Each of the following groups of words is preceded by sentences in which
blanks should be filled by words from that group. But do your best to fill
these blanks properly before you consult the group at all. You must learn
to think of, or think up, the right word instead of having it pointed out
to you.
These benefits were not inherent in the course he had taken; they were
purely ____. Anything which existed before Noah's flood is called ____.
His left hand, which had ceased to grow during his childhood, was now
withered from its long ____. Certain books once belonging to the Bible
have been discarded by the Protestants as ____. When Shakespeare makes
Hector quote Aristotle, who lived long after the siege of Troy, he is
guilty of an ____. Whatever causes the lips to pucker, as alum or a green
persimmon, is spoken of as ____.
Abash, abbreviate, abduct, aberrant, aberration, abeyance, abhorrent,
abject, abjure, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abrasion, abrogate,
absolution, abstemious, abstention, abstruse, accelerate, accentuate,
acceptation, accessary, accession, accessory, acclamation, acclivity,
accolade, accomplice, accost, acerbity, acetic, achromatic, acidulous,
acme, acolyte, acoustics, acquiescence, acquisitive, acrimonious, acumen,
adage, adamantine, addict, adduce, adhesive, adipose, adjudicate,
adolescence, adulation, adulterate, advent, adventitious, aerial,
affability, affidavit, affiliate, affinity, agglomerate, agglutinate,
aggrandizement, agnostic, alignment, aliment, allegorical, alleviate,
altercation, altruistic, amalgamate, amatory, ambiguity, ambrosial,
ameliorate, amenable, amenity, amity, amnesty, amulet, anachronism,
analytical, anathema, anatomy, animadversion, annotate, anomalous,
anonymous, antediluvian, anterior, anthology, anthropology, antinomy,
antiquarianism, antiseptic, aphorism, apocryphal, aplomb, apostasy,
apparatus, apparition, appellate, appertain, appetency, apposite,
approbation, appurtenance, aquatic, aqueous, aquiline, arbitrary, archaic,
arduous, aromatic, arrear, articulate, ascetic, asperity, asphyxiate,
asseverate, assiduity, assimilate, astringent, astute, atrophy, attenuate,
auditory, augury, auscultation, austerity, authenticate, authenticity,
auxiliary, avidity.
The man wished to fight; he was in ____ mood. There is only a handful of
these things; yes, a mere ____. Slight mishaps like these lead to quips
and mutual ____. His conduct is odd, grotesque, ____.
Baccalaureate, badinage, bagatelle, baleful, ballast, banality, baneful,
beatitude, bellicose, belligerent, benefaction, beneficent, benison,
betide, bibulous, bigotry, bizarre, bombastic, burlesque.
This effect was not obtained all at once; it was ____. These subjects
belong to the same general field of knowledge as those; the two sets
are ____. He is a skilled judge of art, a ____. The Southern states were
unwilling to remain in the Union; they could be kept only by ____. Monks
take upon themselves the vow of ____. No, this animal does not live on
vegetation; it is a ____ animal.
Cacophonous, cadaverous, cadence, callow, calumny, capillary, captious,
cardinal, carnal, carnivorous, castigate, cataclysm, catastrophe,
category, causality, cavernous, celebrity, celibacy, censorious, ceramics,
cerebration, certitude, cessation, charlatan, chimerical, chronology,
circuitous, circumlocution, citation, clandestine, clarify, clemency,
coadjutor, coagulate, coalesce, coercion, cogency, cognizant, cohesion,
coincidence, collusion, colossal, comatose, combustible, commendatory,
commensurate, commiserate, communal, compatibility, compendium,
complaisant, comport, composite, compulsive, compulsory, computation,
concatenate, concentric, concessive, concomitant, condign, condiment,
condolence, confiscatory, confute, congeal, congenital, conglomerate,
congruity, connivance, connoisseur, connubial, consensus, consistence,
consort, constriction, construe, contentious, context, contiguity,
contiguous, contingent, contortion, contravene, contumacious, contumacy,
contumelious, convergent, conversant, convivial, correlate, corrigible,
corroborate, corrosive, cosmic, covenant, crass, credence, crescent,
criterion, critique, crucial, crucible, cryptic, crystalline, culmination,
culpable, cumulative, cupidity, cursive, cursory, cutaneous, cynosure.
