6 adjectives, 2 verbs, 2 nouns

parochial - narrow minded, having a limited perspective, not open-minded

heedless - not taking enough care while doing something, careless, reckless

libidinous - being motivated by one's sex drive, slang: being 'horny'

duplicity - dishonesty

to parry - to defend oneself from an attack (this word comes from the sport of fencing - to parry a thrust is to stop one's opponent from hitting you with his sword tip by using your sword to deflect his thrust away)

overweening - too confident, too filled with pride, smug, arrogant

conciliatory - trying to make another happy or satisfied instead of making the person angrier; pacifying

to disabuse - to show someone that what he/she believed was inaccurate or false

a martinet - someone who values discipline excessively; someone who is super strict when it comes to leadership

prudish - someone who is too easily offended or embarrassed by sexual discussions or topics


Answers are below the exercise:


1. After the Civil War President Lincoln's policy toward the South was quite _________________. He indicated that he did not want to seek revenge but, instead, he wanted to welcome the South back into the Union and to help develop the South economically.

2. It was Icarus and not Daedalus who had been ________________; Daedalus knew that flying too high or too quickly would bring disaster, but Icarus failed to show this type of humble self-restraint.

3. Some parents have been complaining that the Diary of Anne Frank contains references to an adolescent's curiosity concerning the development of one's own sexual organs. They feel this book should not be read by young students. Other parents feel these parents are being ____________ and that there is no harm in reading the Diary of Anne Frank.

4. Do you think that a person who does not travel much will have a _______________ outlook on the world? Or, can a person be open-minded and intelligent without visiting other countries?

5. When she saw the child fall into the lake, Mary was ______________ of all risk and jumped in to save him. 

6. During the Middle Ages there was much corruption in the Catholic Church and you see this in the tales of _________________ priests in Boccaccio's book Il Decameron.

7. A young officer in the military should try to avoid excessive discipline in regard to his squad lest he acquire the reputation for being a _________________.

8. Bob was able to ____________ Mary's criticism that he was not a strong disciplinarian by saying that he felt positive reinforcement was more effective in regard to raising a child than punishment.

9. You seem to believe that the Persian Empire was run by a series of inhuman dictators, but I would like to _____________ you of that misconception by pointing out that Cyrus was loved by his people and admired around the Mediterranean area.

10. Bob was a straight-forward and honest guy and any form of ________________ bothered him deeply.

Answers are below:







Answers:

1. conciliatory
2. overweening
3. prudish
4. parochial
5. heedless
6. libidinous
7. martinet
8. parry
9. disabuse
10. duplicity

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

http://djg51qu.wix.com/gauss

2 verbs, 3 adjectives

to adumbrate something - to outline something vaguely, to express in a shadowy or not perfectly clear way

to decry something - to verbally attack something, to openly and strongly criticize something

fecund - capable of producing, fertile

indefatigable - unbeatable, refusing to quit or give up

manifold - many, various, a bunch of 

Answers are below the exercise:

The female Ocean Sunfish is especially _______________. She carries more eggs than any other vertebrate - and can release hundreds of millions at a time.

Many conservatives are using the recent immigration crisis at our Mexican border as an opportunity to ____________ the immigration policies of the Obama administration.  They claim that this administration has welcomed people to engage in illegal immigration.

The reasons Bob gave for the policy failure were ________________ but not one of them was satisfying.

When Richard Nixon ran for the presidency in 1968, he did not even _______________ a plan to end the Vietnam War; he simply lied and said he had a fully articulated plan prepared and ready to go should he be elected. 

The West German national soccer team (from 1954 to 1990) had a reputation for being _________________. Over and over again they would come back from behind and tie or win games.  They never seemed to stop striving.

Answers are below:

Answers:

1. fecund

2. decry

3. manifold

4. adumbrate

5. indefatigable

Daniel Gauss http://djg51qu.wix.com/gauss

2 nouns, 3 verbs, 4 adjectives

onerous - very difficult work or an activity that requires a great struggle (often physical); if something is burdensome, it is onerous

to bristle - literally this is when hair or bristles stand up on an animal indicating fear or aggression; to bristle means to become upset and consequently to become more aggressive. A person might bristle at the actions of another person.

sullen - this describes a person who is upset or sad and who simply won't talk

infamous - famous for negative reasons

to indulge oneself - to give yourself some source of pleasure, usually as a type of reward

a coup - an achievement that was unexpected and amazing

to calibrate - to adjust some type of measuring device so that it can measure something with the utmost accuracy

ghastly - terrible, disgusting

a palisade - a fence established to provide protection - the fence is usually made of wooden posts with pointed tips at the top


Answers are below the exercise:


Joe _______________ at Mike's suggestion that he was lazy and not working at full capacity. Joe felt himself to be a hard worker and took pride in this.

