Vocab Level H Unit 8 Completing the Sentence

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

Aberration

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

Ad Hoc

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

Bane

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

Bathos

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

Cantankerous

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

Casuistry

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

De facto

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

Depredations

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

Empathy

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

Harbinger

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

Hedonism

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

Lackluster

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

Malcontents

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

Mellifluous

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

Nepotism

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

Pandering

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

Peccadillo

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

Piece de resistance

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

Remanded

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

Syndrome