| Question | Answers |
| Which of the following can be used to describe a makeshift effort or campaign? | ad hoc |
| A group of symptoms that characterize a disease or disorder is referred to as a: | syndrome |
| To cater to the low tastes or vices of others is to: | pander |
| The opposite of blessing is: | bane |
| Undue favortism to or excessive patronage of one’s relatives is known as: | nepotism |
| Which of the following refers to the belief that the attainment of pleasure is life’s chief aim? | hedonism |
| Which of the following could be used to replace pièce de résistance (sentence 7)? | high point |
| To feel empathy (sentence 8) is to feel: | compassion |
| In sentence 9, depredation means: | plundering |
| In sentence 9, bathos means: | mawkishness |
1. So strong is my _____ with the poems of Robert Frost that I often feel as though I could have written them myself.
empathy
2. Although the law forbids residential separation of the races, we all know that a state of ____ segregation exists in some communities.
de facto
3. How can you compare a mere social ____ with a misdeed that has caused such great harm to other people?
peccadillo
4. We may find _____ annoying, but the fact is that they often serve as “gadflies” to bring about desirable changes.
malcontents
5. The _____ looks that they directed as us made it only too clear that we had little hope for mercy at their hands.
baneful
6. We must not assume that their behavior, however _____ by conventional standards, is a sign of mental illness.
aberrant
7. Then came Miss Bolton’s cornet solo, which we all recognized immediately as the ______ of that long musical evening.
piece de resistance
8. The car was forever breaking down, but its owner seemed to derive a sort of perverse satisfaction out of battling with the ______ old heap.
cantankerous
9. Said Churchill to the British people after the Munich agreement: “we must reject these _____ assurances of ‘peace in out time'”
mellifluous
10. In all aspects of their behavior, Raina and Joe showed the self-indulgence and gross indifference to others that is characteristic of the true _____.
hedonist
11. The ______ of poverty, drug addiction, and crime that afflicts our cities calls for remedial action on a truly national scale.
syndrome
12. The ______ of the terrible disease could be seen only too clearly in her extreme emaciation and feebleness.
depredations
13. A candidate for high public office should seek to debate the issues on an objective level, instead of ____ to the prejudices of the times.
pandering
14. “Am I to be accused of ___” queried the Mayor, “just because my wife, daughter, brother and nephew happen to be the best applicants for the jobs?
nepotism
15. True, we won the game, but I think our team gave a rather ______ performance in beating a weak opponent by so narrow a margin.
lackluster
16. In many respects it is a good movie, but sadly, the director has allowed sentiment to spill over into sentimentality, and sentimentality into _____.
bathos
17. Your efforts to prove that because “no one is perfect” all moral standards are relative and therefore meaningless, struck me as sheer _______.
casuistry
18. The negotiators agreed not to try to draw up an overall treaty but to deal with each specific problem on a(n) _____ basis.
ad hoc
19. With the extreme cold and the deep snows still holding on, the gradual lengthening of the days was the only _____ of Spring.
harbinger
20. We learned with dismay that our application had been neither approved nor rejected, but _____ to a “higher authority for further consideration.”
remanded
21. Our fundraising committee formed ______ in order to more efficiently help the displaced or uninsured families that were affected by the floods.
ad hoc
22. Since you’ve been spending time with these new friends, I sense in you a sort of mental ____ that both worries and disappoints me.
aberration
23. The _____ citizens formed a committee to disseminate a petition, to organize a general strike, and to monitor legislative proceedings.
malcontent
24. The movement of the red fox north into arctic fox territory _____ the continuation of a warming climate.
harbingers
25. The man in the gray cap is a ____ who engages in all kinds of illegal activities but somehow never gets caught.
pander
1. SYBARITISM that is indulged in Las Vegas
hedonism
2. is a HERALD of the coming of winter
harbinger
3. struck me as utter SOPHISTRY
casuistry
4. victims of the PILLAGE
depredation
5. dismissed as SCHMALTZ by critics
bathos
6. seen by scientists as an ANOMALY
aberration
7. committed several INDISCRETIONS
peccadillos
8. the MUSICAL tone of the announcer’s voice
mellifluous
9. charged with FAVORITISM by his opponents
nepotism
10. suffers from a recognizable GROUP OF SYMPTOMS
syndrome
1. the SUBLIMITY of the story’s conclusion
bathos
2. never experienced SELF-DENIAL
hedonism
3. awakened by the SHRILL sound
mellifluous
4. the ISOLATED SIDE EFFECT caused by the medicine
syndrome
5. the refreshing IMPARTIALITY of the manager
nepotism
1. Would it be ungracious of me to suggest that the ______ of the feast, given on the menu as “filet mignon”, had the taste and texture of old shoe leather?
piece de resistance
2. It took years for that country to recover from the _____ wrought by the Second World War and it’s concomitant social and economic dislocations.
depredations
3. The history of the World teaches us that we should never let ourselves be blinded by the meretricious _____ of a demagogue, no matter how appealing it may appear at first glance.
casuistry
4. I find myself in the position of ____ supervisor; now I would like to have the title, salary, and privileges that go along with the job.
de facto
5. Yes, you have scored a quick commercial success, but you have done it only by ____ to low and depraved tastes.
pandering
6. Those sentimentalized effusions introduced a note of ___ into what should have been an occasion marked by dignity and restraint.
bathos
7. Is it too optimistic to hope that your willingness to undertake that thankless task is the _____ of a new maturity and a more responsible attitude?
harbinger
8. Though he had embraced a creed of unabashed _____ in his youth, he ended his life among a group of ascetics living in the desert.
hedonism
9. Because they have followed a policy of bringing in executives and supervisors from the outside, instead of promoting from within their own ranks, the office is filled with grumbling ______.
malcontents
10. Yes, I believe in helping out relatives, but I haven’t spent a lifetime building this business to make it a monument to ______.
nepotism
11. The pitcher’s lightning fastball has proved the _____ of many a celebrated home-run hitter.
bane
12. A high temperature, yellowish complexion, and general feeling of fatigue are all characteristic of the mononucleosis ______.
syndrome
13. He had been happy-go-lucky as a young man, but years of disappointment and misfortune have turned him sour and ______.
cantankerous
14. It was hard to believe that the eager, vibrant youth I had known was now this shabby derelict, staring into space with _____ eyes.
lackluster
15. Those cases that call for further attention will be ____ to the proper agencies.
remanded
16. As there was no agency concerned with race relations, the Mayor created a(n) ____ committee to deal with such matters.
ad hoc
17. I think you are showing poor judgment in condemning them so severely for what is, after all, little more than a(n) _____.
peccadillo
18. How is one to explain that strange ____ from the habits and standards that he had followed for so many years?
aberration
19. Like everyone else, I was charmed by the ____ tones of the speaker, but later I could extract very little real meaning from what she had said.
mellifluous
20. Her visits to the nursing home are motivated not by a detached sense of duty but by a genuine _____ for those who are lonely.
empathy
1. an ABERRATION is a(n)
B. irregularity
2. a BANE is a(n)
D. tribulation
3. someone who is CANTANKEROUS
A. amiable
4. A MALCONTENT is a
D. troublemaker
5. To be REMANDED is to be
C. detained
