CREATIVITY
& PRODUCTIVITY
& PRODUCTIVITY
A team of clinicians was assembled to ________ the development of the new vaccine.
a. digress
b. perjure
c. facilitate
d. confound
c. facilitate (v)
facilis easy (< facere to do or make)
to make easier :
Forms: facile = simplistic, facilitator = one who makes a process easier, facility = a natural ability; ease
Root family: [fac, fec, fic] benefactor (one who provides a benefit), munificent (generous) Don’t confuse facility with felicity (intense happiness).
Don’t confuse facile with vassal (a feudal landowner) or docile (submissive).
Usage: See usage note at expedite in this section.
I’m _________ that our team will be able to come back and win.
a. dubious
b. placid
c. candid
d. disingenuous
a. dubious (adj)
dubium doubt
[1] questionable : That is a dubious claim, bordering on the absurd. Synonyms: controvertible, suspect
[2] doubting :
Forms: dubiousness = doubtfulness
Synonyms: vacillating
Root family: [dub] indubitable (without a doubt), doubt
He abandoned his _________ banking job for a more fulfilling career in teaching.
a. lavish
b. indigent
c. exemplar
d. lucrative
d. lucrative (adj)
lucrum profit
highly profitable :
Synonyms: remunerative, gainful
Root family: [lucr] lucre (profit, usually that which is ill-gotten)
I was crestfallen to discover that my father was _________.
a. infallible
b. fallible
c. archaic
d. affable
b. fallible (adj)
fallere to deceive
capable of making mistakes or errors :
Forms: infallible = incapable of making errors
Root family: [fall, fals] fallacy (a mistaken belief), fault (an unsatisfactory feature), fail (to be unsuccessful)
Kyra was _________ about entering the abandoned house.
a. callous
b. apprehensive
c. aesthetic
d. superfluous
b. apprehensive (adj)
prehendere to grasp, to seize
anxious that something bad might happen :
Form: apprehension = fear that something bad might happen; the taking of a criminal suspect into custody Synonyms: fretful, disquieted
Root family: [prehens] comprehensive (thorough and complete), reprehensible (morally objectionable) Don’t confuse with: comprehensive (thorough and complete)
Mnemonic: The word apprehend, deriving as it does from the Latin prehendere, meaning “to grasp or seize,” means “to arrest” (apprehend a criminal) or “to perceive or understand superficially” (apprehend danger). Apprehensive, however, does not derive from either of those meanings, but rather the idea of being “seized” with fear.
The arts and letters _________ during the Harlem Renaissance.
a. flourished
b. belied
c. languished
d. dispersed
a. flourished (v)
florere to flower
to grow vigorously; prosper :
Don’t confuse with: florid (characterized by flowery language), flourish (n) (an extravagant action, usually done to attract attention : The dance number concluded with a flourish of backflips)
Mnemonic: The noun flourish and the verb flourish both derive from florere (to flower) but have distinct meanings. A flourish is a “flowery or extravagant display to attract attention,” whereas to flourish means to “blossom like a flower.” Florid also derives from florere but means “characterized by flowery language.”
David’s bluster _______ his lack of self-confidence.
a. rectifies
b. languishes
c. belies
d. extricates
c. belies (v)
[1] to fail to give a true impression of something :
[2] to betray; to show to be untrue : The evidence belies the defendant’s claim.
Mnemonic: To belie something is to be a lie about something (meaning [1]) or to show it to be a lie (meaning [2]).
Jay Gatsby threw _______ parties at his elegant mansion.
a. fervent
b. opulent
c. effusive
d. nebulous
b. opulent (adj)
ostentatiously rich or lavish :
Form: opulence = lavishness
Synonyms: grandiose, ritzy, splendid
Don’t confuse with: opalescent (exhibiting a milky iridescence, as an opal)
The president gave a very _______ interview just one month after leaving office.
a. dearth
b. candid
c. spurious
d. empirical
b. candid (adj)
candidus white
honest and straightforward :
Form: candor = honesty and forthrightness
Synonyms: frank, ingenuous
Mnemonic: Candid derives from the Latin candidus, which means “white,” because white has long been associated with purity and honesty. The related word, candidate, derives from the fact that, in ancient Rome, candidates for office wore white togas. In naming his title character Candide, Voltaire was emphasizing his pure, ingenuous nature.
