the ancient civilization.
Ambience
By decorating their house with plastic beach balls and Popsicle sticks, the Cramers created a playful _____ that delighted young children.
furtive
Cal wiggled his ears while the countess was talking to him in a _____ attempt to catch our attention.
Ebullient
Cammie was _____when her fairy godmother said she could use one of her three wishes to wish for three more wishes.
Adamant
Candice was _____: She would never go out with Paul again.
Diffidence
Carla's _____ led many participants to believe she hadn't been present at the meeting, even though she had.
fatalist
Carmine was such a _____ that he never wore a seat belt; he said that if he were meant to die in a car accident, there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
Decadent
Carousing in local bars instead of going to class is _____.
Benign
Charlie was worried that he had cancer, but the lump on his leg turned out to be _____.
Aphorism
Chef Hussain is particularly fond of Woolf's _____, "One cannot think well, love well, or sleep well, if one has not dined well."
esoteric
Chicken wrestling and underwater yodeling were just two of Earl's ____hobbies.
Affinity
Children have a(n) _____ for trouble; that is, they often find themselves in it.
Aggregate
Chili is a(n) _____ of meat and beans.
Beguiling
Clarence found Mary's beauty so _________ that he did anything she asked of him.
exalted
Cleaning out a septic tank is not an ____ task.
Arduous
Climbing the mountain was _____. We were so exhausted when we got to the top that we forgot to enjoy the view.
enervated
Clinging to a flagpole for a month without food or water _____me, and one day I fell asleep and ended up on the ground.
flaunted
Colleen ____ her engagement ring, shoving it in the face of almost anyone who came near her.
Conciliatory
Com on—be _____.
Austere
Conditions in Austria were very _____ after the war.
Culminated
Connie's years of practice _____ in a great victory at the international juggling championship.
Chimera
Could you take a picture of a _____ with a camera? No, of course not. It wouldn't show up on the film.
Bovine
Cows are _____, obviously. Eating grass is _____ concern.
Categorical
Crooked politicians often make _____ denials of various charges against them. Then they go to jail.
Abstinent
Cynthia, who was dieting, tried to be _____, but when she saw the chocolate cake she realized that she would probably have to eat the entire thing.
Chronic
DJ's _____ back pains often kept him from football practice, but the post-game internal bleeding lasting only a day.
Catholic
Da Vinci was a(n) _____ genius who excelled at everything he did.
Countenanced
Dad _____ our backyard rock fights even though he didn't really approve of them.
Deduced/ Deduction
Daffy _____ from the shape of its bill that the duck was really a chicken. That the duck was really a chicken was Daffy's _____.
extrovert
Damian was an ____ in the sense that he was always more interested in other people's business than in his own.
Deference
Danny stopped texting at the dinner table in _____ to the wishes of his mother.
Coerce
Darth Vader tried flattery, Darth Vader tried gifts, Darth Vader even tried to _____, but Darth Vader was never able to make Han Solo reveal the hidden rebel base.
Duplicity
Dave, in his _____, told us he wasn't going to rob the bank and then went right out and robbed it.
Alacrity
David could hardly wait for his parents to leave; he carried their luggage out to the car with great _____.
Blatantly
David was _____ critical of our effort; that is, he was noisy and obnoxious in making his criticisms.
facetious
David was sent to the principal's office for making a _____ remark about the intelligence of the French teacher.
Deference
Dean showed _____ to his grandfather: He let the old man have first dibs on the birthday cake.
figuratively
Desmond could literally eat money if he chewed up and swallowed a dollar bill. Desmond's car eats money only _____, in the sense that it is very expensive to operate.
exalted
Diamante felt _____ when he woke up to discover that his great-uncle had left him $100 million.
exacerbated
Dipping Austin in lye _____ his skin condition.
Gregarious
Dirk was too _________ to enjoy the fifty years he spent in solitary confinement.
Desecrates
Doodling in a book _____ the book, even if the book isn't a Bible.
Chagrin
Doug was filled with _____ when he lost the race because he had put his shoes on the wrong feet.
equivocal
Dr. Festen's _____diagnosis made us think that he had no idea what Mrs. Johnson had.
Affinity
Ducks have a(n) _____ for water; that is, they like to be in it.
epitome
Eating corn dogs and drinking root beer is the ___of the good life, as far as Wilson is concerned.
Countenance
Ed's harsh words belied his _____ which was kind and encouraging.
Amorphous
Ed's teacher said that his term paper was _____; it was as shapeless and disorganized as a cloud.
Audacity
Edgar's soaring leap off the top of the building was an act of great _____.
Affected
Edward _____ to be more of an artist than he really was. Everyone hated him for it.
Cryptic
Elaine's remarks were _____; Jerry was baffled by what she said.
Affectation
Elizabeth had somehow acquired the absurd _____ of pretending that she didn't know how to turn on a television set.
Abhorred
Emanuel _____ having to wake up before dawn.
extrapolating
Emeril came up with a probable recipe by _____ from the taste of the cookies he had eaten at the store.
egregious
Erik's manners were ______; he ate his mashed potatoes with his fingers and slurped the peas right off his plate.
Antithesis
Erin is the _____ of Aaron: Erin is bright and beautiful; Aaron is dull and plain.
Addressed/ Addressing
Ernie _____ the problem of _____ the convention by sitting down and writing his speech.
