ADJECTIVES
She experienced the _____ effects of running a marathon without stretching her muscles enough beforehand.
a. deleterious
b. demure
c. evanescent
d. inveterate
a. deleterious
(adj.) harmful
When the cops showed up at Sarah’s party, they _____ her for disturbing the peace.
a. honored
b. rebuked
c. praised
d. stoned
b. rebuked
(v.) to scold, criticize
When I was arrested for speeding, I screamed _____ against the policeman and the entire police department.
a. maelstrom
b. malediction
c. largess
d. credulity
b. malediction
(n.) a curse
The unedited version was _____ with naughty words.
a. deplete
b. detect
c. reject
d. replete
d. replete
(adj.) full, abundant
The crowd was _____ when the firefighter carried the woman from the flaming building.
a. languid
b. multifarious
c. jubilant
d. perfidious
c. jubilant
(adj.) extremely joyful, happy
Though Jane never seems to stop talking, her brother is quite _____.
a. tenuous
b. wistful
c. recalcitrant
d. taciturn
d. taciturn
(adj.) not inclined to talk
The doctor trusted that the new medication would _____ her patient’s discomfort.
a. promulgate
b. palliate
c. extol
d. dither
b. palliate
(v.) to reduce the severity of
“Your _____,” said the priest to the practical jokester, “will be forgiven.”
a. grandiloquence
b. cupidity
c. calumny
d. iniquity
d. iniquity
(n.) wickedness or sin
Lara _____ her son for sticking each and every one of his fingers into the strawberry pie.
a. disprove
b. reprove
c. repudiate
d. transmute
b. reprove
(v.) to scold, rebuke
The judge demanded order after the lawyer’s _____ attempt to object by stomping his feet on the courtroom floor.
a. replete
b. rife
c. puerile
d. sacrosanct
c. puerile
(adj.) juvenile, immature
The _____ nature of your manner led me to dislike you at once.
a. impertinent
b. impervious
c. impetuous
d. imperious
d. imperious
(adj.) commanding, domineering
To _____ my selfishness, I gave all my profits to charity.
a. expiate
b. extol
c. obfuscate
d. rebuke
a. expiate
(v.) to make amends for, atone
If not for the _____ that were blowing and cooling us, our room would’ve been unbearably hot.
a. zenith
b. zephyr
c. veracity
d. umbrage
b. zephyr
(n.) a gentle breeze
The rogue army general tried to _____ control of the government, but he failed because most of the army backed the legally elected president.
a. vacillate
b. usurp
c. venerate
d. palliate
b. usurp
(v.) to seize by force, take possession of without right
After such a long, frustrating day, I was grateful for Chris’s _____ attitude and childish naiveté.
a. wistful
b. wizened
c. winsome
d. vacuous
c. winsome
(adj.) charming, pleasing
While some giggled at the _____ joke involving a parson’s daughter, most sighed and rolled their eyes.
a. ribald
b. tacit
c. mendacious
d. magnanimous
a. ribald
(adj.) coarsely, crudely humorous
Writing these sentences _____ me so much that I will have to take a nap after I finish.
a. exclude
b. excavate
c. enervate
d. exfoliate
c. enervate
(v.) to weaken, exhaust
Tom and Huck entered the scary cave armed with nothing but their own _____.
a. surfeit
b. serendipity
c. temerity
d. sagacity
c. temerity
(n.) audacity, recklessness
Ancient alchemists believed that it was possible to _____ lead into gold.
a. transmute
b. undulate
c. extol
d. expunge
a. transmute
(v.) to change or alter in form
The _____ receptionist seemed untrustworthy, as if she was only being helpful because she thought we might give her a big tip.
a. ubiquitous
b. vicarious
c. wanton
d. unctuous
d. unctuous
(adj.) smooth or greasy in texture, appearance, and manner
_____ Bobby, hall monitor extraordinaire, insisted that his peers follow the rules.
a. prosaic
b. propitious
c. punctilious
d. perspicacity
c. punctilious
(adj.) eager to follow rules or conventions
Twenty years in the salt mines _____ the man to the discomforts of dirt and grime.
a. endure
b. procure
c. inure
d. expunge
c. inure
(v.) to cause someone or something to become accustomed to a situation
When a black cat crossed my sister’s path while she was walking to school, she took it as a _____ that she would do badly on her spelling test.
a. portent
b. petulance
c. platitude
d. panacea
a. portent
(n.) an omen
The detective did not want to answer the newspaperman’s questions, so he _____ the truth.
a. ovulate
b. exfoliate
c. obfuscate
d. palliate
c. obfuscate
(v.) to render incomprehensible
When angry, the woman would spew _____ insults.
a. vitriolic
b. verdant
c. tantamount
d. primeval
a. vitriolic
(adj.) having a caustic quality