Search Vocabulary Schreiner

Book C, Unit # 13

Word List

1. adapt (v) to adjust or change to suit conditions

2. attest (v) to bear witness, affirm to be true to genuine
3. dovetail (v) to fit together exactly ; to connect so as to
form a whole; (n) a carpentry figure resembling a doves
tail.
4. enormity (n) the quality of exceeding all moral bounds; an
exceedingly evil act; huge size, immensity
5. falter (v) to hesitate, stumble, lose courage; to speak
hesitatingly; to lose drive, weaken, decline
6. foreboding (n) a warning of feeling that something bad will
happen; (adj) marked by fear, ominous
7. forlorn (adj) totally abandoned and helpless; sad and
lonely; wretched or pitiful; almost hopeless
8. haughty (adj) chillingly proud and scornful
9. impediment (n) a physical defect; a hindrance, obstacle
10. imperative (adj) necessary, urgent; (n) a form of a verb
expressing a command; that which is necessary or required
11. loiter (v) to linger in an aimless way, hang around
12. malinger (v) to pretend illness to avoid duty or work
13. pithy (adj) short but full of meaning and point
14. plunder (v) to rob by force, especially during wartime; to
seize wrongfully; (n) property stolen by force, booty
15. simper (v) to smile or speak in a silly, forced way; (n) a
silly, forced smile
16. steadfast (adj) firmly fixed; constant, not moving or
changing
17. vaunted (adj) much boasted about in a vain or swaggering
way
18. vilify (v) to abuse or belittle unjustly or maliciously
19. waif (n) a person (usually a child) without a home or
friend; a stray person or animal; something that comes
along by chance, a stray bit
20. wry (adj) twisted, turned to one side; cleverly and often
grimly humorous
Vocabulary Assignment Book C, Unit # 13

Choose the word from this unit that best completes each
sentence.

1. He remained _______________ in his friendship, even at a

time when it might have been to his advantage to have
nothing to do with me.
2. The comedian specialized in the kind of _____________ humor
that gets quiet chuckles from an audience, rather than loud
bursts of laughter.
3. The testimony of all the witnesses _______________ neatly,
forming a strong case against the accused.
4. The quick recovery of the patients _________________ to the
skill of the hospital staff.
5. The sergeant suspected that the soldiers were
______________ in order to avoid dangerous duty.
6. In every great war, many children are separated from their
parents and become homeless __________________, begging
for food and shelter.
7. When he was caught red-handed in the act of going through
my papers, all he did was to stand there and
___________________ foolishly.
8. When Carole attempted to order the meal in French, we
discovered that her much ______________________ knowledge
of that language made no impression at all on the waiter.
9. Through all the shocks and trials of the Civil War, Abraham
Lincoln never ___________________ in his determination to
save the Union.
10. After the official had fallen from power, his policies were
ridiculed, his motives questioned, and his character
_______________.
 11. The ____________________ expressions on the faces of the
starving children in the TV special moved the world to pity
and indignation at their plight.
12. Her ____________________ manner said more clearly than
words that she could never associate as an equal with a
peasant like me.
13. Great skill is required to _________________ a novel or short
story for use as a motion picture.
14. When Jim missed those early foul shots, I had a(n)
__________________ that the game was going to be a bad one
for our team.
15. During our absence, a group of hungry bears broke into the
cabin and ____________________ our food supply.
16. Now and in the years ahead, it is ____________________ for us
to produce automobiles that will give us better gas mileage.
17. Please dont _____________________ in front of the bowling
alley because you will get in the way of people passing by.
18. I appreciate the fact that when I asked her for advice, she
gave it to me in a few clear, direct, and ____________________
sentences.
19. Unless you take steps now to correct your speech
___________________, it will be a serious handicap to you
throughout your life.
20. The __________________ of the crimes that the Nazis
committed in the concentration camps horrified the civilized
world.

Choose the word that is most nearly the same in meaning as the
group of expressions.