Al Capone was the most _________________ gangster and criminal in Chicago's history.  He bribed police and officials and was a cold-blooded killer.

Bob had been ill for several weeks.  Frankly, when I saw him he looked __________________; he was as pale as a ghost and seems quite tired and weak.

These days many children feel that taking care of elderly parents is an ________________ task but it is often unavoidable.

I am not even sure how far I walked yesterday. It's true I wore a special device on my shoe to measure my number of steps, but it turns out that the device wasn't properly ________________________ and did not count any steps.

Getting a great writer like Maribel for our magazine was a real ______________.  Everybody wanted her and she chose us because she liked our energy and integrity.

It was just impossible to communicate with Bill yesterday.  Due to the death of his dog he was _______________ all day.

I have been working so hard for so long that I think it's time I _________________ myself in a long night of eating chocolate.

Jamestown is known as the first sustainable European-type city in North America.  Yet, it wasn't really a city.  Basically it was a little collection of houses surrounded by a __________________ to ensure safety from potential native American attacks.


Answers are below:






Answers:

bristled
infamous
ghastly
onerous
calibrated
coup
sullen
indulged
palisade

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

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

8 new SAT, GRE, TOEFL vocabulary words

to indemnify, to be indemnified - two meanings: 1) to insure someone for some type of possible loss (if you buy insurance on your car, you are indemnified against damages - if your car gets damaged, you'll receive a payment from the insurance company); 2) to pay someone for some type of damage or harm which has occurred

indolent - being lazy, not feeling like working

sedentary - being seated; a sedentary lifestyle is an inactive lifestyle - a sedentary job is a job in which you sit a lot

endemic to - common to

conspicuously - obviously, noticeably

graft - illegally obtaining money

keening - this is an obscure word which means vocally expressing grief or mourning after a person's death, especially at a funeral (I found the word in the book: Empire of the Summer Moon)

resilient - able to bounce back (usually after something negative happens)

Answers are underneath the exercise:


Designer bags have become a huge industry, as women pay high prices for these luxury items and ___________________ carry them around to show others that they have money and can live the high life.

It was the summer of Bob's junior year and his parents had not pressured him into finding a job.  He felt he had the right, this one summer, to be _______________ and relax and casually do some reading and lounging around.

According to the contract, we are __________________ against any losses we may suffer due to the negligence of our partner.

Lately a report noted that those who work at ________________ jobs seem to live shorter lives than those who work at jobs that do not require them to sit for long hours at a time.  If a person has to sit for long periods, he/she should find ways to get up and move around often.

One form of political corruption involves _______________. This is when the politician is able to illegally make money through actions he/she preforms as a public servant.

The disease of malaria is _______________ to about 100 countries around the world which have not been able to control the spread of a certain type of mosquito.

The loss of her husband at an early age was devastating for Mary.  At the funeral she was literally ________________ over the coffin of her husband with tears running down her face.

Bob proved himself to be extraordinarily ___________________. Even though he was unfairly fired from a job, he soon had another job at a better company in a better position.

Answers are below:




Answers:

conspicuously
indolent
indemnified
sedentary
graft
endemic
keening
resilient




Yes, I'm the guy who caused the scandal in Korea by revealing to a journalist that I did not feel that K-pop performers were being treated well in NY City:

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

4 adjectives, 1 verb --> Free SAT, GRE, TOEFL Vocabulary Exercise

mercurial - if a person changes his mood or temper very quickly, he/she is mercurial (The god Mercury traveled quickly between the other gods and people.)

louche - decadent, lacking in morals, corrupt, not an ethical person (pronounced loosh)

glutinous - glue-like or sticky

to ingratiate yourself with someone - to try hard to make someone like you

to be hobbled - to be slowed down (in the old west cowboys would deliberately tie the front legs of their horses together at night to make sure they would not run away - this was 'hobbling' their horses)

Answers are below the exercise:


I had heard that my current boss was a no-nonsense type of person who could be difficult to work with.  So I went out of my way to _____________________ myself with him.  I often asked his advice, complimented him and even bought him lunch sometimes.

I asked Bob how his research was going, and he told me it wasn't going well.  His team has been __________________ by the fact that the government has cut their funding in half.

I'm a rotten cook (a bad cook).  I can't even cook rice.  When I cook rice it looks, feels and tastes like some _________________ mess.

Chicago is known as one of the most politically corrupt (dishonest) cities in America. Political corruption has existed for so long that most of the politicians become ___________________ after just a short time. If you don't go along with the system there, you don't get anywhere in your political career.

Jack is an amazing guy with a good heart, but he has a significant shortcoming in his personality.  He is quite _________________ and it's hard to predict what his mood will be from one moment to the next.


Answers are below:





Answers:

ingratiate
hobbled
glutinous
louche
mercurial