Acumen
Ernie's lack of _____ led him to invest all his money in a company that had already gone out of business.
Husbanded
Everyone _____ oil and electricity during the energy crisis of the 1970s.
extraneous
Extra ice cream would never be _____, unless everyone had already eaten so much that no one wanted any more.
Complement
Fish-flavored ice cream was a perfect _____ to the seafood dinner.
Belabored
For more than an hour, the boring speaker _____ his point about the challenge of foreign competition.
Connoisseur
Frank was a _____ of bad movies. He had seen them all and knew which ones were genuinely dreadful and which ones were merely poorly made.
exemplified
Fred participated in every class discussion and typed all of his papers. His teacher thought Fred _____ the model student; Fred's classmates thought he was sycophantic.
Abortive
Fred's attempt to climb the mountain was _____; he injured himself when he was halfway up.
Eccentric
Fred's political views are _____: He believes that we should have kings instead of presidents and that the government should raise money by holding bake sales.
Deduce
From the footprints on the ground, Clarice _____ that the criminal had feet.
Garrulous
Gabriella is gregarious and ________; she loves to hang out with the gang and gab.
Heresy / Heretic
Galileo was tried for the _________ of suggesting that the sun did not revolve around earth. He was almost convicted of being a ______, but he recanted his heretical view.
Apotheosis
Geoffrey is unbearable to be with. He thinks he's the _____ of masculinity.
forbore
George _______ to punch me in the nose, even though I told him that I thought he was a sniveling idiot.
Acrimonious
George and Elizabeth's discussion turned _____ when Elizabeth introduced the subject of George's perennial, incorrigible stupidity.
Abated
George spilled a cup of hot coffee on his leg. It hurt quite a bit. Then, gradually, the agony _____.
Hierarchy
George was very low in the state department _________. In fact his phone number was not been listed in the state department directory.
eclectic
George's _____ reading made him well rounded.
extrapolated
George's estimates were _____ from last year's data; he simply took all the old numbers and doubled them.
Derided
Gerald _____ Diana's driving ability after their hair-raising trip down the twisting mountain road.
Abstract
He liked oysters in the _____, but when he actually tried one he became nauseated.
Corroborated
Henny Penny's contention that the sky was falling could not be _____. This is, no one was able to find any fallen sky.
Broach
Henrietta was proud of her new dress, so no one knew how to _____ the subject with her of how silly grandmothers look in leather.
Concurrent
High prices, falling demand, and poor weather were there _____ trends that made life especially difficult for corn farmers last month.
Corollary
Higher prices were a(n) _____ of the two companies' agreement not to compete.
Distinguishing
His face had no _____ characteristics; there was nothing about his features that stuck in your memory.
Countenance
His father's confident _____ gave Lou the courage to preserve.
enormity
Hitler's soldiers stormed through the village, committing one _____ after another."
expatriated/expatriate
Hugo was fed up with his native country, so he ____ to America. In doing so, Hugo became an _____.
Categorically
I _____ refuse to do anything whatsoever at any time, in any place, with anyone.
Antipathetic
I feel _____ toward bananas wrapped in ham. I do not want them for dinner. I also feel a certain amount of antipathy toward the cook who keeps trying to force me to eat them. My feelings on these matters are quite _____.
emulating
I got ahead by _____those who had succeeded before me.
Corroborated
I knew my statement was correct when my colleague _____ it.
Connoisseur
I like sculpture, but I'm no _____; I probably can't describe to you why one statue is better than the other.
Distinguish
I studied and studied but I was never able to _____ between discrete and discreet.
Amenable
I suggested that Brad pay for my lunch as well as for his own; to my surprise, he was _____.
Aptitude
I tried to repair my car, but as I sat on the floor of my garage, surrounded by mysterious parts, I realized that I had no _____ for automobile repair.
Dubious
I was fairly certain that I would be able to fly if I could merely flap my arms hard enough, but Mary was _____; she said I'd better flap my legs as well.
Condescended
I was surprised that the president of the company had _____ to talk with me, a mere temporary employee.
Audacity
Ivan had the _____ to tell that nice old lady to shut up.
Absolved
Jake _____ Ciara of her obligation to go to the prom with him; he told her it was all right if she went with the captain of the football team instead.
Appeased
Jaleel _____ his angry mother by promising to make his bed every morning without fail until the end of time.
Hegemony
Japan and Germany vie for _________ in the foreign-car market.
fastidious
Jeb was so _____ in his work habits that he needed neither a wastebasket nor an eraser.
Chimera
Jie's dream of becoming a movie star was just a _____.
Apathetic
Jill didn't care on bit about current events; she was entirely _____.
Deferential
Joe was being _____ when he allowed Steve to go first.
Deferred
Joe was supposed to go first, but he _____ to Steve, who had been waiting longer.
Hapless
Joe's _________ search for fun led him from one disappointment to another.
equivocal
Joe's response was _____; we couldn't tell whether he meant yes or no, which is precisely what Joe wanted.
self-effacing
John is ______: When he won an Olympic gold medal, all he said was, "Aw, shucks. I'm just a regular fella."
equanimity
John's mother looked at the broken glass on the floor with ______; at least he didn't hurt himself when he knocked over the vase.
Guile
Jose used _________, not intelligence, to win the spelling bee; he cheated.
