Unit 3 Vocabulary Exercises

In the great crises of life, you must depend basically on yourself; the help you get from others can only be pragmatic/ancillary.

ancillary

Once major matters like the advance and royalties had been settled, the publisher and agent negotiated whatever __________ rights were to be covered in the author's contract.

ancillary

Synonym: auxiliary, subsidiary, accessory

ancillary

In attempting to make the novel acceptable to the general public, the editor so __________ it that it lost its quality of start realism.

bowdlerize

Simply because we have dropped a few objectionable words from the dialogue does not justify the critic's statement that we have cozened/bowdlerized the play.

bowdlerize

Synonym: to censor, purge, expurgate

bowdlerize

He considers himself such a marvelous chess player that I'm surprised he would ______ to sit down at the board with a beginner like me.

condescend

If, as they say, they find those people so vulgar and unpleasant, why do they cozen/condescend to associate with them?

condescend

Synonym: to stoop, deign, patronize

condescend

Playing on his vanity and his desire to be known as a "good guy, I tried to ___________ him into lending me his car.

cozen

Synonym: to dupe, deceive; to beguile, inveigle

cozen

They can't force you to do anything, but it is quite possible that they will be able to condescend/cozen you into actions against you best interests.

cozen

Antonym: central, key; primary, principal, main

enclave

Out little group of would-be writers, painters, and musicians formed an enclave/ancillary of culture in what we considered a hostile world.

enclave

Synonym: area of rule; authority

enclave

The stubborn old-timers who refused to sell their homes came to form a(n) ____________.

enclave

Antonym: a weakness, shortcoming, foible

forte

Her easygoing attitude and resilience, far from being a weakness, proved to be her mountebank/forte in surviving during that trying period.

forte

My classmates selected me to address the community affairs committee because public speaking is a(n) ______________ of mine.

forte

Synonym: a gift, aptitude, specialty, strong suit

forte

Antonym: for a price

gratis

Synonym: free of charge, "on the house"; freely

gratis

The dictum "There's no such thing as a free lunch" means that nothing worthwhile in life comes to us forte/gratis.

gratis

To promote circulation, the publisher offered to throw in home delivery _______________ for new subscribers to the Sunday edition.

gratis

At the height of Beatlemania in the mid-1960s the Fab Four assumed that stature of pop ___________.

icon

Synonym: an image, symbol, emblem; an idol

icon

In sandpainting, an art still practiced by the Navajos and Pueblos of the American Southwest, designs are created of icons/fortes representing animals, deities, and natural phenomena.

icons

Antonym: a united front; a reconciliation

interstice

Synonym: a gap, slot, crevice, interval, lacuna

interstice

The coach used diagrams to show our receivers how to slip through the _______________ in our opponent's zone pass coverage.

interstice

The sun left its mottled imprint on the wall as the rays filtered through the enclaves/interstices of the iron grating.

interstices

A theory that seems valid in the confines of a small family group may be proved useless when applied in the macrocosm/interstice of society at large.

macrocosm

Antonym: a mode, miniature, microcosm

macrocosm

His self-importance stems from his inability to appreciate the very minor part he plays in the ______________ of human affairs.

macrocosm

Synonym: the universe, cosmos; an entirety

macrocosm

A political candidate who promises to solve all our social problems without ever mentioning greater expenditure and higher taxes would certainly be dismissed as a mountebank/schism.

mountebank

Antonym: a sucker, dupe, "mark," "pigeon"

mountebank

His exaggerated claims for an expensive painkiller that turned out to be no more than aspirin exposed him as a(n) ________.

mountebank

Synonym: an imposter, quack charlatan, swindler

mountebank

After the great victory, his quiet and modest statements were far more impressive than the most effusive paean/interstice could have been.

paean

Antonym: a dirge, elegy, lament, threnody

paean

Synonym: a hymn, ode, anthem

paean

When the soldiers realized that they had defeated the far more numerous enemy, their cheers rose in a great ___________ of jubilation and victory.

paean

She thought of herself as a combination of Mark Twain and H.L. Mencken, but in my opinion her attempts at "devastating __________" were abusive, coarse, and not very funny.

persiflage

Synonym: banter, jesting, repartee, bandinage

persiflage

The clash of wits between those two brilliant columnists was no mere persiflage/paean, but an exchange of deadly insults.

persiflage

Antonym: a shortage, paucity, dearth, scarcity

plethora

Synonym: a superfluity, surplus, surfeit, glut, excess

plethora

The situation is growing worse because there is a(n) ____________ of good intentions but a dearth of common sense and willingness to work hard.

plethora

A truly great leader must possess both the inspiration of a visionary and the quizzical/pragmatic skills of an experienced politician

pragmatic

Antonym: idealistic, impractical, visionary

pragmatic

Synonym: practical, down-to-earth, businesslike

pragmatic

What point is there in dwelling on unproven theories when the problem we are facing demands that we be as _____________ as possible?

pragmatic

Antonym: unequivocal, crystal-clear, unambiguous

quizzical

Because he sees life as a pattern of ambiguities and contradictions, he like to express himself in the form of quizzical/ancillary witticisms.

quizzical

I could have welcomed any firm answer, no matter how unfavorable, but all that I got from her was a(n) __________ smile.

quizzical

Synonym: peculiar; perplexed, mystified; derisive

quizzical

Although we pride ourselves on the advance of civilization, the sad fact is that the _______________ of 20th-century humanity has resulted in...

rapacity

Antonym: liberality, generosity; altruism

rapacity

It is a common mistake to assume that shrwedness in business affairs must be accompanies by extreme rapacity/mountebank.

rapacity

Synonym: avarice, greediness, cupidity, voraciousness

rapacity

Synonym: a rift, breach, split in the ranks

schism

The "minor difference of opinion" developed into a(n) ____________.

schism

The first serious schism/enclave in the Communist world of the postwar era occurred in 1948, when Yugoslavia began in earnest to distance itself from the Soviet Union.

schism

A good laugh invariably makes me feel better; I honestly believe that it has a(n) _____________ effect on my disposition.

therapeutic

Antonym: harmful, injurious, deleterious

therapeutic

Synonym: curative, salutary, salubrious, beneficial

therapeutic

Though acupuncture has been practiced in Eastern medicine for centuries, its therapeutic/quizzical value has only recently been acknowledged by doctors in the West.

therapeutic

When she neatly faked out the guard, pivoted, and drove in for a layup, I realized that I was seeing a true _______ on the basketball court.

virtuoso

Antonym: an amateur, beginner, novice; mediocre

virtuoso

Synonym: an expert, master, prodigy, maestro

virtuoso

Your virtuosity/pragmatism as a public speaker an campaigner may earn you votes; but it cannot make up for your lack of experience and knowledge of public affairs.

virtuosity