His course was not prescribed for him by superiors; his powers were ____.
The suppression of these anarchistic tendencies has required ____
measures. She was just entering society, and was proving herself a popular
____. Yes, this tree loses its leaves every year; it is a ____ tree. He
pretends that his ____ are sound, because he can read the stars.
Debilitate, debonair, debutante, decadence, decapitate, deciduous,
declivity, decompose, decorous, dedicatory, deduction, deferential,
deficiency, deglutition, dehiscence, delectable, delete, deleterious,
delineate, deliquescent, demarcation, demimonde, demoniac, denizen,
denouement, deprecate, depreciate, derelict, derogatory, despicable,
desuetude, desultory, deteriorate, diacritical, diagnosis, diaphanous,
diatribe, didactic, diffusive, dilatory, dilettante, dipsomania,
dirigible, discommode, discretionary, discursive, disintegrate, disparity,
dispensable, disseminate, dissimulation, dissonant, distain, divagation,
divination, divulge, dolor, dorsal, drastic, dubiety, duress, dynamic.
These facts do not circulate except among a limited group of people; they
are therefore ____. The departure of the children of Israel from Egypt was
a general ____. His philosophy, instead of conforming to a single system,
was ____. Lamb wrote admirable letters; he has a delightful ____ style.
The period at which our days and nights are of equal length is the ____
period.
Ebullient, ecclesiastical, echelon, eclectic, ecstatic, edict, eerie,
effervescent, efficacious, effrontery, effulgence, effusion, egregious,
eleemosynary, elicit, elite, elucidate, embellish, embryonic, emendation,
emissary, emission, emollient, empiric, empyreal, emulous, encomium,
endue, enervate, enfilade, enigmatic, ennui, enunciate, environ, epicure,
epigram, episode, epistolary, epitome, equestrian, equilibrium,
equinoctial, equity, equivocate, eradicate, erosion, erotic, erudition,
eruptive, eschew, esoteric, espousal, estrange, ethereal, eulogistic,
euphonious, evanescent, evangelical, evict, exacerbate, excerpt,
excommunicate, excoriate, excruciate, execrable, exegesis, exemplary,
exhalation, exhilarate, exigency, exodus, exonerate, exorbitant, exotic,
expectorate, expeditious, explicable, explicit, expunge, extant,
extemporaneous, extrinsic.
He deceives himself by this argument, for the argument is utterly ____.
No complicated action can be planned in absolute detail; much must depend
on ____ circumstance.
Fabricate, fabulous, facetious, factitious, fallacious, fallible,
fastidious, fatuous, feasible, feculence, fecundity, felicitous,
felonious, fetid, feudal, fiducial, filament, filtrate, finesse, flaccid,
flagitious, floriculture, florid, fluctuate, foible, forfeiture,
fortuitous, fractious, franchise, frangible, frontal, froward, furtive.
The advice was both unasked and unwelcome; it was purely ____. Throughout
the World War the ____ of Germany over the other Central European powers
was unquestioned. Buffaloes naturally go together in herds; they are ____.
Galaxy, galleon, garrulity, gesticulate, gormand, granivorous,
grandiloquent, gravamen, gratuitous, gregarious, habitue, hallucination,
harbinger, hardihood, heckle, hectic, hedonist, hegemony, heinous,
herbivorous, heretic, hermaphrodite, heterodox, heterogeneous, hibernate.
histrionic, hoidenism, homiletics, homogeneous, hydraulic, hypothesis.
We cannot understand God's ways; they are ____. Nor need we expect to
change them; they are ____. If an animal has no backbone, it is ____. A
boy so confirmed in his faults that we cannot correct them is ____.