Castigated
Jose's mother-in-law _____ him for forgetting to pick her up at the airport.
Credulity
Judy was so credulous that she simply nodded happily when Kirven told her he could teach her how to fly. Judy's _____ was limitless.
Adroit
Julio was a(n) _____ salesperson: His highly skilled pitch, backed up by extensive product knowledge, nearly always resulted in a sale.
Benign
Karla has a ____ personality; she is not all unpleasant to be with.
Caprice
Kendra attempted a quadruple somersault off the ten-meter diving board as a _____. It was painful _____.
Caricature
Khoa sat for a _____ at the end of the marathon, but wasn't pleased with the result: The portrait exaggerated his already dominant face.
equitable
King Solomon's decision was certainly____ ; each mother would receive half the child.
Ardent
Larry's _____ wooing finally got on Cynthia's nerves, and she told him to get lost.
Credible/ Credulous
Larry's implausible story of heroism was not _____. Still, _____ old Louis believed it.
frugal
Laura was so ____ that she even tried to bargain with the checkout girl at the discount store.
Duplicity
Liars engage in _____ all the time; they say one thing and do another.
enervate
Life itself seemed to ____the old man. He grew weaker and paler with every breath he drew.
emulating
Little Joey imitated his athletic older brother in the hope of one day his ______ success.
Contentious
Liz figured that her _____ style would make her a perfect litigator; after law school, however, the would-be trial attorney discovered that passing the bar requires more than a will to argue.
Acrid
Long after the fire had been put out, we could feel the _____ sting of smoke in our nostrils.
Delude
Lori is so persuasive that she was able to _____ Leslie into thinking she was a countess.
Exculpate
Lou's confession didn't _____ Bob, because one of the things that Lou confessed was that Bob had helped him do it.
Distinguished
Lou's uneventful career as a dogcatcher was not _____ by adventure or excitement.
felicity/ infelicity
Love was not all ____ for Judy and Steve; they argued all the time. In fact their relationship was characterized by _____.
futility
Lucinda doesn't know what a _____ it is.
epitome
Luke's freshman year was the____ of a college experience; he made friends, joined a fraternity, and ate too much pizza.
Didactic
Luther's seemingly amusing talk had a(n) _____ purpose; he was trying to show his listeners the difference between right and wrong.
Affinity
Magnets and iron have a(n) _____ for each other; that is, each is attracted to the other.
Disinterested
Meredith claimed that the accident had been Louie's fault, but several _____ witnesses said that Meredith had actually bashed into his car after jumping the median and driving in the wrong lane for several miles.
Abashed
Meredith felt _____ by her inability to remember her lines in the school chorus of "Old McDonald Had a Farm."
evanescent
Meteors are ____: They last so briefly that it is hard to tell whether one has actually appeared.
Docility
Mia's _____ fooled the professor into believing that she was incapable of thinking for herself.
Hackneyed
Michael's book was full of clichés and _________ phrases.
Contrite
Mira was _____ about her mistake, so we forgave her.
extricate
Monica had no trouble driving her car into the ditch, but she needed a tow truck to ____ it.
Astute
Morris was a(n) _____ judge of character; he was very good at seeing what people were really like despite what they pretended to be.
Chastised
Mother _____ us for firing our bottle rockets too close to the house.
erudition
Mr. Fernicola's vast library was an indication of his ____.
Attrition
Mr. Gregory did not have the heart to fire his workers even though his company was losing millions each year. He altruistically preferred to lose workers through _____ when they moved away, retired, or decided to change jobs.
Belaboring
Mr. Irving spent the entire period _____ the obvious; he made the same dumb observation over and over again.
Avowed/ Avowal
Mr. Smith _____ on television that he had never paid any income tax. Shortly after his _____, he received a lengthy letter from the Internal Revenue Service.
Artifice
Mrs. Baker had to resort to _____ to get her children to take their medicine: She told them that it tasted like chocolate syrup.
Bastion
Mrs. Garnett's classroom is a _____ of banality; that is, it's a place where originality seldom, if ever, makes its way inside.
fastidious
Mrs. O'Hara was a _____ housekeeper; she cleaned up our crumbs almost before they hit the floor.
Depravity
Mrs. Prudinkle wondered whether the _____ of her class of eight-year-olds was the result of their watching Saturday morning television.
Dormant
Mt. Vesuvius erupted violently and then fell _____ for several hundred years.
Chagrin
Much to my _____, I began to giggle during the eulogy at the funeral.
Candor
My best friend exhibited _____ when he told me that for many years now he has believed me to be a jerk.
Ameliorated
My great-uncle's gift of several million dollars considerably _____ my financial condition.
Disparaged
My guidance counselor _____ my high school record by telling me that not everybody belongs in college.
Contingent
My happiness is _____ on yours; if you're unhappy, I'm unhappy.
encroached
My neighbor _____on my yard by building his new stockade fence a few feet on my side of the property line.
fabrication
My story about being the prince of Wales was a _____. I'm really the king of Denmark.
engendered
My winning lottery ticket ______a great deal of envy among my co-workers; they all wished that they had won.
egocentric
Nevitt was so ______that he could never give anyone else credit for doing anything.
Cosmopolitan
New York is a _____ city; you can hear nearly every language spoken there.
Construed
Preston _____ his contract as giving him the right to do anything he wanted.
