Vocab Review (Groups 1–9)
Review these words from groups 1–9, then take the quiz at the bottom of the page.
Group 1
convoluted |
intricate; complex |
The directions were so convoluted that we drove all around the city and got lost. |
cryptic |
difficult to comprehend |
The writing on the walls of the crypt was cryptic; none of the scientists understood it. |
futile |
having no useful purpose; pointless |
It is futile to try to explain the difference between right and wrong to your pet. |
impede |
to slow the progress of |
The retreating army constructed barbed-wire fences and destroyed bridges to impede the advance of the enemy. |
obscure |
(adj.) relatively unknown |
Scott constantly makes references to obscure cult films, and no one ever gets his jokes. |
obscure |
(v.) to conceal or make indistinct |
The man in front of me was so tall that his head obscured my view of the movie. |
quandary |
a state of uncertainty or perplexity |
Ann was in a quandary because she had no soap with which to do her laundry. |
indolent |
lazy |
Mr. Lan said his students were indolent because they had not done their homework. |
Group 2
insipid |
uninteresting; unchallenging |
That insipid movie was so boring and predictable. |
listless |
lacking energy |
Since he is accustomed to an active lifestyle, Mark feels listless when he has nothing to do. |
torpor |
laziness; inactivity; dullness |
The hot and humid day filled everyone with an activity-halting torpor. |
alienated |
removed or disassociated from (friends, family, or homeland) |
Rudolf felt alienated from the other reindeer because they never let him join in their reindeer games. |
alliance |
a union of two or more groups |
The two countries formed an alliance to stand against their common enemy. |
disparity |
inequality in age, rank, or degree; difference |
There is a great disparity between rich and poor in many nations. |
servile |
submissive; like a servant |
Cameron’s servile behavior finally ended when he decided to stand up to his older brother. |
suppressed |
subdued; kept from being circulated |
The author’s book was suppressed because the dictator thought it was too critical of the regime. |
Group 3
embellish |
to make beautiful by ornamenting; to decorate |
We embellished the account of our vacation by including descriptions of many colorful people and places we visited. |
florid |
describing flowery or elaborate speech |
The candidate’s speech was so florid that although no one could understand what he was talking about, they all agreed that he sounded good saying it. |
opulent |
exhibiting a display of great wealth |
Dances at the king’s palace are always very opulent affairs because no expense is spared. |
ornate |
elaborately decorated |
The carved wood was so ornate that you could examine it several times and still notice things you had not seen before. |
ostentatious |
describing a showy or pretentious display |
Whenever the millionaire gave a party, the elaborate decorations and enormous amounts of food were always part of his ostentatious display of wealth. |
poignant |
profoundly moving; touching |
The most poignant part of the movie was when the father finally made peace with his son. |
ebullience |
intense enthusiasm |
A sense of ebullience swept over the crowd when the matador defeated the bull. |
effusive |
emotionally unrestrained; gushy |
Gwyneth Paltrow was effusive in her thanks after winning the Oscar; she even burst into tears. |
Group 4
egregious |
conspicuously bad or offensive |
Forgetting to sterilize surgical tools before an operation would be an egregious error. |
flagrant |
extremely or deliberately shocking or noticeable |
His throwing the pie at his teacher was a flagrant sign of disrespect. |
frenetic |
wildly excited or active |
The pace at the busy office was frenetic; Megan never had a moment to catch her breath. |
gratuitous |
given freely; unearned; unwarranted |
The film was full of gratuitous sex and violence that was not essential to the story. |
superfluous |
extra; unnecessary |
If there is sugar in your tea, adding honey would be superfluous. |
alleviate |
to ease a pain or burden |
John took aspirin to alleviate the pain from the headache he got after taking the SAT. |
asylum |
a place of retreat or security |
The soldiers sought asylum from the bombs in the underground shelter. |
auspicious |
favorable, promising |
Our trip to the beach had an auspicious start; the rain stopped just as we started the car. |
Group 5
benevolent |
well-meaning; generous |
She was a kind and benevolent queen who was concerned about her subjects’ well-being. |
benign |
kind and gentle |
Uncle Charlie is a benign and friendly man who is always willing to help. |
mollify |
to calm or soothe |
Anna’s apology for scaring her brother did not mollify him; he was mad at her all day. |
reclamation |
the act of making something useful again |
Thanks to the reclamation project, the once unusable land became a productive farm. |
sanction |
to give official authorization or approval |
The students were happy when the principal agreed to sanction the use of calculators in math classes. |
dubious |
doubtful; of unlikely authenticity |
Jerry’s claim that he could fly like Superman seemed dubious—we didn’t believe it. |
fabricated |
made; concocted to deceive |
Fabio fabricated the story that he used to play drums for Metallica; he had never actually held drumsticks in his life. |