Idiosyncrasy, illicit, immaculate, immanent, imminent, immobile, immure,
immutable, impalpable, impeccable, impecunious, imperturbable, impervious,
implacable, implicit, impolitic, imponderable, importunate, imprecation,
impromptu, improvise, imputation, inadvertent, inamorata, inanity,
incarcerate, inchoate, incidence, incision, incongruent, inconsequential,
incontinent, incorporeal, incorrigible, incredulity, incumbent,
indecorous, indigenous, indigent, indite, indomitable, ineluctable,
inexorable, inexplicable, inferential, infinitesimal, infinitude,
infraction, infusion, inhibit, innocuous, innuendo, inopportune,
insatiable, inscrutable, insidious, inspissated, insulate, intangible,
integral, integument, interdict, internecine, intractable, intransigent,
intrinsic, inure, invalidate, inveigh, inveigle, invertebrate, invidious,
irrefragable, irrefutable, irrelevant, irreparable, irrevocable, iterate.
He overpraised people; he was always engaged in extravagant ____ of
somebody or other. The small man who has written a book becomes
pretentious at once and regards himself as one of the ____. Thatcher is
always engaged in lawsuits; he is the most ____ man I ever saw.
Jocose, jocund, jurisprudence, juxtaposition, kaleidoscopic, labyrinth,
lacerate, lackadaisical, lacrimal, laity, lambent, lampoon, largess,
lascivious, laudable, laudation, lavation, legionary, lethargic,
licentious, lineal, lingual, literati, litigious, loquacity, lubricity,
lucent, lucre, lucubration, lugubrious.
Those soldiers are fighting, not for principle, but for pay; they are
____. Iron that is not heated cannot be hammered into shape; it is not
____.
Machination, macrocosm, magisterial, magniloquent, maladroit, malfeasance,
malignity, malleable, mandate, matutinal, medieval, mephitic, mercenary,
mercurial, meretricious, metamorphose, meticulous, microcosm,
misanthropic, misogyny, misprision, mitigate, monitor, mortuary,
mundane, mutable.
It is a government by the few; therefore an ____. All the men of influence
in the state give offices to their kinsmen; the system is one of ____.
Yes, grandfather is eighty years old today; he has become an ____.
Nebulous, nefarious, negation, neophyte, nepotism, neurotic, noisome,
nomenclature, nonchalant, non sequitur, nucleus, nugatory, obdurate,
objurgation, obligatory, obloquy, obsequious, obsession, obsolete,
obstreperous, obtrusive, obtuse, obverse, obviate, occult, octogenarian,
officious, olfactory, oleaginous, oligarchy, ominous, onomatopceia,
opacity, opaque, opprobrious, oracular, orthodox, oscillate, osculate,
ostensible, ostentation, ostracize, outré, ovation, overture.
In England the eldest son inherits the title and the estate, but Americans
do not take to a system of ____. You are always putting off until tomorrow
what you could do today; do you think it pays to ____ thus? An ambassador
whose powers are unlimited is called an ambassador ____. Beasts or men
that are given to plundering are ____.
Pabulum, pageantry, paginate, palatial, palliate, palpable, panacea,
panegyric, panorama, paradoxical, paramount, parasite, parochial,
paroxysm, parsimonious, parturition, patois, patriarchal, patrician,
patrimony, peccadillo, pecuniary, pedantic, pellucid, pendulous,
penultimate, penurious, peregrination, perfunctory, peripatetic,
periphery, persiflage, perspicacious, perspicuity, pertinacious,
pharmaceutic, phenomenal, phlegmatic, phraseology, pictorial, piquant,
pique, plagiarize, platitudinous, platonic, plebeian, plenipotentiary,
plethora, pneumatic, poignant, polity, poltroon, polyglot, pontifical,
portentous, posterior, posthumous, potent, potential, pragmatic, preamble,
precarious, precocious, precursor, predatory, predestination, predicament,
preemptory, prelate, preliminary, preposterous, prerequisite, prerogative,
presentiment, primogeniture, probation, probity, proclivity,
procrastinate, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profligate, progenitor,
proletarian, prolific, prolix, promiscuous, promissory, propaganda,
propensity, prophylactic, propinquity, propitiatory, propitious,
proprietary, prorogue, proselyte, prototype, protuberant, provender,
proximity, prurient, psychical, psychological, puerile, pugnacious,
puissant, punctilious, pungent, punitive, pusillanimous, putrescent,
pyrotechnics.