Aristocratic/ Aristocracy
Prince Charles is _____. He is a member of the British _____.
Beset
Problems _____ the expedition almost from the beginning, and the mountain climbers soon returned to their base camp.
Avuncular
Professor Zia often gave us _____ advice; he took a real interest in our education and helped us with other problems that weren't related to multi-dimensional calculus.
Congregate
Protestors were granted permission to _____ peacefully on the plaza.
Austere
Quentin, with his _____ personality, didn't make many friends. Most people were too intimidated by him to introduce themselves and say hello.
Bemused
Ralph was _____ when all lights and appliances in his house began switching on and off for no apparent reason.
Dilettante
Reginald said he was an artist, but he was merely a _____; he didn't know a pencil from a paintbrush.
Acrimonious
Relations between the competing candidates were so _____ that each refused to acknowledge the presence of the other.
Gauche
Remember dextrous? Well, ______ is pretty much the exact opposite. It is the French word for left - the connection is that left-handed people were once thought to be clumsy (this was clearly before the invention of left-handed scissors) and perverse, even evil. These days, ______ tends to describe social, rather than physical, ineptness.
Apprehensive/ Apprehensions
Rhea was _____ about the exam, because she had forgotten to go to class for several months. As it turned out, her _____ were justified. She couldn't answer a single question on the test.
Commensurate
Ryan's salary is _____ with his ability; like his ability, his salary is small.
Chronicle
Sally's diary provided her mother with a detailed _____ of her daughter's extracurricular activities.
Contrived
Sam's acting was _____: No one in the audience believed his character or enjoyed his performance.
Doubtful/ Dubious
Sam's chances of getting the job were _____ because the employer was _____ of his claim that he had been president of the United States while in high school.
Apotheosis
Same people think that the Corvette is the _____ of American car making. They think it's the ideal.
enervated
Sander felt _____by his long ordeal and couldn't make himself get out of bed.
Cerebral
Sebastian was too _____ to be a baseball announcer; he kept talking about the existentialism of the outfield.
Diffident
Sebastian's stammer made him _____ in conversation and shy in groups of strangers.
Contingencies
Several ______ stand between us and the successful completion of our business proposal; several things could happen to screw it up.
Cogent
Shaft was _____ in explaining why he needed the confidential files, so we gave them to him.
felicity/ felicitious
Shakespeare wrote with great ____. His works are filled with _____ expressions.
Delineated
Sharon's peculiar feelings about her pet gorilla were _____ in the newspaper article about her.
expedient
Since the basement had nearly filled with water, the plumber felt it would be _____ to clear out the drain.
Gauche
Smadar had a poor sense of comic timig, and her _____ attempts to mock her left-handed friends soon left her with none.
engender
Smiles____ smiles.
Deleterious
Smoking cigarettes is _____ to your health.
Hiatus
Spencer looked forward to spring break as a welcome _________ from the rigors of campus parties.
Derided
Sportswriters _____ Columbia's football team, which hadn't won a game in three years.
Derogatory
Stephen could never seem to think of anything nice to say about anyone; virtually all of his comments were _____.
forbear
Stephen told me I could become a millionaire if I joined him in his business, but his lack of integrity makes me nervous so I decided to ________.
Despot
Stephen was a _____; workers who disagreed with him were fired.
Guile
Stuart was shocked by the _________ of the automobile mechanic, who had pocked a hole in his radiator and then told him that it had spruing a leak.
Ambivalent/ Ambivalence
Susan felt _____ about Alec as a boyfriend. Her frequent desire to break up with him reflected this _____.
Affable
Susan was a(n) _____ girl; she could strike up a pleasant conversation with almost anyone.
Aberration
Søren's bad behavior was a(n) _____. So was Harry's good behavior. That is, Søren's was usually good, and Harry's was usually bad.
Aberrant
Søren's behavior was _____. The summer snowstorm was _____.
Candor
Teddy appreciated Ross's _____; Teddy was glad to know that Ross thought Teddy's sideburns looked stupid.
Delusion
That he was a great poet was the _____ of the English teacher, who could scarcely write two complete sentences in a row.
endemic
That peculiar strain of influenza was ____to a small community in South Carolina; there were no cases anywhere else.
Deluge/ Deluged
The $1 million reward for the lost poodle brought in a _____ of hot leads. The distraught owner was _____ by phone calls all week.
emulated
The American company _____ its successful Japanese competitor but never quite managed to do as well.
Contingency
The Bowdens were prepared for any ______. Their front hall closet contained a first-aid kit, a fire extinguisher, a life raft, a parachute, and a pack of sled dogs.
Appreciated
The Browns bought their house twenty years ago for a hundred thousand dollars, but it has _____ considerably since then; today it's worth almost two million dollars.
facile/ facility
The CEO of the company was a _____ speaker. He could speak engagingly on almost any topic with very little preparation. He spoke with great _____.
Affable
The Jeffersons' dog was big but _____; it liked to lick little children on the face.
espouse
The Mormons used to_____ bigamy, or marriage to more than one woman.
Decorous
The New Year's Eve crowd was relatively _____ until midnight, when they went wild.
Censures
The Senate sometimes _____ senators for breaking laws or engaging in behavior unbecoming to an elected official.
