tone vocab

Question 1

benevolent

Answer 1

characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings:
a benevolent attitude; her benevolent smile.

desiring to help others; charitable:
gifts from several benevolent alumni.

intended for benefits rather than profit:
a benevolent institution.

Question 2

conciliatory

Answer 2

intended to gain goodwill or favor or to reduce hostility

Question 3

ebullient

Answer 3

overflowing with fervor, enthusiasm, or excitement; high-spirited:
The award winner was in an ebullient mood at the dinner in her honor.

bubbling up like a boiling liquid:
ebullient lava streaming down the mountainside.

Question 4

elegiac

Answer 4

used in, suitable for, or resembling an elegy.

expressing sorrow or lamentation:

Question 5

euphoric

Answer 5

feeling or generating intense happiness, confidence, and a sense of well-being:
I’ve experienced both crushing defeat and euphoric victory.
She was euphoric when she received the Oscar.

Psychiatry. relating to or experiencing a pathologically exaggerated feeling of happiness, confidence, or energy:

Question 6

exuberant

Answer 6

effusively and almost uninhibitedly enthusiastic; lavishly abundant:
an exuberant welcome for the hero.

abounding in vitality; extremely joyful and vigorous.

extremely good; overflowing; plentiful:
exuberant health.

profuse in growth or production; luxuriant; superabundant:
exuberant vegetation.

Question 7

jocund

Answer 7

cheerful; merry; blithe; glad:

a witty and jocund group.

Question 8

ominous

Answer 8

portending evil or harm; foreboding; threatening; inauspicious:
an ominous bank of dark clouds.

indicating the nature of a future event, for good or evil; having the significance of an omen; being a portent:
Some of these events were immediately ominous, while others only later revealed themselves as such.

Question 9

pensive

Answer 9

dreamily or wistfully thoughtful:
a pensive mood.

expressing or revealing thoughtfulness, usually marked by some sadness:
a pensive adagio.

Question 10

sanguine

Answer 10

cheerfully optimistic, sometimes to the point of seeming complacent, oblivious, or naive:
a sanguine disposition;

sanguine expectations.
reddish; ruddy:
a sanguine complexion.

Question 11

whimsical

Answer 11

given to whimsy or fanciful notions; capricious:
a pixyish, whimsical fellow.

of the nature of or proceeding from whimsy, as thoughts or actions:
Her writing showed whimsical notions of human behavior.
erratic; unpredictable:

He was too whimsical with regard to his work.

Question 12

wistful

Answer 12

characterized by melancholy or longing.

pensive, especially in a melancholy way.

Question 13

wry

Answer 13

bitterly or disdainfully ironic or amusing:
a wry remark.

produced by a distortion or lopsidedness of the facial features:
a wry grin.

Question 14

didactic

Answer 14

intended for instruction; instructive:
didactic poetry.

inclined to teach or lecture others too much:
a boring, didactic speaker.

teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.

Question 15

lyrical

Answer 15

expressing the writer’s emotions in an imaginative and beautiful way.

Question 16

pithy

Answer 16

(of language or style) concise and forcefully expressive.

brief, forceful, and meaningful in expression; full of vigor, substance, or meaning; terse; forcible:
a pithy observation.

Question 17

reminiscent

Answer 17

awakening memories of something similar; suggestive (usually followed by of):
His style of writing is reminiscent of Melville’s.

Question 18

admonitory

Answer 18

giving or conveying a warning or reprimand.

“the sergeant lifted an admonitory finger”

Question 19

burlesque

Answer 19

an absurd or comically exaggerated imitation of something, especially in a literary or dramatic work; a parody.
“the funniest burlesque of opera”

a variety show, typically including striptease.
“burlesque clubs”

Question 20

colloquial

Answer 20

(of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary.
“colloquial and everyday language”

involving or using conversation.

Question 21

diffident

Answer 21

lacking confidence in one’s own ability, worth, or fitness; timid; shy.

restrained or reserved in manner, conduct, etc.

Question 22

effusive

Answer 22

expressing feelings of gratitude, pleasure, or approval in an unrestrained or heartfelt manner.
“an effusive welcome”

Question 23

fervent

Answer 23

having or displaying a passionate intensity.

“a fervent disciple of tax reform”

Question 24

mock-heroic

Answer 24

adjective
(of a literary work or its style) imitating the style of heroic literature in order to satirize an unheroic subject.
noun
a burlesque imitation of the heroic character or literary style.

Question 25

mock-serious

Answer 25

pretending to be serious as a joke, etc

he added with a mock serious expression

Question 26

nostalgic

Answer 26

experiencing or exhibiting nostalgia, a sentimental or wistful yearning for the happiness felt in a former place, time, or situation.

Question 27

reticent

Answer 27

disposed to be silent or not to speak freely; reserved.

reluctant or restrained.

Question 28

stoic

Answer 28

should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity.

Question 29

zealous

Answer 29

great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective.
“his zeal for privatization”

Question 30

audacious

Answer 30

.
showing a willingness to take surprisingly bold risks.
“a series of audacious takeovers”

.
showing an impudent lack of respect.
“an audacious remark”

Question 31

brusque

Answer 31

abrupt or offhand in speech or manner.

“she could be brusque and impatient”

Question 32

choleric

Answer 32

extremely irritable or easily angered; irascible:

a choleric disposition.

Question 33

contentious

Answer 33

tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome:
a contentious crew.

causing, involving, or characterized by argument or controversy:
contentious issues.

Question 34

derisive

Answer 34

ridicule; mockery:
The inept performance elicited derision from the audience.
an object of ridicule.

Question 35

facetious

Answer 35

not meant to be taken seriously or literally:
a facetious remark.

amusing; humorous.

lacking serious intent; concerned with something nonessential, amusing, or frivolous:
a facetious person.

Question 36

flippant

Answer 36

frivolously disrespectful, shallow, or lacking in seriousness; characterized by levity:
The audience was shocked by his flippant remarks about patriotism.

Question 37

haughty

Answer 37

disdainfully proud; scornfully arrogant; snobbish; supercilious:
haughty aristocrats;
a haughty salesclerk.

Question 38

insipid

Answer 38

without distinctive, interesting, or stimulating qualities; vapid:
an insipid personality.
without sufficient taste to be pleasing, as food or drink; bland:
a rather insipid soup.

Question 39

insolent

Answer 39

boldly rude or disrespectful; contemptuously impertinent; insulting:
an insolent reply.
noun
an insolent person.

Question 40

lugubrious

Answer 40

mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner:
lugubrious songs of lost love.

Question 41

pretentious

Answer 41

characterized by assumption of dignity or importance, especially when exaggerated or undeserved:
a pretentious, self-important waiter.
making an exaggerated outward show; ostentatious.

Question 42

sardonic

Answer 42

characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; sneering; cynical;
a sardonic grin.

Question 43

simpering

Answer 43

affectedly coy or ingratiating.
“she is clearly not a simpering female who can be pushed around”

trying to be friendly and pleasant in a way that appears silly and not sincere.

Question 44

staid

Answer 44

serious, dull, and rather old-fashioned.

Question 45

timorous

Answer 45

a specific kind of fearfulness — the kind that strikes people before giving a speech, or walking into a crowded place where people are socializing.

Question 46

vitriolic

Answer 46

Mean, nasty, and caustic as the worst acid, vitriolic words can hurt feelings, break hearts, and even lead to violence.