Intermediate-level English vocabulary challenge

to abandon – to get rid of, to leave behind

abundant – more than enough

an optimist – someone who always sees the bright side of things

to plummet – to drop quickly, to fall

a quest – a search for something important or meaningful

chronological order – to order a set from earliest to latest

to collaborate – to work together with others instead of competing

retaliation – getting revenge

unanimous – everyone agrees

to dissent – to disagree with what a majority of people believe

domestic – dealing with your home

to vow – to promise

meager – not much

a controversy – a topic or issue that causes people to argue

an innovation – something new

 

King Arthur and his knights were never bored – each of them was constantly engaged in some type of ___________ and they all sought to find the Holy Grail.  
 

When students learn US History they often go through it in _________________, although some teachers like to teach ‘themes’ instead. 
 

Are our schools too competitive?  Might it not be better if students _______________ with each other and learned better social skills? 
 

A jury’s decision has to be ________________.  If even one person dissents, there can be no real verdict. 
 

This will be my first international flight, although I have taken many ____________ flights around the USA. 
 

I loved my old Converse All Stars but they were getting old and I needed a new pair of casual shoes, so I _______________ them for some cool new running shoes.
 

The internet seems to have been around forever, but I can still remember in the 90s when this was an ___________________ and people were thinking about what might be possible from it. 
 

Capital punishment remains a huge ______________.  Should the state have the right to execute criminals if they have killed others? 
 

Many economists have pointed out that there should not be any cases of world hunger since the amount of food being produced now is ___________________. 
 

Many world religions do not believe in the morality of _________________. They recommend that a person should show mercy and forgive others.

Answers are below: 

Answers:

quest
chronological order
cooperated
unanimous
domestic
abandoned
innovation
controversy
abundant
retaliation

10 SAT-level words and fill-in-the-blanks

to usurp - to take power away from someone who should have it
liberated - freed
to appease - to make someone happy, to satisfy someone even though they might be wrong
brevity - briefness, something lasting a short time
to be intrigued by something/someone - to become deeply interested in something
a detractor - someone who believes that something is wrong; a critic
to exhort - to forcefully encourage
frantically - panicky; to something nervously and quickly because of pressure or fear
sluggish - slow moving
to be rash - to do something impulsively or without thinking about it too much


Answers are below the fill-in-the-blanks:


1.  A perfect example of the _____________ of life is the Mayfly, which only exists for one day before dying.

2.  In his essay "Common Sense,"  Thomas Paine ____________ the American people to continue fighting against the English king and to not stop until they had created a better system of government.

3.  Although Bob was generally reticent and did not speak much about his life, there was something about him that ____________ Irene. 

4.  Because the deadline for his paper was approaching, Bob _____________collected all of his sources and tried to organize them as quickly as possible.

5.  Although the capitol of Afghanistan was ___________ by American forces, who overthrew the Taliban in 2002, the war in Afghanistan has lingered (continued slowly) to this present day.

6.  When Bob wakes up in the morning, he goes about his morning routine somewhat ______________. Yet, by the time he gets to work he is a dynamo! (a dynamo is like a little powerful engine)

7.  Many people feel that the US entered the war against Iraq too ____________.  It would have been better if the Congress had shown more courage and asked more questions. 

8.  Even though American independence is celebrated each year, many people do not realize that there were many ________________ of the concept of independence. Indeed, many people in many states wished to remain English subjects and thought the American Revolution was wrong.

9.  After the military coup in Burma, the power of the president was ____________ by a military junta (a group of generals).

10. Everyone who studies diplomacy knows that Neville Chamberlain's attempt to ___________ Adolph Hitler backfired (it had the opposite effect).  Instead of making Hitler satisfied, Chamberlain's apparent weakness encouraged Hitler to pursue military conquest.

Answers are below:







Answers:

1. brevity
2. exhorted
3. intrigued
4. frantically
5. liberated
6. sluggishly
7. rashly
8. detractors
9. usurped
10. appease

Test your higher-level English vocabulary

resentment - the way you feel if a person hurts you and you can't forget it; a grudge
fortitude - strength
elation - extreme joy
eloquence - being able to speak beautifully
elite - among the very top or best
colloquial - conversational
peripatetic - moving around a lot
remunerative - receiving money for a service
vivacious - lively
garrulous - talking too much
amiable - friendly
reticent - not speaking much
symbiotic - a relationship in which two organisms benefit each other
regressive - going backwards
empirical - that which can be sensed, touched, heard etc.
to coerce - to force
intuitive - a feeling that something is right or wrong which cannot be verified
to retract - to take back
to consolidate - to bring a bunch of things together
to disseminate - to spread out


1) Many educators believe that a child will not learn anything that he/she is __________ into learning.  To learn, a child needs to be motivated by something other than fear.

2) Although many state universities are not considered to be as selective as the ________ Ivy League schools, they are less expensive and provide excellent educational opportunities, perhaps as excellent as the Ivy schools.

3) We don't often think of the bacteria in our stomachs as being our friends, but we have an important ____________ relationship with these bacteria.  They help us break down food and we provide them a place to survive.

