Show:
Fear vs. No Fear
Legal Quibbles
Freaking Fanaticism
Vocal Adjectives
Medical Maybes
100
Chip away at; weaken, sap, undercut, damage. Dig or excavate beneath (a building or fortification) so as to make it collapse: The demolition engineers eventually were able to __________ two of the tower’s six sides. Lessen the effectiveness, power, or ability of, especially gradually or insidiously: This could _________ years of hard work.
What is undermine?
100
The quality of always having the same form or manner; sameness, monotony; standardization. The quality or state of being uniform: The dictator made an attempt to impose administrative and cultural ___________. Any of four acts (especially that of 1662) establishing the foundations of the English Protestant Church and securing ____________ in public worship and use of a particular Book of Common Prayer.
What is uniformity?
100
Person who shows excessive religious or political fervor. "Though Glenn was devout, he was no ________: he never tired to force his beliefs on his friends." The word is derived from the historical ________, members of an ancient Jewish sect aiming at a world Jewish theocracy and resisting the Romans. Their efforts ended in CE 70 when the second Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem was sacked, then razed by the Roman army led by Titus, who nine years later became Emperor.
What is a zealot?
100
Tending to talk easily or rapidly; fluent, glib, talkative: "Excessively _______ speakers suffer from logorrhea: they run off at the mouth a lot." Speaking or spoken incessantly and fluently: "She was as _______ as her husband was silent."
What is voluble?
100
Relating to visible traces left by something that no longer exists; residual; primitive; forming a very small remnant of something that was once much larger or more noticeable: "The _________ wings of kiwis are entirely hidden, while those of ostriches seem to assist their speed or stabilize their balance when they chase a terrified rancher across a field."
What is vestigial?
200
Nervous apprehension, uneasiness; feeling of fear or anxiety about something that may happen: The men set off in fear and _______________. Archaic: Trembling movements or motion.
What is trepidation?
200
Never before done, known, or experienced; unparalleled, exceptional, extraordinary, novel: "The government took the _________________ step of releasing confidential correspondence."
What is unprecedented?
200
State of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty: Vice President Al Gore conceded the 2000 election to George W. Bush to end the _________ caused by dubious vote counting in Florida.
What is turmoil?
200
Using or containing more words than needed: "The SAT tests your ability to recognize and correct _________ sentences throughout the Writing section."
What is verbose?
200
Showing uncertainty; not fully developed; hesitant; cautious; unsure; provisional; not certain or fixed: "Physicians in southern Sudan in 1976 ____________ identified the first case of ebola but did not know it spread by contact. Consequently 284 people became ill, and 151 died. Today, doctors hasten to isolate any patient with even the suspicion of a fever, but family members remain ___________ about reporting cases, the main reason the disease has spread so lethally from the beginning of the latest outbreak in 2013, with 22,560 cases reported and 9,019 deaths reported to date."
What is tentative?
300
Regard with esteem; revere; idolize Islam regards Mohammed with the ____________ due the Seal of the Prophets; worship is tendered only to Allah. In Tibet, the common people still __________ their traditional spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
What is veneration?
300
Not justified; groundless, baseless: "I am sure your fears are _________________." Having no justification or authorization; uncalled for, gratuitous, unconscionable: "We could not understand Warren's ____________ rudeness to his mother's guests."
What is unwarranted?
300
Extended forceful speech, generally critical in nature; long, angry speech of criticism or accusation: (From a review of a recent performance of Hamlet in London) "There are no subtleties, there is little light and shade and the long speeches are delivered as _________ rather than thoughtful Shakespearean soliloquies."
What is a tirade?
300
Stale, hackneyed, strikingly unoriginal, overused, cliche, tired, commonplace, pedestrian. (Of a remark, opinion, or idea) overused and consequently of little import; lacking originality or freshness: "Advertising copy writers who create TV commercials have to walk a fine line between what may seem obvious and _____, and what is too arcane and obscure for the majority of today's couch potatoes."
What is trite?
