| Question | Answers |
| To soak or stain thoroughly is to: | imbue |
| Which of the following is the opposite of rigid? | malleable |
| If an essay is not fully shaped or formed, it might be described as: | inchoate |
| Another word for disaster is: | cataclysm |
| To feel ambivalent (sentence 1) is to be: | of two minds |
| Which of the following words could not be used to replace queasy (sentence 2)? | untroubled |
| Philistines (sentence 4) are those who are lacking in: | cultural and artistic values |
| To lampoon (sentence 4) performance is to: | ridicule it |
| Which of the following words could be used to replace gambol (sentence 5)? | cavort |
| In sentence 5, éclat means: | brilliance |
inchoate
You made some rather clever suggestions at the meeting, but on the whole your ideas were far too _____ to serve as the basis for a workable plan.
opt
Perhaps once in a generation, a people is faced with a great moral crisis in which it must _____ for good or evil, war or peace, life or death.
fastidious
Oscar’s careless housekeeping and sloppy habits were an endless source of exasperation to his _____ roommate.
philistine
Should we expect the needs and purposes of a true poet to be understood by such a thoroughgoing _____?
picaresque
Instead of settling down to a job and a family, Tom seems to be modeling his life on the career of some rogue out of a _____ novel.
debauched
How could they have _____ themselves by joining in that obscene celebration?
malleable
Such capacity for growth and self-improvement can be expected only in the _____ years of the teens and early twenties.
nemesis
I was confident that I would do well in the scholarship examination, but my hopes were dashed by my old _____, mathematics.
cataclysm
Many scientists are fearful that the West Coast may someday suffer a _____ as violent as the earthquake that devastated San Francisco in 1906.
ambivalent
Her equivocal answers to my questions about going to college in the fall clearly revealed her _____ attitude toward leaving home.
abeyance
There are circumstances under which it is desirable to make decisions swiftly and unequivocally, but there are other cases in which it is wise to hold decisions in _____.
refractory
Though Jane’s mount was as docile as a newborn lamb, mine proved to be the most _____ animal I had ever ridden.
beleaguered
A host of creditors _____ the hapless businessman with demands for payment and threats of legal action.
carte blanche
Since I had unlimited faith in their honesty and discretion, I felt no qualms about giving them _____ to do whatever they thought was necessary.
imbue
The purpose of the course in American history is to _____ young people with a genuine understanding and appreciation of what this country stands for.
lampoon
The entire issue of the magazine was designed as a _____ satirizing the follies and futilities of mass-consumption advertising.
eclat
The young pianist dazzled the audience with the _____ and verve of his performance.
gambol
As we turned in to the ranch, we saw two young colts _____ playfully in the open field.
queasy
I freely confess that just the sight of a roller coaster is enough to make me feel _____.
savoir-faire
They showed such a deplorable lack of _____ in handling that difficult situation that they converted a mere unpleasantness into a social disaster.
