Name: ___________________________
Vocabulary Unit #10 – Exercises
I. Definitions
1. askance – (adv.) with suspicion, distrust, or disapproval
2. attenuate – (v.) to make thin or slender; to weaken or lessen in force, intensity, or value
3. benign – (adj.) gentle, kind; forgiving, understanding; having a favorable or beneficial effect; not malignant
4. cavil – (v.) to find fault in a petty way, carp; (n.) a trivial objection or criticism
5. charlatan – (n.) one who feigns knowledge or ability; a pretender, impostor, or quack
6. decimate – (v.) to kill or destroy a large part of
7. foible – (n.) a weak point, failing, minor flaw
8. forgo – (v.) to do without, abstain from, give up
9. fraught – (adj.) full of or loaded with; accompanied by
10. inure – (v.) to toughen, harden; to render used to something by long subjection or exposure
11. luminous – (adj.) emitting or reflecting light, glowing; illuminating
12. obsequious – (adj.) marked by slavish attentiveness; excessively submissive, often for purely self-interested reasons
13. obtuse – (adj.) blunt, not coming to a point; slow or dull in understanding; measuring between 90 degrees and 180 degrees, not causing a sharp impression
14. oscillate – (v.) to swing back and forth with a steady rhythm; to fluctuate or waver
15. penitent – (adj.) regretful for one’s sins or mistakes; (n.) one who is sorry for wrongdoing
16. peremptory – (adj.) having the nature of a command that leaves no opportunity for debate, denial, or refusal; offensively self-assured, dictatorial; determined, resolute
17. rebuff – (v.) to snub; to repel, drive away; (n.) a curt rejection, a check
18. reconnoiter – (v.) to engage in reconnaissance; to make a preliminary inspection
19. shambles – (n.) a state of complete disorder and confusion, mess; a slaughterhouse, a place of mass bloodshed
20. sporadic – (adj.) occurring at irregular intervals, having no set plan or order
II. Completing the Sentence
1. Life on the family farm has ___________________ me to hard physical labor and long hours of unremitting toil.
2. The general sent scouts on ahead of the army to __________________ the area for a suitable site to pitch camp.
3. Although there had been some ____________________ fighting earlier, the real battles of the Civil War did not begin until Bull Run in July, 1861.
4. Unless the title Special Aide to the Assistant Section Manager involves a salary increase, I would just as soon ___________________ it.
5. The riot converted the quiet streets of that suburban community into a ghastly ___________________.
6. Although the moon appears to be a(n) ___________________ body, the fact that it only reflects light received from the sun.
7. As all kinds of wild rumors ran rampant through the besieged city, the mood of the populace __________________ between hope and despair.
8. Good supervisors know that they can get more cooperation from their staff by making polite requests than by issuing ____________________ orders.
9. The man’s personality was a strange mixture of strengths and weaknesses, fortes and ____________________.
10. I was totally taken aback when they ___________________ my kind of offers of assistance so rudely and nastily.
11. No doubt he’s very sorry he got caught, but that does not mean that he’s at all ____________________ about what he did.
12. Any “investment counselor” who promises to double your money overnight must be regarded as a(n) _____________________ or a crook.
13. Though my childhood recollections have been ______________________ by the passage of time, they have not been totally effaced from my memory.
14. In a typical James Bond movie, Agent 007 has a series of adventures that are __________________ with tongue-in-cheek peril.
15. His statements have been so uniformly ____________________ that I get the impression that he is wearing a permanent pair of mental blinders.
16. Though critics _____________________ at minor faults in the new Broadway show, the general public loved it.
17. I was relieved to learn that the tumor on my arm was _________________ and my worst fears were groundless.
18. We look _______________________ at any program that makes it harder for city dwellers to get out and enjoy the beauties of nature.
19. During the 14th century, the Black Death suddenly swept across Europe, ____________________ the population and paralyzing everyday life.
20. During imperial times, the Roman Senate was little more than a collection of ____________________ yes-men, intent upon preserving their own lives by gratifying the emperor’s every whim.
