Level F Unit 2 Choosing the Right Word

I trust that we shall have the will to improve what can now be improved and the patience to bear what cannot now be _____.

Ameliorated

One way to _____ your fears of giving a speech is to put your audience at ease with a personal anecdote.

Ameliorated

Although the music-an etude by Schumann- was not familiar to him, the pianist followed the sheet music and played the piece with great _____.

Aplomb

She handled a potentially embarrassing situation with cool _____.

Aplomb

His messages may seen _____, but there is a solid framework of practical ideas underlying the rather pompous language.

Bombastic

I can usually forgive a(n) _____ display of feeble jokes and showing off-but not by someone who has passed his fortieth birthday!

Callow

After the speaker had droned on pointlessly for half an hour, an angry man in the front row stood up and said, "Must we continue to listen to all this childish _____

Drivel

This famous definition by a British general _____ the nature of war: "Long periods of intense boredom punctuated by short periods of intense fear."

Epitomizes

Because I believe in spreading governmental powers among several officials, I am opposed to having the Mayor serves as _____ head of the Board of Education.

Ex Officio

We are all ready and willing to do what must be done; what we need is leadership-not _____!

Exhortation

The publisher will take prompt legal action against anyone who _____ on the copyright of this book.

Infringes

Kathy baked cookies for her book club, hoping to _____ herself so that she would be nominated as president.

Ingratiate

The song had a pleasant, _____ melody that gained it quick popularity and then caused it to be forgotten just as quickly.

Ingratiating

After the unexpected defeat, the members of the team wanted to be alone and regarded anyone who entered the locker room as a(n) _____.

Interloper

In stating that "All men are created equal and endowed . . . with certain inalienable rights," the Declaration of Independence proclaims the _____ value of every human being.

Intrinsic

It is easy to _____ against "dirty politics," but less easy to play a positive role, however small, in the political process.

Inveigh

Marian Wright Edelman has never succumbed to _____ but has instead remained a tireless advocate of children's rights since the 1960s.

Lassitude

"I'm sure your every wish will be granted," I assured the demanding child, my tongue firmly in my check, "when and if the _____ ever comes!"

Millenium

The large trees that surrounded the strange mansion _____ our view of the building.

Occulted

A sour odor of decay, stale air, and generations of living _____ every corner of the old tenement.

Permeated

If you desire a strong garlic flavor that _____ dish, use fresh, minced garlic rather than garlic powder.

Permeates

When the bridge suddenly collapsed in the high winds, the people on it at the time were ______ to their deaths in the watery abyss below.

Precipitated

Do we need new laws to combat crime, or rather, more ______ enforcement of the laws we already have?

Stringent

I _____ That you did well on your test when you bolted through the front door as though you had just won the lottery.

Surmised

In this situation we cannot act on the basis of what may be _____, but only in accordance with what is definitely known.

Surmised