Austere
The Smith's house was _____; there was no furniture in it, and there was nothing hanging on the walls.
emigrate
The Soviet dissidents were persecuted by the secret police, so they sought permission to _______.
Artifice
The Trojan Horse was a(n) _____ designed to get the soldiers inside the walls.
Consecrated
The Veterans Day speaker said that the battlefield had been _____ by the blood of the soldiers who had died there.
Autonomous
The West Coast office of the law firm was quite _____; it never asked the East Coast office for permission before it did anything.
fecund
The ____ mother rabbit gave birth to hundreds and hundreds of little rabbits.
fastidious
The ____ secretary was nearly driven mad by her boss, who used the floor as a file cabinet and his desk as a pantry.
Choleric
The _____ administrator kept all the secretaries in a state of terror.
Amenities
The _____ at the local club include a swimming pool, a golf course, and a tennis court.
Circuitous
The _____ bus route between the two cities wen here, there, and everywhere, and it took an extremely long time to get anywhere.
Brevity
The reader of this book may be grateful for the _____ of this example.
frenetic
The bird's _____ attempt to free itself from the thorn bush only made the situation worse.
engendered
The bitter lieutenant _____discontent among his troops.
Conventional
The bland politician maintained his popularity by never straying far from the _____ wisdom about any topic.
extraneous
The book's feeble plot was buried in a lot of _____ material about a talking dog.
Derided/ Derision
The boss _____ his secretary mercilessly, so she quit her job. She was someone who could not accept _____.
Adulation
The boss thrived on the _____ of his scheming secretary.
finesse
The boxer moved with such _____ that his opponent never knew what hit him.
Admonished
The boys' father _____ them not to eat the pie he had just baked. When they did so anyway he _____ them.
flaunt
The brand-new millionaire annoyed all his friends by driving around his old neighborhood to _____ his new Rolls-Royce.
furtive
The burglars were _____, but not _____ enough; the alert policeman grabbed them as they carried the TV through the Rubenstein's back door.
Defamed/ Defamation
The businessman who believed he had been _____ by the newspaper sued the paper's publisher for _____.
espoused
The candidate for governor ____ a program in which all taxes would be abolished and all the state's revenues would be supplied by income from bingo and horse racing.
Hyperbole
The candidate was guilty of _________; all the facts in his speech were exaggerated.
foundered
The candidate's campaign for the presidency _____ when it was revealed that he had once been married to a drug addict.
expedient
The candidate's position in favor of higher pay for teachers was an _____ one adopted for the national teachers' convention but abandoned shortly afterward.
expedient
The car repairman did not have his tool kit handy, so he used chewing gum as an ____ to patch a hole.
Belittling
The chairman's _____ comments made everyone feel small.
Histrionic
The chairman's _________ presentation persuaded no one.
Conducive
The chairs in the library are _____ to sleep. If you sit in them to study, you will fall asleep.
Copious
The champagne at the wedding reception was _____ but not very good.
Bucolic
The changing of the autumn leaves, old stone walls, distant views, and horses gazing in the green meadows are examples of _____ splendor.
Acrid
The cheese we had at the party had a(n) _____ taste; it was harsh and unpleasant.
Conjured
The chef _____ a fabulous gourmet meal using nothing more than the meager ingredients in Lucy's kitchen.
Aberration
The chef at this restaurant is dreadful; the meal we just had was an _____.
fecund
The child's imagination was so ____ that dozens of stories hopped out of him like a bunch of baby rabbits.
exasperated
The child's insistence on hopping backward on one foot _____ his mother, who was in a hurry.
Bereaved
The children were _____ by the death of their pet. Then they got a new pet.
Blithely
The children were playing _____ next to the hazardous-waste dump. While they played, they were _____ unaware that they were doing something dangerous.
Censure
The clumsy physician feared the _____ of his fellow doctors, so he stopped treating anything more complicated than the common cold.
exhort
The coach used his bullhorn to ____ us to try harder.
Consecration
The college chaplain delivered a sermon at the _____ ceremony for the new chapel.
Ascetic
The college student's apartment, which contained no furniture except a single tattered mattress, was uncomfortably _____.
Deluded
The con man _____ us into thinking that he would make us rich. Instead, he tricked us into giving him several hundred dollars.
Circumscribes
The constitution clearly _____ restrictions that can be placed on our personal freedoms.
Despondent
The cook became _____ when the wedding cake fell on the floor fifteen minutes before the reception.
Anarchy
The country fell into a state of _____ after the rebels kidnapped the president and locked the legislature inside the Capitol.
Arcane
We could make out only a little of the _____ inscription on the old trunk.
Concurrent
The criminal was sentenced to two _____ fifteen-year sentences; the sentences will run at the same time, and he will be out of jail in fifteen years.
Deprecating
The critic's _____ comments about my new novel put me in a bad mood for an entire month.
Approbation
The crowd expressed its _____ of the team's performance by gleefully covering the field with toilet paper.
fidelity
The crusader's life was marked by _____ to the cause of justice.
Consonant
The decision to construct a new gymnasium was _____ with the superintendent's belief in physical education.
Appropriated
The deer and raccoons _____ the vegetables in our garden last summer. This year we'll build a better fence.
elicit
The defendant tried to _____the sympathy of the jury by appearing at the trial in a wheelchair, but the jury convicted him anyway.
exonerated
The defendant, who had always claimed he wasn't guilty, expected to be _____ by the testimony of his best friend.
foibles
The delegates to the state convention ignored the candidates' positions on the major issues and concentrated on their ____.