hypocrisy |
the practice of pretending to be something one is not; insincerity |
People who claim to be vegetarian but eat chicken and fish are guilty of hypocrisy. |
Group 6
slander |
false charges and malicious oral statements about someone |
After the radio host stated that Monica was a space alien, she sued him for slander. |
spurious |
not genuine |
The sportscaster made a spurious claim when he said that the San Antonio Spurs were undefeated. |
astute |
shrewd, clever |
Kevin is financially astute; he never falls for the tricks that credit card companies play. |
clandestine |
secretive |
The spies planned a clandestine maneuver that depended on its secrecy to work. |
coup |
a brilliantly executed plan |
It was quite a coup when I talked the salesperson into selling me this valuable cuckoo clock for five dollars. |
disingenuous |
not straightforward; crafty |
Mr. Gelman was rather disingenuous; although he seemed to be simply asking about your health, he was really trying to figure out why you’d been absent. |
ruse |
a crafty trick |
The offer of a free cruise was merely a ruse to get people to listen to their sales pitch. |
stratagem |
a clever trick used to deceive or outwit |
Planting microphones in the gangster’s home was a clever, but illegal, stratagem. |
Group 7
surreptitiously |
done by secretive means |
Matt drank the cough syrup surreptitiously because he didn’t want anyone to know that he was sick. |
wary |
on guard |
My father becomes wary whenever a salesman calls him on the phone; he knows that many crooks use the phone so that they can’t be charged with mail fraud. |
wily |
cunning |
In the children's cartoon "Roadrunner," Wily Coyote is a very wily character; he devises all sorts of clever traps to catch the Roadrunner. |
ambiguous |
open to more than one interpretation |
His eyes were an ambiguous color: Some thought they were brown, and some thought they were green. |
ambivalent |
simultaneously having opposing feelings; uncertain |
She had ambivalent feelings about her dance class: On one hand, she enjoyed the exercise, but on the other hand, she thought the choice of dances could be more interesting. |
apathetic |
feeling or showing little emotion |
When the defendant was found guilty on all charges, her face remained expressionless and she appeared to be entirely apathetic. |
arbitrary |
determined by impulse rather than reason |
The principal made the arbitrary decision that students could not wear hats in school without offering any logical reason for the rule. |
capricious |
impulsive and unpredictable |
The referee’s capricious behavior angered the players because he was inconsistent with his calls; he would call foul for minor contact, but ignore elbowing and kicking. |
Group 8
equivocate |
to avoid making a definite statement |
On critical reading questions, I choose answers that equivocate; they use words such as could or may that make them difficult to disprove. |
indifferent |
not caring one way or the other |
The old fisherman was completely indifferent to the pain and hunger he felt; his only concern was catching the enormous marlin he had hooked. |
spontaneous |
unplanned, naturally occurring |
Dave is such a good musician that he can create a song spontaneously, without having to stop and think about it. |
whimsical |
subject to erratic behavior; unpredictable |
Egbert rarely behaved as expected; indeed, he was a whimsical soul whose every decision was anybody’s guess. |
inconsequential |
unimportant |
The cost of the meal was inconsequential to Quentin because he wasn’t paying for it. |
superficial |
concerned only with what is on the surface or obvious; shallow |
The wound on his leg was only superficial, even though it looked like a deep cut. |
tenuous |
having little substance or strength; shaky; unsure, weak |
Her grasp on reality is tenuous at best; she’s not even sure what year it is. |
trivial |
of little importance or significance |
Alex says he doesn't like trivia games because the knowledge they test is trivial; he prefers to spend his time learning more important things. |
Group 9
assiduous |
hard-working |
Spending hours in the hot sun digging out every tiny weed, Sidney tended her garden with assiduous attention. |
compelling |
forceful; urgently demanding attention |
By ignoring the problems in the city, the mayor gave people a very compelling reason to vote him out of office. |
diligent |
marked by painstaking effort; hard-working |
With a lot of diligent effort, they were able to finish the model airplane in record time. |
dogged |
stubbornly persevering |
Her first attempts resulted in failure, but her dogged efforts ultimately ended in success. |
endure |
to put up with; to survive a hardship |
It was difficult to endure the incredibly boring lecture given in class the other day. |
intrepid |
courageous; fearless |
The intrepid young soldier scaled the wall and attacked the enemy forces despite being outnumbered 50 to 1. |
maverick |
one who is independent and resists adherence to a group |
In the movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise was a maverick; he often broke the rules and did things his own way. |
obdurate |
stubborn; inflexible |
Leanna was so obdurate that she was unable to change her way of thinking on even the most minor issues. |
Instructions for the Quiz
Answer the questions.
Quiz