I was _______ at the sight of her photograph.
a. bashed
b. abashed
c. bashful
d. ashamed
b. abashed (v)
to cause to feel embarrassed or ashamed :
Form: abashed = embarrassed, unabashed = confidently unashamed
Don’t confuse with: bash ((v) hit forcefully; (n) a lively party)
Mnemonic: Abash means to make bashful.
The ________ of the new medicine could hardly be denied.
a. latency
b. guile
c. duplicity
d. efficacy
d. efficacy (n)
facere to do, to make
the ability to produce the intended result :
Forms: efficacious = effective, inefficacious = ineffective
Root family: [fic, fac, fec, -ify] facile (simplistic), munificent (generous), diversify (to make more varied), ossify (to turn into bone), proficient (competent or skilled)
Don’t confuse with: efficiency (quality of achieving substantial results with a minimum of energy)
Usage: A process or instrument that works efficaciously performs its task particularly well. One that works efficiently, on the other hand, performs its task at least adequately, but with minimal expense or input.
David Rohde was able to use _______ and patience to escape his Taliban captors.
a. impetus
b. disdain
c. derision
d. guile
d. guile (n)
cunning or slyness in attaining a goal :
Form: guileless = innocent; incapable of deceit
Synonyms: cunning, artfulness, wiles
Don’t confuse with: guise (outward appearance)
She charged a(n) _________ fee for only a few hours’ work.
a. exorbitant
b. ebullient
c. palpable
d. innocuous
a. exorbitant (adj)
ex- out + orbita track, course
excessive ; exceeding the bounds of propriety or reason :
Synonym: prohibitive
Root family: [e-, ex-] extol (to praise highly), extemporaneous (without planning), exuberant (filled with liveliness and energy), elusive (difficult to catch or achieve)
Root family: [orb] orbit (elliptical path of a satellite)
Unlike most artists, Warhol eschewed the _________ lifestyle and in fact reveled in his life of celebrity.
a. prodigious
b. prolific
c. introspective
d. innocuous
c. introspective (adj)
intro- into + specere to look at
inclined to look inward; meditative :
Form: introspection = the act of self-examination
Synonyms: reflective, meditative, pensive
Root family: [spec] speculation (guess based on insufficient evidence), circumspect (cautious), inspect (to examine closely) Don’t confuse with: retrospective (looking back in time)
Howard accepted our invitation to brunch with ________.
a. anachronism
b. apathy
c. dignity
d. alacrity
d. alacrity (n)
cheerful eagerness :
Synonyms: ardor, fervor, dispatch
Don’t confuse with: anachronism (something out of place in time), clarity (clearness)
The therapy helped him regain the _______ of his youth.
a. erudition
b. vigor
c. rigor
d. temperance
b. vigor (n)
good health and physical strength :
Forms: invigorating = giving energy or strength, vigorous = full of energy and strength Synonyms: robustness, hardiness, virility
Don’t confuse with: rigor (thoroughness or strictness)
Don’t confuse with: erudite (scholarly)
Unlike most politicians, she discusses tax policies openly, rather than using _________ to hide her true motives and affiliations.
a. chimera
b. deference
c. deferment
d. chicanery
d. chicanery (n)
devious trickery or evasion :
Synonyms: ruse, machination
Don’t confuse with: chimera (something unrealistic or hopelessly wishful)
Mnemonic: Imagine a chick doing magic in a cannery.
