Vocabulary workshop Level F units 10-12 choosing the right word

Inculcate

(11) Before we start out to inculcate certain principles in our young people, let's be very sure that these principles are truly desirable for them and their society.

Perceptive

(11) Children are often remarkable perceptive in understanding how adults feel about them.

Gauche

(11) He thought he was being witty and charming, but I regard his conduct at the party as altogether gauche.

Florid

(11) Her florid writing style, abounding in adjectives and fancy metaphors, is far from suitable for factual newspaper stories.

Searing

(11) In a series of searing attacks now known as the Philippics, Cicero launched his entire battery of political invective against the hapless Mark Anthony.

Foist

(11) Let's not allow them to foist on us ideas and programs that have been proved failures in other countries!

Palpable

(11) Modern nutritionists emphasize that there is a(n) palpable difference between "eating to live" and "living to eat."

Censurable

(11) No doubt his efforts to advance his own interests were censurable, but let's try to keep a sense of proportion and not condemn him too much.

Salient

(11) Out of all the endless flow of dull verbiage in that long lecture, we could recognize only two or three salient points.

Abstemious

(11) She was so abstemious that she extended her self-control even to her beloved books, and read them no more than an hour each day.

Dowdy

(11) Some english queens were strikingly elegant and imposing figures; others were somewhat dowdy and unprepossessing.

Pernicious

(11) The more we studied the drug problem, the more we became aware of its pernicious influence on the American people today.

Denizens

(11) The most tragic aspect of a forest fire is its destructive effects on the innumerable plant and animal denizens of that environment.

Heresies

(11) The study of history teaches us that many ideas regarded as heresies by one generation are accepted as sound and orthodox by the next.

Satiated

(11) Though I rather like the better TV game shows, I find that after a certain point, I'm satiated and ready for more substantial fare.

Specious

(11) We are most likely to fall victim to specious reasoning when we have an emotional desire to believe what we are being told.

Caricatured

(12) "In seeking to discredit me," I replied, "my opponent has deliberately sanctimonious my ideas, making them seem simplistic and unrealistic."

Enhance

(12) A fresh coat of paint and some attention to the lawn would greatly enhance the appearance of our bungalow.

Enthralled

(12) As long as we are enthralled by the idea that it is possible to get something for nothing, we will not be able to come up with a sound economic program.

Implicit

(12) He was the type of officer who expected implicit obedience from the troops he commanded. When he gave an order, he assumed it would be carried out.

Clangor

(12) I realized I was being kept awake not by the clangor of the city traffic but by a gnawing fear that I had done the wrong thing.

Extenuating

(12) I will try to tell the story in a balanced way, without either exaggerating or extenuating his responsibility for those sad events.

Incisive

(12) In the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln asked a few incisive questions that showed up the fatal weaknesses in his opponent's position.

Deleterious

(12) Is it logical to conclude that becuase this substance has had a deleterious effect on some test animals, it is not at all safe for human consumption?

Ostentatious

(12) Isn't it rather ostentatious to wear a Phi Beta Kappa key on a chain around your neck?

Politic

(12) It is hardly politic for someone who hopes to win a popularity contest to go about making such brutally frank remarks.

Paragon

(12) My parents set up my older brother as such a paragon that I despaired of ever being able to follow in his footsteps.

Scintillating

(12) She delivered her lines with such artistry and verve that she made the rather commonplace dialogue seem Scintillating.

Prosaic

(12) She tried to convice me that hte proposed advertisement would be "dynamic" and a "real eye-catcher," but I found it utterly prosaic.

Paraphrase

(12) The Gettysburg Address is so concise, so lucid, and so beautiful, that it would be folly to attempt to paraphrase it.

Winsome

(12) The aspiring salesperson stood in front of the mirror for hours, practicing a winsome smile.

Cupidity

(12) The rumors of "easy money" and "lush profits" to be made in the stock market aroused the cupidity of many small investors.

Contiguous

(12) We wanted to find a house that was near that of my parents, but not contiguous to it.

Absolved

(12) What we do now to remedy the evils in our society will determine whether or not we are to be absolved of blame for the injustices of the past.

Redundant

(12) When he demanded that I immediately "return back" the money I owed him, I found him not merely umpleasant but redundant.

Sanctimonious

(12) Words about "tolerance" are empty and sanctimonious when they come from one who has shown no concern about civil liberties.

Gist

(10) Although they claimed that their summary gave us the gist of the resolution, the fact is that it omitted important details.

Sedentary

(10) During the war, soldiers assigned to desk jobs were sometimes sarcastically called the "chairbound infantry" or the "sedentary commandos."

Covert

(10) He tried to make it appear that he was speaking in a friendly spirit, but I detected the covert malice beneath his "harmless" remarks.

Imperious

(10) His tone of voice was so imperious that I wasn't sure if he was asking me for a loan or demanding payment of tribute.

Accrue

(10) I am convinced that some substantial advantages will surely accrue to me if I complete my college education.

Invective

(10) Instead of relying on facts and logic, she used all kinds of rhetorical tricks and slashing invective to attack her opponent.

Recondite

(10) Instead of that highly involved recondite discussion of the nation's energy needs, why don't you simply tell us what we can do to help solve the problem?

Efficacious

(10) It is generally agreed that we urgently need more efficacious methods of handling criminals, both for their own benefit and for that of the public.

Imperious

(10) My sad story is that after working for three hours in the hot sun cleaning up the yard, I received the imperious sum of $1.75.

Motley

(10) Only a genius could have converted such a motley group of individuals, drawn from all walks of life, into a disciplined and efficient organization.

Fortuitous

(10) Scientists believe that everything in nature occurs in accordance with invariable laws and that nothing is truly fortuitous.

Reprobate

(10) The crass and reprobate conduct of those responsible for the scandal deserved some public censure.

Debonair

(10) The difficult stage part called for an actress to gradually change from a morose introvert to a(n) debonair charmer during the course of the play.

Procrastination

(10) The proverb "Make haste slowly" endorses prudence- not procrastination.

Annotations

(10) The scholars who compiled the notes and annotations for my portable edition of Chaucer did a superb job of clarifying obscure or puzzling words and passages.

Bedlam

(10) Things were already hectic in our tiny apartment, but when my sister arrived with the two very excited dogs, the place was thrown into absolute bedlam.

Provocative

(10) This new book is a(n) provocative examination of our school system that may upset some of your most cherished ideas about higher education.

Equanimity

(10) To bear evils with equanimity doesn't mean that you should make no effort to correct them.

Gratuitously

(10) We appreciated the services he furnished gratuitously, but we soon came to see that it would have been cheaper to pay for a really professional job.

Dun

(10) What good will it do you to dun me so mercilessly when you know that I am flat broke?

Corroborates

(11) All the available evidence corroborates my theory that the theft was planned by someone familiar with the layout of the house.

Disseminated

(11) Although the Declaration of Independence was framed only to justify a revolution in the British colonies in North America, its ideas and ideals have been disseminated throughout the world.

Discursive

(11) Although the essays are highly discursive, covering a wide range of topics, they are written with such clarity and grace that they are easy to follow.

Contingent

(11) As the Scottish poet Robert Burns aptly suggests, even the best laid plans are often entirely contingent on events over which we have no earthly control.