The coil of wire, being ____, instantly resumed its original shape. Some
one must arrange these papers for publication; will you be their ____?
Poe's mind had a bent toward ____: it could reason out a whole chain of
circumstances from one or two known facts. He showed a disposition not to
comply with these instructions; yes, he was ____.
Rabbinical, rancorous, rapacious, ratiocination, rational, raucous,
recalcitrant, recant, recapitulate, recession, reciprocal, reciprocate,
recluse, recondite, recreant, recrudescence, rectilinear, rectitude,
recumbent, redactor, redress, redound, refractory, refulgent, rejuvenate,
relevant, rendezvous, rendition, reparation, repercussion, repertory,
replenish, replete, replevin, reprehend, reprobate, repulsive, requisite,
rescind, residue, residuum, resilient, resplendent, resurgence,
resuscitate, reticulate, retribution, retrograde, retrospect, rigorous,
risible, rodomontade, rudimentary, ruminate.
His position carries no responsibility; it is a ____. The moon revolves
about the earth, and is therefore the earth's ____. His work keeps him at
his desk all day; it is ____ work. Your words incite men to disorder and
rebellion; they are ____.
Saccharine, sacerdotal, sacrament, sacrilege, salient, salubrious,
sardonic, satellite, saturnine, schism, scurrilous, sectarian, secular,
sedative, sedentary, seditious, sedulous, segregate, seismograph,
senescent, sententious, septuagenarian, sequester, sibilant, similitude,
sinecure, sinuous, solicitous, solstice, somnolent, sophisticated,
sophistry, sorcery, spasmodic, specious, spirituelle, splenetic,
spontaneity, sporadic, spurious, stipend, stipulate, stoical, stricture,
stringency, stultify, stupendous, sublimity, suborn, subpoena, subsidiary,
subsidy, substratum, subtend, subterfuge, subterranean, subvention,
subvert, sudorific, supercilious, supernal, supervene, supine,
supposititious, surreptitious, surrogate, surveillance, susceptible,
sustenance, sycophantic, syllogism, sylvan, symmetrical, symposium,
synchronize, synonymous, synopsis, synthesis.
The small stream flows into the larger one and is its ____. The thick
glass roof lets through sufficient light for us to see by; it is ____. You
will not find him hard to manage; he has spirit enough, yet is ____.
Tactile, tangible, tantamount, temerity, tenable, tenacious, tentative,
tenuous, termagant, terrestrial, testimentary, thaumaturgic, therapeutic,
titular, torso, tortuous, tractable, traduce, transcendent,
transfiguration, transient, transitory, translucent, transverse, travesty,
tribulation, tributary, truculent, truncate, turbid, turpitude, tyro.
He is so extravagantly fond of his wife that I should call him ____.
Christ died for others; it was a ____ death. The most notable quality in
Defoe's narrative is its likeness to actual facts, or in a word, its ____.
Ubiquity, ulterior, ululation, umbrage, unanimous, undulate, urbanity,
usurious, uxorious, vacillate, vacuous, vandalism, variegate, velocity,
venal, venereal, venial, venous, veracious, verdant, verisimilitude,
vernacular, versatile, vestal, vibratory, vicarious, vicissitude,
virulence, viscid, viscous, vitiate, vitreous, vituperate, vivacious,
volatile, volition, voluminous, voluptuary, voluptuous, voracious, votive,
vulnerable, whimsical, zealot.