Bureaucracy
The department of Motor Vehicles is a _____. The forms you have to fill out all request unnecessary information. After you finally get everything all filled out and handed in, you don't hear another word from the department for many months.
Banal
The dinner conversation was so _____ that Amanda fell asleep in her dessert dish.
Desultory
The discussion at our meeting was _____; no one's comments seemed to bear any relation to anyone else's.
Degenerated
The discussion quickly _____ into an argument.
Conjecture
The divorce lawyer for Mr. Davis argued that the putative cause of the lipstick on his collar was mere _____.
equitable
The divorce settlement was quite _____. Sheila got the right half of the house, and Tom got the left half.
finesse
The doctor sewed up the wound with _____, making stitches so small one could scarcely see them.
Amiable
The drama critic was so _____ in person that even the subjects of negative reviews found it impossible not to like her.
Discrete
The drop in the stock market was not the result of any single force but of many _____ trends.
equanimity
The entire apartment building was crumbling, but Rachel faced the disaster with _____. She ducked out of the way of a falling beam and continued searching for an exit.
eminent
The entire audience fell silent when the _____ musician walked onto the stage and picked up his banjo and bongo drums.
Charisma
The evangelist's undeniable _____ enabled him to bring in millions and millions of dollars in donations to his television show.
Allocate
The event had been a big failure, and David, Aaliyah, and Jan spent several hours attempting to _____ the blame. In the end, they decided it had all been Jan's fault.
Cliché
The expression "you can't judge a book by its cover" is a _____; it's been used so many times, that freshness has been worn away.
Concord
The faculty meeting was marked by _____; no one yelled at anyone else.
faction
The faculty was relatively happy, but there was a ___ that called for higher pay.
Degenerate
The fans' _____ behavior prompted the police to make several arrests.
Degenerated
The fans' behavior _____ as the game went on.
exhorted
The fearful forest ranger ____ us not to go into the cave, but we did so anyway and became lost in the center of the earth.
exacerbated
The fender-bender was ____ when two more cars plowed into the back of Margaret's car.
Accolades
The first break-dancing troupe to perform in Carnegie Hall, the Teflon Toughs, received _____.
epitome
The first paragraph of the new novel is an ___of the entire book; you can read it and understand what the author is trying to get across. It epitomizes the entire work.
Auspicious
The first quarter of the football game was not _____; the home team was outscored by thirty points.
Charlatans
The flea market usually attracts a lot of _____ who sell phony products that don't do what they claim they will.
Complemented
The flower arrangement _____ the table decorations.
Homily
The football coach began practice with a lengthy _________ on the virtues of clean living.
Debilitating
The football player's career was ended by a(n) _____ injury to his knee.
Complacent
The football team won so many games that it became _____, and the worst team in the league won the game.
farcical
The formerly secret documents detailed the CIA's ______attempt to discredit the dictator by sprinkling his shoes with a powder that was supposed to make his beard fall out.
Conciliatory
The formerly warring countries were _____ at the treaty conference.
Conducive
The foul weather was not _____ to our having a picnic.
Cryptic/ Crypt
The ghost made _____ comments about the _____ from which he had just emerged; that is, no one could figure out what the ghost meant.
Collusion
The increase in oil prices was the result of _____ by the oil-producing nations.
Circumlocution
The indicated executive evaded the reporters' questions by resorting to _____.
effaced
The inscription on the tombstone had been _______ by centuries of weather.
Comprehensive
The insurance policy was _____; it covered all possible losses.
Hackneyed
The intelligent design issue had been discussed so much as to become _________.
Glut
The international oil shortage turned into an international oil _____ with surprising speed.
elicited
The interviewer skillfully _____our true feelings by asking us questions that got to the heart of the matter.
Despot
The island kingdom was ruled by a ruthless _____ who executed suspected rebels at noon each day in the village square.
Homogeneous
The kindergarten class was extremely _________: All the children had blond hair, blue eyes, red shoes, and the same last name.
Adherents
The king's _____ threw a big birthday party for him, just to show how much they liked him.
Genteel
The ladies at the ball were too _____ to accept our invitation to the wrestling match.
Construed
The law had always been _____ as permitting the behavior for which Katya had been arrested.
expedited
The lawyer ____ the progress of our case through the courts by bribing a few judges.
Circumlocution
The lawyer's _____ left everyone in the courtroom wondering what had been said.
Cogency
The lawyer's argument on his client's behalf was not cogent, so the jury convicted his client. The jury was persuaded by the _____ of the prosecuting attorney's argument.
Congenial
The little cabin in the woods was _____ to the writer; he was able to get a lot of writing done there.
Beset
The little town was _____ by robberies, but the police could do nothing.
Defame
The local businessman accused the newspaper of _____ him by publishing an article that said his company was poorly managed.
explicit
The machine's instructions were _____—they told us exactly what to do.
effusion
The madman's writings consisted of a steady _____of nonsense.
exalt
The manager decided to _____ the lowly batboy by asking him to throw the first pitch in the opening game of the World Series.
Culmination
The masquerade ball was the _____ of our fund-raising efforts.