III. Synonyms
1. quibble over who is at fault
2. exposed him as a complete fraud
3. vacillated between two choices
4. looked skeptically at their proposals
5. accustomed to extremes of temperature
6. a storm that ravaged the countryside
7. an attempt to scout the interior
8. unwilling to renounce her inheritance
9. shocked by the mess they had created
10. a salutary effect on consumer confidence
11. full of suspense and tension
12. willing to overlook its defects
13. will spurn his offers of marriage
14. his high-handed challenge to our authority
15. in the radiant circle of the spotlight
IV. Antonyms
1. measures that may strengthen the economy
2. an entirely unrepentant gambler and thief
3. her acute handing of the issue
4. assumed an overbearing manner
5. his constant attention to detail
V. Choosing the Right Word
1. We must never allow our passion for justice to be (inured, attenuated) to mere halfhearted goodwill.
2. I have learned that (sporadic, peremptory) sessions of intense “cramming” can never take the place of a regular study program.
3. Somehow or other, a bull got into the china shop and turned it into a complete (shambles, foibles).
4. The (decimated, penitent) youths agreed to work without pay until they could make restitution for the damage their carelessness had caused.
5. When I found that people I admired were looking (askance, sporadic) at my unconventional clothing, I resolved to remedy the situation.
6. How could you have the heart to (rebuff, cavil) those people’s piteous appeals for aid?
7. Since he didn’t want to give me credit for having done a good job, he took refuge in endless (foibles, cavils) about my work.
8. Imagine the general disappointment when the so-called “miracle cure” was exposed as a fraud promoted by a (charlatan, cavil).
9. Over the years, her (luminous, obtuse) descriptions and scintillating wit have helped her students master the difficult subject she taught.
10. Their relationship has been so (fraught, benign) with strife and malice that I don’t see how they can ever patch things up.
11. Though I admire the woman’s strong points, I find her (rebuffs, foibles) comic.
12. All angles are classified as acute, right, (obtuse, benign), or straight, according to the number of degrees they contain.
13. Though the small nation was always ready to settle a conflict peacefully, it was not afraid to use (luminous, peremptory) force when necessary.
14. At an autocrat’s court, free speech is usually replaced by the (penitent, obsequious) twaddle of self-serving flunkies and toadies.
15. Do you want to be a ballet dancer badly enough to (oscillate, forgo) all other activities?
16. Bank robbers often spend a good deal of time (reconnoitering, rebuffing) the neighborhood in which the bank they intend to rob is located.
17. During the Civil War the ranks of both armies were (decimated, rebuffed) as much by disease as by enemy action.
18. Even though my experiences in battle have (inured, caviled) me to scenes of suffering, I was horrified by th devastation wrought by the tornado.
19. Since he is not guided by form principles, he (attenuates, oscillates) between the rival factions, looking for support from both of them.
20. We believe that classes taught by teachers with specialized training will have a (sporadic, benign) effect on the troubled children.
VI. Vocabulary in Context
Squirrel It Away!
With 260 known species, squirrels are found worldwide. Some are tree-dwelling, others (flying squirrels) glide from tree to tree by means of furry flaps of skin that connect their front and hind legs, and still others (chipmunks) are terrestrial. Most often when we think of squirrels, we envision they gray ones indigenous to North America that collect nuts from tree to tree, reconnoitering the local neighborhoods in search of new sources of food.
Like rats and mice, squirrels are classified in the rodent family. Some might look askance at their behavior, peremptorily condemning these creatures who notoriously decimate bird feeders and, along with the less comely members of their rodent family, make a shambles of garbage bags left for collection on city streets.
But the squirrel has some benign attributes as well, and people have been known to keep them as pets, or feed them in parks and backyards. It has learned to live with humans in cities, but can also survive in places as rural as the North American tundra. It is an important part of the ecosystem, and its digestion of such things as hard shells of nuts, seeds, and pine cones helps renew soil and scatter seeds. While it may be tempting to allow familiarity to breed contempt, one should consider the fact that squirrels might even be capable of communication. Some infer that the pitch and duration of the shrill sounds they make have meanings, and that even tail gestures are a form of communication. The most common gesture is the “flickering,” which means “get away!”
1. Reconnoitering most nearly means
a. Showing
b. Recognizing
c. Sectioning
d. Scouting
2. Askance most nearly means
a. Curiously
b. Suspiciously
c. Seriously
d. Fondly
3. Peremptorily is best defined as
a. Conditionally
b. Angrily
c. Unconditionally
d. Sweepingly
4. The meaning of decimate is
a. Ravage
b. Drop
c. Decorate
d. Locate
5. Shambles most nearly means
a. Mess
b. Vision
c. Terrain
d. Disruption
6. The meaning of benign is
a. Benevolent
b. Courageous
c. Endangered
d. Destructive