Group 1

Question 1

Conciliatory

Answer 1

trying to gain one’s friendship or good will

-It would be silly to be conciliatory to an angry lion

Question 2

Concur

Answer 2

to agree

-Wouldn’t you concur that the purr of a cat is a pleasant sound?

Question 3

Empathy

Answer 3

feeling what another feels

-When I saw Emma stumble on the path, I felt empathy for her; I had stumbled in the same place a week earlier

Question 4

Industrious

Answer 4

hard-working

-to be successful in an industry, one must be industrious

Question 5

Irony

Answer 5

humor based on contradiction

-Yesterday, I finally washed my dirty car; ironically, it rained today

Question 6

Overt

Answer 6

obvious

-Vern made his dislike of the politician overt by screaming loudly at her

Question 7

Precedence

Answer 7

status

-When I dine, the quality of the food takes precedence over the beauty of the restaurant

Question 8

Reconcile

Answer 8

to bring into agreement or harmony

-It is difficult to reconcile the cheerful attitude he has today with the rage he displayed yesterday

Question 9

Robust

Answer 9

healthy; strong

-Rob was so robust that he busted the door down

Question 10

Paucity

Answer 10

lack of

Question 11

Supple

Answer 11

flexible, moldable

Question 12

Glutton

Answer 12

pig, overdoer

Question 13

Adroit

Answer 13

skillful

Question 14

Exacerbate

Answer 14

make worse

Question 15

Ameliorate

Answer 15

make better

Question 16

Venal

Answer 16

evil intent

Question 17

Furtive

Answer 17

sneaky

Question 18

Censure

Answer 18

criticize, blame

Question 19

Extol

Answer 19

praise

Question 20

Pliable

Answer 20

gullible

Question 21

Pilfer

Answer 21

steal (small amounts)

Question 22

Penchant

Answer 22

tendency, knack, liking

Question 23

Reproach

Answer 23

scold

Question 24

Agnostic

Answer 24

so so about god

Question 25

Ambivalent

Answer 25

can’t decide

Question 26

Quixotic

Answer 26

strange, weird

Question 27

Empiric

Answer 27

observational

Question 28

Conspicuous

Answer 28

big, noticeable

Question 29

Brevity

Answer 29

short

Question 30

Admonish

Answer 30

to scold

-My mom constantly admonishes me

Question 31

Bombastic

Answer 31

conceited; inflated; pretentious (usually with speech or writing)
-The senator thought that his bombastic speech was fantastic; however, everyone listening knew that he was full of hot air

Question 32

Enigma

Answer 32

mystery; puzzling occurrence

-The location of Amelia Earhart’s plane remains an enigma

Question 33

Equivocal

Answer 33

ambiguous; intentionally vague; intending to mislead or deceive
-The plaintiff was equivocal about his whereabouts the night of the murder

Question 34

Erroneous

Answer 34

wrong; untrue

-Something erroneous is in error

Question 35

Esoteric

Answer 35

only understood by few

-Esoteric Eric’s obscure, teary-eyed exclamations scare everyone but his closest friends, who know that he’s only joking

Question 36

Indulgent

Answer 36

overly lenient; tolerant

-A true gentleman is indulgent of even the most dull guests

Question 37

Presumptuous

Answer 37

rude; arrogant

-It was presumptuous of the president to assume that I would vote for him

Question 38

Denounce

Answer 38

to criticize; to formally accuse

-David denounced the politician as someone without even an ounce of moral values

Question 39

Disparage

Answer 39

mock, belittle

-The apple aficionado disparaged the pear

Question 40

Elitist

Answer 40

conceited; pride in belonging to a special group

-The elitist elf thought that he was better than any tall person