Disparaged
The mayor _____ our efforts to beautify the town square when he said that the flower bed we had planted looked somewhat worse than the bed of weeds it had replaced.
Disavowed
The mayor _____ the allegation that he had embezzled campaign contributions.
Connoisseur
The meal was exquisite enough to impress a _____.
Construed
The meaning of the poem, as I _____, had to do with the love of a man for his dog.
Apathy
The members of the student council accused the senior class of _____ because none of the seniors had bothered to sign up for the big fundraiser.
Belied
The messy appearance of the banquet table _____ the huge effort that had gone into setting it up.
extolled
The millionaire _____ the citizen who returned his gold watch but the only reward was a heartfelt handshake.
Disdain
The millionaire looked upon the poor workers with evident _____.
Degenerate
The mood of the party was spoiled when a drunken _____ wandered in from off the street.
Ameliorated
The mood of the prisoners was _____ when the warden gave them extra free time outside.
egregious
The mother's ______neglect was responsible for her child's accidental cross-country ride on the freight train.
semper fidelis
The motto of the United States Marine Corps is ____ , which is Latin for always loyal.
Abysmal
The nation's debt crisis was _____; there seemed to be no possible solution.
Grandiloquence
The new minister's _________ got him in trouble with deacons, who wanted him to be more restrained in his sermons.
Didactic
The new novel is painfully _____; the author's aim is always to instruct and never to entertain.
Congenial
The new restaurant has a(n) _____ atmosphere. We enjoy just sitting there playing with the ice in our water glasses.
fortuitous
The object was so perfectly formed that its creation could not have been ______.
Allocated
The office manager had _____ just seven paper clips for our entire department.
Arbitrary
The old judge was _____ in sentencing criminals; there was no sensible pattern to the sentences he handed down.
Anecdote
The old lady kept the motorcycle gang thoroughly amused with _______ after _______ about her cute little dog.
fatalist
The old man was a ____ about his illness, believing there was no sense in worrying about something he could not control.
Awry
The old man's hat was _____; it had dipped in front of his left eye.
Hermetic
The old men felt vulnerable and unwanted outside the _________ security of their club.
elliptical
The orbit of the earth is not perfectly round; it is _____.
Cacophony
The parade's two marching bands played simultaneously; the resulting _____ drove many spectators to tears.
Callowness
The patient was alarmed by the _____ of the medical staff. The doctors looked too young to have graduated from high school, much less from medical school.
Coalesced
The people in our neighborhood _____ into a powerful force for change in the community.
Dogmatic
The philosophy professor became increasingly _____ as he grew older and became more firmly convinced of his strange theories.
Acquiesced
The pirates asked Pete to walk the plank; he took one look at their swords and then _____.
equitably
The pirates distributed the loot ____among themselves, so that each pirate received the same share as every other pirate.
Amenable
The plumber was _____ to my paying my bill with jelly beans, which was lucky, because I had more jelly beans than money.
Ambiguous
The poem we read in English class was _____; no one had any idea what the poet was trying to say.
Hermetic
The poisonous substance was sealed _________ally inside a glass cylinder.
Dissipated
The police _____ the riotous crowd by spraying the demonstrators with fire hoses and firing rubber bullets over their heads.
Corroborate
The police could find no evidence of theft and thus could not _____ Greg's claim that he had been robbed.
Alleged
The police have _____ that he or she committed the crime, but a jury hasn't made a decision yet.
Delineated
The portrait artist _____ Sarah's features then filled in the shading.
expedited
The post office _____ mail delivery by hiring more letter carriers.
Hermetic
The president led a _________ existence in the white house, as his advisers attempted to seal him off from the outside world.
Complacency
The president of the student council was appalled by the _____ of his classmates; not one of the seniors seemed to care about the theme.
Grandiloquent
The president's speech was _____ rather than eloquent; there were some six-dollar words and some impressive phrases, but he really had nothing to say.
Consecrated
The priest _____ the building by sprinkling holy water on it.
Absolved
The priest _____ the sinner who had come to church to confess.
Didactic
The priest's conversation was always _____. He never said anything that wasn't intended to teach a lesson.
Condoned
The principal _____ the hoods' smoking in the bathroom; he simply ignored it.
Altruism
The private foundation depended on the _____ of the extremely rich old man. When he decided to start spending his money on his new twenty-year-old girlfriend, the foundation went out of business.
erudite
The professor said such ____things that none of us had the slightest idea of what he was saying
Abstruse
The professor's article, on the meaning of meaning, was _____. Michael couldn't even pronounce the words in it.
fortuitous
The program's outcome was not the result of any plan but was entirely _____.
Discreet
The psychiatrist was very _____; no matter how much we pestered him, he wouldn't gossip about the problems of his famous patients.
foment
The radicals spread several rumors in an effort to _______ rebellion among the peasants.
Confluence
There is a remarkable _____ in our thoughts: We think the same way about almost everything.
Dearth
There is no _____ of comedy at a convention of clowns.
Collusion
There was _____ among the owners of the baseball teams; they agreed secretly not to sign any expensive free agents.
Complicity
There was _____ between the bank robber and the dishonest teller. The teller neglected to turn on the alarm, and the robber rewarded him by sharing the loot.
Dearth
There was a _____ of gaiety at the boring Christmas party.
frenetic
There was a lot of _____ activity in the office, but nothing ever seemed to get accomplished.