300
1. Feasible, practicable; workable; capable of working successfully; feasible: "The proposed investment was economically __________." 2. Capable of maintaining life: (Botany: of a seed or spore) able to germinate. (Biology: of a plant, animal, or cell) capable of surviving or living successfully, especially under particular environmental conditions. 3. (Of a fetus or unborn child) able to live after birth. "If significant placental abruption occurs, a _______fetus should be delivered immediately." "Surgery for intractable disease should be delayed until the fetus is _________."
What is viable?
400
Overthrow; seize another's power, rank, or authority; take, commandeer, appropriate. Take (a position of power or importance) illegally or by force: "In Shakespeare's tragedy, Richard III _________ the throne." "This is not the place to detail the history of the wars and battles that occurred as the settlers ________ the ancient territories of the indigenous peoples of America.
What is usurp?
400
1. Clear from blame, exonerate, exculpate: "The lawyer's goal was to _________ her client and prove him innocent of all charges. Hospital staff, accused of spreading ebola in a nearby village, were _________ by the inquest verdict. 2. Provide justification or support for; justify, defend: "More sober views were ___________ by events." "Our concerns were finally ___________ when an anonymous whistle-blower called in the National Audit Office."
What is vindicate?
400
1. Explosive; evanescent; evaporating rapidly: "Acetone is an extremely ________ liquid: it evaporates instantly. Other _________ solvents include petroleum ether, hexane, and benzene." 2. Changeable; fickle; tending to explode into violence or to change unexpectedly; liable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse: "The political situation in Yemen was becoming more _______ by the day, and finally yesterday the radicals forced the king to renounce the throne."
What is volatile?
400
Concise and to the point; abrupt; pithy; clipped; curt:"There is a fine line between speech that is ______ and to the point, and speech so abrupt that it verges on being rude." "The board of directors issued a _____ statement intended as a big slap in the face for their rebel individual shareholders, who had wanted to vote on cutting the directors' pay in half."
What is terse?
400
1. (Of a disease or poison) extremely severe or harmful in its effects; highly noxious; (Of a pathogen, especially a virus) highly infective. "Alwin notes that there's been an outbreak of atypical pneumonias in Asia, possibly harbingers of a more __________ flu strain to come." 2. Spitefully hostile:"Political rhetoric has become particularly _________ when expounding on 'a mindset that has become increasingly reliant on government handouts and regulation.'"
What is virulent?
500
Active physical or mental strength and good health; energy, force, vitality, drive: "The child's springing curls were a sign of ________ and health." Effort and enthusiasm: "They set about building the bridge with _________."
What is vigor?
500
Alternate or waver between different opinions or actions; be indecisive: "In The Odyssey, Penelope pretended to be uncertain which suitor to accept, appearing to _________ over one of the nobles, then another." "Years of indecisiveness have left the company __________ between a differentiation strategy and that of being a cost leader."
What is vacillate?
500
Violently agitated; tumultuous; chaotic; unruly: "_________ political protests erupted yesterday in Yemen, as thousands faithful to the ousted government protested in the cities of Sanaa, Hodeida, Ibb and Taiz. At the same time, thousands rallied in support of the Shiite rebel Houthis at a sports stadium in Sanaa.
What is turbulent?
500
1. Full of sudden, eccentric notions; fanciful; capricious; quirky; playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way: "Shakespeare's later plays show a ___________ sense of humor as well as a strong sense of the tragic." 2. Acting or behaving in a capricious manner: "The whimsical arbitrariness of autocracy as represented by Marie Antoinette makes the French Revolution very easy to understand, and Sofia Coppola's film on the subject, which has been criticized in some circles for her use of a contemporary pop overlay including hit songs, incongruous dialogue, and jarring intrusions of the Now, makes the period and the queen's cluelessness even more intelligible to us today."
What is whimsical?
500
1. Staying or lasting for a short time;momentary; temporary; impermanent: "A _________ cold spell froze the river Thames solid and even flocks of birds in their flight." 2. Staying or working in a place for only a short time: "The _________ nature of the labor force in catering makes it important to develop loyalty amongst servers." 3. _________ ischemic attack: brief episode of neurological dysfunction resulting from an interruption in the blood supply to the brain or the eye, sometimes as a precursor to a stroke: "Taking aspirin does not reduce stroke risk in women who previously have suffered a ________ ischemic attack (TIA)."
What is transient?