4)  When the internet was started most people felt this would be a great way to ___________ useful information around the world.  At that time nobody could have anticipated all of the abuses and problems that have come with it.

5)  Martin Luther King Jr. was not only a principled person who fought for human rights.  People were amazed by his _____________.  He speeches were always well-written and beautifully spoken.

6)  When we look at a work of art we often can't really say what it means, but we often have an ________________ understanding of it.

7)  Although the professor was known as one of the greatest physicists in modern history, students were surprised by how ______________ his lectures were.  It was as if he were having friendly conversations with his students instead of formal lectures.

8)  If a person wants to be a great leader, perhaps the most important character trait will be ______________.  A great leader must be able to withstand a great amount of adversity.

9)  It's true that Jake was amazingly smart, but it was hard for people to tell that because he was so _______________.

10)  In order to go to college, many American students take out loans from several sources.  When it is time to pay the loans back, it is wise to have the loans _______________. This means all the loans are handled by one agency and one payment is made each month to the agency, which disseminates the payment equally to the different loan organizations.



Answers are below:







Answers:

1. coerced
2. elite
3. symbiotic
4. disseminate
5. eloquence
6. intuitive
7. colloquial
8. fortitude
9. reticent
10. consolidated

13 higher-level words. Do you know them? :)

obsolete - out of date, no longer used
elusive - hard to catch, hard to get
to plummet - to fall or decrease sharply or quickly
dogmatic - a dogmatic person refuses to ever change his/her beliefs, even if you prove something to the person
phlegmatic - apathetic, not active, passive
morose - depressed, sad, in a bad (rotten) mood
incongruous - it doesn't fit, it is out of place, it doesn't make sense
laggard - to fall behind, to be behind where you should be
redoubtable - hard to deafeat, hard to beat
stoic - not showing emotion, able to control your emotions
austere - very severe, very strict
ostentatious - showy, flamboyant
cordial - very kind or nice

1) I knew that something rotten (bad) had happened to Bill. He was usually quite gregarious (outgoing) and cordial (nice) but he was now ______________ and a little rude.

2) Do you remember the Chicago Bulls basketball team of the 1990s with Michael Jordan?  This was one of the most _____________ sports teams ever.  One year they won 72 games and only lost 10.

3) A fashion designer is supposed to dress in an _______________ manner.  This shows that he is dedicated to a life of creativity.

4) Just a few years ago I recall buying a CD player.  Now CD players are totally ___________ and have been replaced by iPods and other products.

5) Although Professor Higgins had a reputation for being morose and somewhat irritable, when I met him he was quite ____________ and open.

6) Osama bin Laden had been quite ____________.  It took the US government over 10 years to hunt him down because he regularly changed locations and took methods to maintain his secrecy. 

7)  A Buddhist monk agrees to live a very ____________ life in which he tends to deny himself the pleasures that many people live for.

8)  The 1920s were good times for investors, until one day when the stock prices suddenly ___________ and many investors lost their life savings.

9)  Some people just seem to have been born with certain types of personalities.  Jim, for instance, is ______________.  His house could be burning down and he wouldn't seem to care that much.

10) Reporters were surprised to see how __________ the criminal responded to hearing his death sentence.  The murderer did not even change his facial expression and just looked directly at the judge.

11)  It's important for students to attend every day of classes or they might become ____________ and fall behind.

12) A good student is never ______________. It's important to keep an open-mind and to examine every argument on its own merits.

13) His story was _______________ with the facts.  Although he stated he was working on the night of the murder, it turned out he had taken that day off.

Answers are below:






Answers:

1. morose
2. redoubtable
3. ostentatious
4. obsolete
5. cordial
6. elusive
7. austere
8. plummetted
9. phlegmatic
10. stoic
11. laggard
12. dogmatic
13. incongruous

Test your higher-level vocabulary

The SHSAT doesn't have a vocabulary section, but the scrambled paragraphs and reading passages sometimes have higher-level vocabulary words.  The better your vocabulary is, the better you will be able to read, in general.

malignant - evil, causing harm, causing death (in regard to medical terminology)
obscured - covered
elated - very happy
utilitarian - useful
aesthetic - dealing with art or design
inexplicable -  can't be explained
provisional - temporary
pedantic - wanting to show that one possesses knowledge, just to impress and not educate others
altruistic - concerned about others more than oneself
a din - a loud noise or amount of noise
to be conducive to - to lead to
plausible - possible

1. Although it is _____________ that there was more than one assassin of John F. Kennedy, no firm evidence has come to light.

2. Rebecca was relieved when the doctor told her that the tumor found in the X-ray was not _____________. As a benign tumor it would cause no real problems.

3. The architect has a great deal of style and was quite innovative, but the company who hired him was not happy with his new building design.  They felt it was not _________________: it did not provide the necessary rooms for the necessary activities the company needed a building for.

4. An inability to negotiate is not_______________ to good diplomacy.  

5. During a solar eclipse the sun is _____________ by the moon.

6. We met at a Starbucks but the ___________ from the music and the loud conversations was too much for us, so we left.

7. Joe was ____________ to receive the news that he had been accepted for graduate studies at the university he wished to attend.

