DRILL 7

Question 1

By the third day of being sick with the flu, her feelings of _______ were so strong, all she could do was lie on the couch, unable even to get up to shower.

    vitality

    innuendo

    lethargy

    freshness

    hunger

    weariness

Question 2

When he fell into the pit of vipers, Jake was instantly _______ about the possibility of getting bitten by a poisonous snake.

    distressed

    apprehensive

    amazed

    ambivalent

    optimistic

    equivocal

Question 3

Jane was so passionately insistent on her assertions during the negotiation that her _______ tone was noted as the main reason her team prevailed.

    compromised

    adamant

    unusual

    unsteady

    unwavering

    vacillating

Question 4

When the 25 dogs and cats escaped for the third time that month, the mayor publicly expressed his _______ regarding the clear and ongoing mismanagement of the city kennel.

    discontentment

    approval

    contempt

    reverence

    joy

    lethargy

Question 5

The young employee was more _______ by his new assignment than he seemed to be, for his confusion was disguised by his confident smile.

    perturbed

    discomposed

    placated

    vilified

    conciliated

    belabored

Question 6

Compulsory math and science courses are _______ requirements for many liberal arts students whose minds are more attuned to philosophical debate.

    facile

    stupefying

    meticulous

    elementary

    exacting

    onerous

Question 7

As _______ a dancer as she was, at least in the opinion of the general public, her failure to have trained at the illustrious Kirov School of Ballet precluded her from achieving the coveted title of prima ballerina assoluta.

    perfunctory

    evanescent

    consummate

    fulsome

    noisome

    virtuoso

Question 8

After months of research, the degree candidate was confident in the validity of her thesis, but certain key errors in methodology left the review committee _______.

    persuaded

    mollified

    dubious

    irked

    convinced

    incredulous

Question 9

Because the discovery of the ancient letters _______ the historian’s claims about the inhabitants of that time, the historian must reconsider the premises of his life’s work.

    innervates

    belies

    corroborates

    controverts

    anticipates

    validates

Question 10

The theater critic made an appeal in his most recent review for playwrights to avoid _______ characters and situations, for he could not sit through one more trite play.

    judicious

    banal

    rapturous

    expedient

    entrancing

    pedestrian

Question 11

Consider the _______ of the nature of war, the outcome of which can hardly be considered favorable even for those who emerge victorious.

    enormity

    exposition

    bombast

    austerity

    depravity

    hegemony

Question 12

The legitimacy of a fledgling political party is highly dependent on the decorum of its members, since the _______ behavior of any one person can be used to disparage an entire movement.

    garrulous

    debauched

    reticent

    profligate

    cogent

    capricious

Question 13

Although typically quite lucid in his explanations of his theories, James used words that were so _______ that the students asked him to review yesterday’s discussion in its entirety.

    realistic

    obvious

    abstruse

    benevolent

    obscure

    disparate

Question 14

The Renaissance, Dutch masters, Impressionists, and Cubist paintings were all installed in the same museum gallery with what seemed to be no consideration to the arrangement, but closer examination revealed that the _______ was actually arranged in alphabetic order of work title.

    jumble

    littoral

    chromatic

    gallimaufry

    melisma

    diatribe

Question 15

The halcyon days of the new administration belied the president’s _______ journey to the White House.

    facile

    tortuous

    anfractuous

    imperial

    dexterous

    felicitous

Question 16

After being defeated in 2007, the Australian Liberal party needed to find a leader who could return them to power; they hope that the current leader, a _______ social conservative who leads the opposition on a number of issues, including stem cell research and carbon trading, and who wrote a book with the telling title Battlelines, may be the man for the job.

    compliant

    circumspect

    diffident

    pugnacious

    milquetoast

    disputatious

Question 17

The bill pushed through by the foreign government was touted as increasing transparency, professional integrity, and independence for the media; in reality, though, the bill was simply a way for the officials to protect their cronyism from the newspapers that had been _______ in their attempts to expose government corruption.

    assiduous

    lackadaisical

    perfunctory

    eschewed

    abjured

    sedulous

Question 18

The preening emperor loved to display sartorial splendor, and regularly gave great attention to the detail of his _______.

    panegyric

    raiment

    fetes

    caparison

    soirees

    oratory

Question 19

Though Marian thought her grandmother’s hat was unquestionably _______, the young woman respected her elders enough to make no comment on her grandmother’s fashion choices.

    iconoclastic

    imperious

    haughty

    gaudy

    garish

    heretical

Question 20

The other students in the dining hall quickly learned to avoid any table where Fred was sitting because he constantly interjected _______ remarks into every conversation going on nearby.

    puerile

    crude

    limpid

    inimical

    jejune

    insidious