Despotic
There was cheering in the street when the country's _____ government was overthrown.
Hypothetical
There were several _________ explanations for the strange phenomenon, but no one could say for certain what had caused it.
Anguish
Theresa had been a nurse in the emergency room for 20 years, but she had never gotten used to the _______ of accident victims.
Begets
Those who lie should be creative and have good memories, since one lie often _____ another lie, which _____ another.
Dextrous
Though not imposing in stature, Rashid was the most _____ basketball player on the court; he often beat taller competitors with his nimble management of the ball.
Deprecate
To _____ a colleague's work is to risk making yourself unwelcome in your colleague's office.
Covet
To _____ thy neighbor's wife is to want thy neighbor's wife for thyself.
Extrapolate/ Interpolate
To _____, a scientist uses the facts he has to project to facts outside; to ____, he tries to fill the gaps within his data
emulate
To _____someone is to try to be just as good as, or better than, him or her.
Self-deprecating
To be _____ is to belittle one's own efforts, often in the hope that someone else will say, "No, you're wonderful!"
Heterogeneous
To be _______ is to be mixed or varied.
Cursory
To give a book a _____ reading is to skim it quickly without comprehending much.
Analogy
To say having an allergy feels like being bitten by an alligator would be to make or draw and _____ between an allergy and an alligator bite.
Delusion
Todd, the well-known jerk, suffered from the _____ that he was a genuinely nice man.
Absolved
Tom's admission of guilt _____ Mary, who had originally been accused of the crime.
Misconstrue(d)
Tommy _____ Pamela's smile, but he certainly did not _____ the slap she gave him.
Burlesque
Vaudeville actors frequently performed _____ works on the stage.
Amoral
Very young children are _____; when they cry, they aren't being bad or good—they're merely doing what they have to do.
Alleviated
Visiting the charming pet cemetery _____ the woman's grief over the death of her canary.
Definitive
Walter wrote the _____ biography of Keats; nothing more could have been added by another book.
Harbinger
Warm weather is the _________ of spring.
Culpable
We all felt _____ when the homeless old man died in the doorway of our apartment building.
Abdicated
When King Edward VIII of England decided he would rather be married to Wallis Warfield Simpson, and American divorceé, than be king of England, he turned in his crown and _____.
Indiscretion
When Laura told Salima, she committed a(n) _____.
Criterion
When Norm judges a meal, he has only one _____: Is it edible?
Alluding/ allusion
When Ralph said, "I sometimes wonder whether to be or not to be," he was _____ to a famous line in Hamlet. If Ralph had said, "As Hamlet said, 'To be or not to be, that is the question,'" his statement would have been a direct reference, not a(n) _____.
emigrated/immigrated
When Solange ______ from France, she ______ to the United States.
Decimate
When locusts attack a crop, they sometimes _____ it, leaving very little that's fit for human consumption.
effusion
When the child was rescued from the well, there was an intense ____of emotion from the crowd that had gathered around the hole.
faction/ factious
When the controversial topic of the fund drive came up, the committee descended into bitterness and ______. It was a _____ topic.
Coalesced
When the dough _____ into a big blob, we began to wonder whether the cookies would be edible.
Choleric
When the grumpy old man was in one of his _____ moods, the children refused to go near him.
Catalyst
When the mad scientist dropped a few grains of the _____ into his test tube, the bubbling liquid began to boil furiously.
figuratively
When the mayor said that the housing market had sprouted wings, he was speaking _____. The housing market hadn't really sprouted wings; it had merely risen so rapidly that it had almost seemed to fly.
Cynics
When the pop star gave a million dollars to the museum, _____ said he was merely trying to buy himself a reputation as a cultured person.
Dearth
When there's a _____ of food, many people may starve.
Awry
When we couldn't find a restaurant, our dinner plans went _____.
Abject
While most people would quickly recover from a stumble on stage, Mia felt _____ humiliation.
Coup
Winning a gold medal at the Olympics was a real _____ for the fifty-year-old man.
encroaching
With an sense of ______dread, I slowly pushed open the blood-spattered door.
Astute
Yael, who notices everything important and many things that other people don't see, is a(n) _____ observer.
extricate
Yoshi had to pretend to be sick to ____ himself from the blind date with the ventriloquist who brought her puppet on the date with her.
Hedonism
Yoshi's life of _________ came to an end when his lottery winnings ran out; his massaging armchair and wide-screen TV were repossessed, he had to eat macaroni and cheese instead of champagne and lobster, and he could no longer pay to have Victoria's Secret models fan his with palm fronds and feed his grapes.
Decimated
You might say in jest that your family had _____ its turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, leaving nothing but a few crumbs and a pile of bones.
Inclement
You should wear a coat and carry an umbrella in _____ weather.
endemic
You won't find that kind of tree in California; it's _____to our part of the country.
Antecedents
Your parents and grandparents could be said to be your _____; they came before you.
ephemeral
Youth and flowers are both ______. They're gone before you know it.
foundered
Zeke successfully struggled through the first part of the course but _____ when the final examination was given.
Complicity
_____ among the students made it impossible to find out which of them had pulled the fire alarm.
Debauchery
_____ can be expensive; fortunately for Jeff, his wallet matched his appetite for extravagant pleasures. He died a poor, albeit happy, man.