8. A dress designer certainly needs utilitarian skills like sewing and computer design, but a good ______________ sense is the foundation of good dress design.

9. One would think that doctors and lawyers would be attracted to their professions through _____________ reasons, yet many feel that their primary concern is money, money and more money. 

10. It's true that Dr. Schneider was a brilliant man who had studied in his field for several decades, but he was not a good educator.  Indeed, he was too ____________.  In every lecture he tried to impress his students with his knowledge instead of teaching them anything.

11. The reasons as to why prehistoric people painted various animals inside of caves remains ______________. There are many theories, but none of them is really satisfying.

12. Although Bob's company signed a contract to supply parts to an automobile manufacturer, the contract was ________________ and could be changed or replaced if Bob's company was not able to obtain certain materials.

Answers are below:






Answers:

1. plausible
2. malignant
3. utilitarian
4. conducive
5. obscured
6. din
7. elated
8. aesthetic
9. altruistic
10. pedantic
11. inexplicable
12. provisional

Test your higher-level vocabulary

There is no vocabulary section on the SHSAT, but students with better vocabulary skills are often better readers.

to diverge – to go in different directions

to coincide with s/t - to happen at the same time

to truncate s/t – to shorten something

dubious  - doubtful, probably not true

solace – a sense of peace, calm

melancholy – a sense or feeling of sadness

innocuous  - harmless, not a threat

malicious  - wishing to cause harm

enervated  - lacking energy

venerable  - someone is venerable if he deserves respect

a philanthropist – someone who donates money to a charity or charities

ambivalent  - not certain, being unable to decide

---------------------------------

1. Joe’s birthday also __________ with Christmas, which means that he often just receives one present at that time. 

2. Winning the Nobel Peace Prize was felt by many to be a ___________ achievement for President Obama, since he had not done anything to promote world peace at that time.

3. __________ seems to be a goal of almost every major religion.  If one follows the teachings of these religions, one can find a deep sense of peace.

4. During the fall and winter many people feel a sense of ____________ because there is a lack of sunlight.  This is actually called Seasonal Affective Disorder – the lack of sunlight literally causes depression.

5. We started out with a specific plan for our vacation in Chicago, but we ____________ from it when we got there and really learned about the city.

6. There are a few historians who remain __________ about the legacy of President Franklin Roosevelt.  They cannot call him either a great or terrible president because they have found reasons to support both conclusions.

7. Although Bill Gates acquired the reputation for being a ruthless businessman, he now enjoys the reputation of a benevolent ______________.

8. The Golden Bough is an amazing book about religion and mythology, but it is way too long.  Most students read a _____________ version.

9. In the philosophy of Confucius, one’s parents, and the elderly in general, are considered ___________.

10. After hiking all morning and mountain climbing in the afternoon, we were all _____________ and went to sleep early.

11. Although major discoveries concerning atomic structure seemed ______________, later they were used to help create the atomic bomb, which lead the deaths of over 200,000 people in Japan.

12.  Jack could be a very candid person and he always spoke truthfully.  Whatever he said, however, was never meant to be _____________.  He didn’t want to hurt anyone, he just wanted to be honest.

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Answers are below:





Answers:

1. coincides
2. dubious
3. solace
4. melancholy
5. diverged
6. ambivalent
7. philanthropist
8. truncated
9. venerable
10. enervated
11. innocuous
12. malicious

Test your vocabulary from the Mapuche article

Please review the meanings of the vocabulary words (from the previous story about the Mapuche) before attempting the exercise.  You can find that article here: http://shsatreading.blogspot.com/2013/07/testimprove-your-vocabulary-indigenous.html

a raid, a blaze, sporadic, conspicuously, to sabotage, to escalate, prompt, arbitrary, a dispute

1.  It is common knowledge that President John Kennedy was the first president to send soldiers to Vietnam in 1961.  However, it was President Lyndon Johnson who chose to _____________ the American involvement in that war.

2.  Although they are allies, for many years now Korea and Japan have engaged in a ___________ over who possesses an island between the two countries.  Korea calls the island Dokdo and Japan calls it Takeshima.

3.  After 10 years of searching for Osama bin Laden, he was located in Pakistan and the Obama administration launched a _____________ to execute him in his compound (the place where he lived).

4.  "Due process" is a legal term which means that if a person is accused of doing something wrong, the process by which he is judged must not be ______________.  There have to be well-established and fair procedures which will be followed.

5.  At first the pain in my back was ___________.  Later the pain would not seem to go away and I had to go to the doctor for help.

6.  The ___________ which was started in the World Trade Center tower was so intense that it was able to melt the steel structure of the building.

7.  During World War II the French underground fighters against the Nazis often _______________ German military equipment or even railroad track systems.

8.  I believe it is important for me to be ___________ for any appointment.  Indeed, I usually show up well ahead of time.

9.  When people buy designer goods, they often wear the brand label _____________ on the item as a sign of prestige. (something prestigious is something that makes others admire you).

Answers are below:





Answers:

1.  escalate
2.  dispute
3.  raid
4.  arbitrary
5.  sporadic
6.  blaze
7.  sabotaged
8.  prompt
9.  conspicuously