click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Kaplan top words 1
Question | Answer |
---|---|
abate | to reduce in amount, degree, or severity |
castigate | to punish or criticize harshly |
decorum | appropriatenenss of behaviour or conduct; propriety |
enervate | to reduce in strength |
fervid | intensely emotional; feverish |
gregarious | outgoing, sociable |
iconoclast | one who opposes established beliefs, customs, and institutions |
malinger | to evade responsibility by pretending to be ill |
obdurate | hardened in feeling; resistant to persuasion |
paragon | model of excellence or perfection |
quiescent | motionless |
quiescent | Many animals are _______ over the winter months, minimizing activity in order to conserve energy. |
rarefy | to make thinner or sparser |
rarefy | Since the atmospher ___________ as altitudes increase, the air at the top of the very tall mountains is too thin to breathe. |
soporific | causing sleep or lethargy |
soporific | The movie proved to be so __________ that soon loud snores were heard throughout the theater. |
tacit | done without words |
tacit | Although not a word had been said, everyone in the room knew that a ________ agreement had been made about which course of action to take. |
paragon | She is the ___________ of what a judge should be: honest, intelligent, hardworking, and just. |
obdurate | The president was completely _________ on the issue, and no amount of persuasion would change his mind. |
malinger | A common way to avoid the draft was by _______ pretending to be mentally or physically ill so as to avoid being taken by the Army. |
iconoclast | His lack of regard for traditional beliefs soon established him as an _______. |
gregarious | She was so __________ that when she found herself alone, she felt quite sad. |
fervid | The fans of Maria Callas were unusally _ doing anything to catch a glimpse of the great opera singer. |
enervate | The guerrillas hoped that a series of surprise attacks would _______ the regular army. |
decorum | The countess complained that the vulgar peasants lacked the _____ appropriate for the visit to the palace. |
castigate | Many Americans are amazed at how harshly the authorities in Singapore ____ perpetrators of what would be considered minor crimes in the United States. |
abate | As the hurricane's force _, the winds dropped and the sea became calm. |
inchoate | not fully formed; disorganized |
inchoate | The ideas expressed in Nietzsche's mature work also appear in an ___________ form in his earliest writing. |
engender | to produce, cause, or bring about |
engender | His fear and hatred of clowns was ______________ when he witnessed the death of his fater at the hands of a clown. |
erudite | learned, scholarly, bookish |
erudite | The annual meeting of philosophy professors was a gathering of the most _________, well-published individuals in the field. |
desultory | jumping from one thing to another; disconnected |
desultory | Dian had a _______ academic record; she had changed majors 12 times in three years. |
abscond | to leave secretly |
abscond | The patron ________ from the restaurant without paying his bill by sneaking out the back door. |
capricious | Queen Elizabeth I was quite ______ her courtiers could never be sure which of their number would catch her fancy. |
deference | respect, courtesy |
deference | The respectful young law clerk treated the Suprem Court Justice with the utmost ___________. |
elegy | a sorrowful poem or speech |
elegy | Although Thomas Gray's "_____ Written in a Country Churchyard" is about death and loss, it urges its readers to endure this life and to trust in spirituality. |
florid | excessively decorated or embellished |
florid | The palace had been decorated in a _ style; every surface had been carved and gilded. |
guile | deceit or trickery |
guile | Since he was not fast enought to catch the roadrunner on foot, the coyote resorted to ___ in an effort to trap his enemy. |
implacable | unable to be calmed down or made peaceful |
implacable | His rage at the betrayal was so great that he remained ______ for weeks. |
laconic | using few words |
laconic | She was a _____ poet who built her reputation on using words as sparingly as possible. |
misanthrope | a person who dislikes others |
misanthrope | The character Scrooge in A Christmas Carol is such a _ that even the sight of children singing makes him angry. |
obsequious | overly submissive and eager to please |
obsequious | The __ new associate made sure to compliment her supervisor's tie and agree with him on every issue. |
pedant | someone who shows off learning |
pedant | The graduate instructor's tedious and excessive commentary on the subject soon gained her a reputation as a _________. |
repudiate | to reject the validity of |
repudiate | The old woman's claim that she was Russian royalty was _ when DNA test showed she was of no relation to them. |
specious | deceptively attractive; seemingly plausible but fallacious |
specious | The student's __ excuse for being late sounded legitimate but was proved otherwise when her teacher called her home. |
ameliorate | to make better; to improve |
ameliorate | The doctor was able to __ the patient's suffering using painkillers. |
chicanery | deception by means of craft or guile |
chicanery | Dishonest used care sales people often use __ to sell bheir beat-up old cars. |
disabuse | to set right; to free from error |
disabuse | Galileo's observations ____ scholars of the notion that the sun revolved around the earth. |
enigma | a puzzle; a mystery |
enigma | Speaking in riddles and dressed in old robes, the artist gained a reputation as something of an __. |
ephemeral | lasting a short time |
ephemeral | The lives of mayflies seem __ to us, since the flies' average life span is a matter of hours. |
euphemism | use of an inoffensive word or phrase in place of a more distateful one |
euphemism | The funeral director preferred to use the _ spleeping instead of the word dead. |
ingenuous | showing innocence or childlike simplicity |
ingenuous | She was so _- that her friends feard that her innocence and trustfulness would be exploited when she visited the big city. |
obviate | to prevent; to make unnecessary |
obviate | The river was shallow enough to wade across at many points, which __ the need for a bridge. |
anachronism | something out of place in time |
anachronism | The aged hippie used ___________ phrases like groovy and far out that had not been popular for years. |
antipathy | extreme dislike |
antipathy | the ___ between the French and the English regularly erupted into open warfare. |
convoluted | intricate and complicated |
convoluted | Although many people bought a "|A Brief History of Time", few could follow its ________ ideas and theories. |
dilatory | intended to delay |
dilatory | The congressman used ________ measures to delay the passage of the bill. |
disparate | fundamentally different; entirely unlike |
disparate | Although the twins appear to be identical physically, their personalities are _________. |
equivocate | to use expressions of double meaning in order to mislead |
equivocate | When faced with criticism of her policies, the politician _________ and left all parties thinking she agreed with them. |
exculpate | to clear from blame; prove innocent |
exculpate | The adversarial legal system is intended to convict those who are guilty and to _________ those who are innocent. |