Sunday, February 9, 2014

7 adjectives, 1 noun - Free SAT, GRE, TOEFL Vocabulary

resplendent - shining beautifully, brightly colored, shining

nascent - being born, developing

implacable - if someone is implacable, he/she is very angry about something and this person cannot be made less angry or made happy

insidious - something insidious is something sneaky which causes harm, or something which doesn't appear to be harmful but you slowly realize it is harmful; something insidious can actually look very attractive at first, before you realize it is harmful

savvy - if someone is savvy about something, he/she has a shrewd or very insightful understanding about something that most people don't have, but the connotation of the word is a bit negative - a savvy politician knows what voters want and will promise this to them or a savvy businessman will know how to make money (in a less than honorable way) than other people

a neophyte - a beginner, a newbie

irredeemable - hopeless, not possible of being saved

ponderous - when this word is used, it usually means someone is trying to say or write something very deep and profound, but instead what the person writes is very boring and dry and dull and uninteresting

Answers are under the exercise:


Alexander Hamilton believed that industrialization would be good for the ________________ American economy after the Revolution.  The economy was, after all, being born, and it was necessary to generate wealth quickly for the new republic.

When you start to ski you have to be patient.  As a _____________ I lacked patience and tried to ski down slopes that were too difficult for me, and I took some violent falls.

Sunflowers were a favorite object for Vincent van Gogh to paint.  He would go to ______________ fields of such flowers and create images that were even more vibrant than what he saw. 

Is there still chance for peace in the Middle East or is the situation totally ____________________?

I'm really interested in philosophy because it raises interesting questions we all should ask ourselves.  But this professor delivers some of the most ___________________ lectures I have ever heard. He gives philosophy a bad name.

Joseph McCarthy was a _______________ politician who realized that he could benefit from the fear Americans had of communism in the early 1950s.  He became quite popular and won several elections by falsely accusing other powerful people of being communists.

I don't know what Bob did to make Joe angry, but Joe has become ___________________ in his anger and hatred toward Bob.  He does not even want to see Bob again and if he does, I think there will be trouble.

AIDs is one of the more __________________ viral diseases.  A person who has AIDs will probably live with the disease for many years and will not even know it until the disease suddenly appears.  

Answers are below:






Answers:

nascent
neophyte
resplendent
irredeemable
ponderous
savvy
implacable
insidious

Sunday, February 2, 2014

4 adjectives, 2 nouns, 1 verb

precipitous (precipitously - adverb) - this adjective comes from the noun 'precipice.' A precipice is a high point or cliff on a mountain - if you accidentally step off a precipice, you drop to your death.  So 'precipitous' means a quick decision that you make without thinking about it and often can't change after you make it or a quick action that was taken without enough thought behind it.

prodigious - basically this means huge or much bigger than normal

an ambit - a range or a boundary within which something or someone works

ad hoc - put together for just one reason or purpose; often you will read about ad hoc committees or ad hoc action - this means a committee is put together or action is taken to address this one situation

enmity - very strong hatred toward someone; often enmity means that two groups or two people really hate each other

ruthless -  showing no mercy or pity or compassion for others when taking an action

to curdle - when milk is treated with chemicals to become harder, so that it can be made into cheese; this term usually has another common meaning though: if a person is really shocked or scared, he might say that his/her blood curdled.


Answers are beneath the exercise: 

 
It was very dark in the room, and the light switch would not work.  Suddenly I heard a scream that made my blood ______________________.

The pirates of the Caribbean were renowned for being totally __________________ toward any ship that provided resistance.  If a ship's captain surrendered, the crew was spared but the cargo was stolen. If the captain chose to fight, no mercy would be shown and the entire crew would be slaughtered. 

Bob was a little too ___________________ in his choice to marry Becky.  They had only gone out with each other for 2 months before he proposed marriage to her, and their marriage only lasted 6 months.

Cyrano, with his __________________ nose, is a story of unrequited love (un-returned) love. His huge nose made him ugly to women but he was able to coach his handsome friend to be beautifully eloquent and to win the heart of the woman that Cyrano, himself, loved. 

Bill was an amazing US History professor, but he had spent so much time doing research within his academic________________ that he knew very little else about other fields of study.

There seems to be so much long-standing ______________ between countries in the Mideast that some US presidents do not even try to initiate peaceful negotiations.

Bob was not the most organized person in the world, nor was he good at predicting problems.  Instead, he chose to deal with things in an _______________ manner.

Answers are below:



Answers:

curdle
ruthless
precipitious
prodigious
ambit
enmity
ad hoc