We decorated our house tastefully, avoiding the _________ Christmas displays that were so common in town.
a. imperious
b. ostentatious
c. audacious
d. strident
b. ostentatious (adj)
ostens presented for display
intended to attract attention; characterized by vulgar and pretentious display :
Form: ostentation = pretentious and vulgar display
Synonyms: pretentious, flamboyant, gaudy, ornate, garish
Root family: [osten] ostensible (appearing to be true, but not necessarily so) Don’t confuse with: austere
The painting gave _________ pleasure.
a. prosaic
b. banal
c. synthetic
d. aesthetic
d. aesthetic (adj)
aistheta perceptible things
concerned with the appreciation of beauty or art :
Forms: aesthete = one who has or pretends to have special aesthetic sense, aesthetics = the principles or study of beauty and art Root family: [esthe] anesthetic (a substance that reduces sensitivity to pain), synesthesia (stimulation of one sense modality by another, such as seeing colors while hearing music)
Don’t confuse with: ascetic (a person who practices strict religious self-discipline), prosthetic (pertaining to an artificial limb or other body part)
The tension in the room was _________.
a. archaic
b. circuitous
c. palpable
d. transient
c. palpable (adj)
palpare to touch gently
perceivable by touch; so intense as to seem touchable
Form: palpate = to touch gently, especially to diagnose a medical condition
Mnemonic: When you go the doctor with stomach pains, the doctor palpates your stomach with his or her palm to feel the pain.
He was _________ in his research, checking every reference and tracing its history.
a. auspicious
b. vicious
c. assiduous
d. altruistic
c. assiduous (adj)
showing great care and perseverance :
Synonyms: diligent, industrious, sedulous
Don’t confuse with: deciduous ((of tree) shedding its leaves annually), arduous ((of a task) requiring strenuous effort) Mnemonic: Imagine a hardworking scientist mixing acid in two (duo) beakers.
The modern-sounding dialogue was conspicuously _________ for a movie set in the 1920s.
a. anachronistic
b. synchronistic
c. antagonistic
d. animistic
a. anachronism (n)
ana- backward or mixed up + chronos time
something out of place in time, especially something that is outdated :
Root family: [ana-] anagram (a rearrangement of the letters in a word or phrase to make another word or phrase)
Root family: [chron] synchronize (to make to happen simultaneously or at the same pace), chronological (in proper time order) Don’t confuse with: anarchic (lacking government)
Mnemonic: Since Anna Karenina is set in the 19th century, Anna’s chronograph (wristwatch) would be very anachronistic.
A _______ manager can squander a year’s worth of careful savings in just a few weeks.
a. prestigious
b. tenuous
c. propitious
d. prodigal
d. prodigal (adj)
prodigus lavish
tending to spend resources wastefully :
Form: prodigality = wastefulness
Synonyms: profligate, spendthrift, improvident
Root family: [prodigi] prodigy (a young person with exceptional talent), prodigious (great in size or degree)
Mnemonic: The Biblical story of the prodigal son is about a son who squanders all of his inheritance and later comes to regret it.
The pâté was a _________ complement to the homemade bread.
a. surreptitious
b. amicable
c. sublime
d. tactful
c. sublime (adj)
sub- just beneath + limen threshold
supremely excellent or beautiful :
Root family: [sub-] submissive (meekly obedient), subvert (to undermine the authority of another), surreptitious (secret), subjugate (to dominate)
Root family: [lim] limit (the point beyond which something may not pass), eliminate (completely remove), subliminal (below the threshold of perception), sublimate (to alter a crude impulse so as to make it more culturally or socially acceptable)
Don’t confuse with subliminal. Although both words derive from the Latin roots meaning “below the threshold,” subliminal means “below the threshold of perception,” while sublime means “near the threshold of heaven.”
Don’t confuse with sublimate. To sublimate a lowly impulse, such as hatred or sexual desire, means to literally “raise it up” (since the limen, or threshold, of a doorway includes the top part, then bringing something sub limen, just below the threshold, involves raising it up), that is, to channel the energy that would otherwise be dedicated to that impulse into a more culturally and socially acceptable behavior. In chemistry, a substance sublimates when it transforms from a solid directly to a gas, with- out passing through the liquid phase.
The city was filled with _______ souls with unfulfilled dreams.
a. frugal
b. forlorn
c. indigent
d. sagacious
b. forlorn (adj)
pitifully sad and lonely :
Synonyms: despondent, disconsolate, abject, melancholy
Don’t confuse with: foregone (predetermined)