1. to hang around, dawdle about, tarry

___________________________
2. loyal, faithful; constant, unwavering
___________________________
3. boasted, trumpeted, heralded
___________________________
4. disdainful, scornful, supercilious
___________________________
5. to pillage, loot, sack; booty, spoils, pelf
___________________________
6. dryly amusing, ironic, droll
___________________________
7. to malign defame, denigrate, traduce
___________________________
8. essential, indispensable, mandatory
___________________________
9. atrociousness, heinousness; an atrocity;
___________________________
vastness
10. to hesitate, waver, stumble
___________________________
11. to snicker, smirk, titter, giggle
___________________________
12. to fit together, mesh, jive, harmonize
___________________________
13. terse, short and sweet; meaty; telling
___________________________
14. a misgiving, presentiment, premonition
___________________________
15. to witness, verify, confirm, corroborate
___________________________
16. an obstruction, obstacle, stumbling block
___________________________
17. to regulate, adjust, alter; to acclimate
___________________________
18. woebegone; forsaken, bereft; pathetic
___________________________
19. to lie down on the job, goof off, shirk
___________________________
20. a stray, ragamuffin, street urchin
___________________________

Choose the word that is most nearly the opposite in meaning as

the group of expressions.

1. inconstant, fickle, unreliable, vacillating

___________________________
2. to make a beeline for, hurry along
___________________________
3. meek, humble, unassuming, modest
___________________________
4. to glorify, extol, lionize
___________________________
5. nonessential, unnecessary, optional
___________________________
6. jaunty, buoyant, blithe, chipper
___________________________
7. to remain unchanged
___________________________
8. wordy, verbose, long-winded; foolish, inane
___________________________
9. mildness; harmlessness, innocuousness
___________________________
10. downplayed, soft-pedaled, de-emphasized
___________________________
11. humorless, solemn; straight
___________________________
12. to persevere, plug away at
___________________________
13. to deny, disprove, refute, rebut
___________________________
14. a help, advantage, asset, plus
___________________________
15. a feeling of confidence or optimism
___________________________
16. to keep ones nose to the grindstone
___________________________
17. to clash, be at odds, cancel each other out
___________________________

Encircle the boldface word that more satisfactorily completes

each of the following sentences.

1. We all like the Cinderella story of a poor, mistreated (waif,

malingerer) who marries a prince and lives happily ever
after.
2. Political leaders should feel free to change their minds of
specific issues, while remaining (steadfast, wry) in their
support of their principles
3. The police sometimes use laws against (faltering,
loitering) to prevent the gathering of unruly crowds.
4. When she learned that she had not been chosen for the job,
she made a (wry, forlorn) joke, but this did not conceal her
deep disappointment.
 5. The advice given by Ben Franklin in Poor Richards Almanac
has rarely been equaled for (pithiness, dovetailing) and
good common sense.
6. Monday morning seems to be a favorite time for practicing
the fine art of (foreboding, malingering).
7. The temperaments of the partners in the business
(dovetail, attest) so well that they can work together
without the slightest friction or conflict.
8. No matter how well qualified you may be, inability to get on
well with other people will prove a serious (imperative,
impediment) in any field of work.
9. Ample food supplies in the United States (attest, vilify) to
the abilities of American farmers.
10. In the opening scene of Shakespeares Macbeth, there is a
strong sense of (foreboding, enormity) that something
terrible is going happen.
11. Mutual respect and understanding among all racial and
ethnic groups has become a(n) (imperative, waif) in the
life of this nation.
12. People who migrate from the suburbs to the inner city often
find it difficult to (adapt, attest) to changing conditions.
13. The director told Neil to smile like a dashing man around
town, but all he could do was to (simper, loiter) like a
confused freshman.
14. Thinking it no crime to borrow from the past, Elizabethan
dramatists often (vilified, plundered) ancient writers for
suitable plots for their plays.
15. Despite our own exhaustion, we made one final, (forlorn,
pithy) attempt to save the drowning swimmer, but our
efforts were of no avail.
16. Her (haughty, steadfast) attitude toward those she
considered beneath her was sure sign of lack of breeding
and simple good manners.
17. To (attest, falter) now, at the very threshold of victory,
would mean that all our earlier struggles and sacrifices had
been in vain.
18. Hordes of savage barbarians swept into the province,
committing one (impediment, enormity) after another on
the defenseless population.
19. I cant stand the way he struts and (loiters, vaunts)
himself in front of girls.
20. I did what I thought best at the time, the President
replied, and I deeply resent their cowardly attempts to
(vilify, plunder) my actions.