ADVANCED
WORD POWER
Second Edition
BETH JOHNSON
JANET M. GOLDSTEIN
© 2011 Townsend Press
Unit Two: Chapter 8
• affable
• loquacious
• apocryphal
• obtuse
• desultory
• opaque
• garbled
• paucity
• irascible
• recapitulate
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
1 affable
– adjective
• Dobermans and pit bulls are often thought of as unfriendly dogs, while
golden retrievers and Labradors are seen as affable.
• “I wish my new boss were more affable,” Jothi said. “She seems so stern
that I’m afraid to ask her a question when I don’t understand something.”
Photos: Ginny From USA (left), U.S. Air Force - Josh Plueger (right)
Affable means
A. bad-tempered.
B. good-natured.
C. intelligent.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
1 affable
– adjective
• Dobermans and pit bulls are often thought of as unfriendly dogs, while
golden retrievers and Labradors are seen as affable.
• “I wish my new boss were more affable,” Jothi said. “She seems so stern
that I’m afraid to ask her a question when I don’t understand something.”
Photos: Ginny From USA (left), U.S. Air Force - Josh Plueger (right)
Affable means
A. bad-tempered.
B. good-natured.
C. intelligent.
Unfriendly dogs are contrasted with
good-natured ones. Jothi wishes his
boss were good-natured, rather than
stern and intimidating.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
2 apocryphal
– adjective
• A hero of American folklore is the giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan, whose
footprints supposedly formed the Great Lakes. Clearly, this story is
apocryphal.
• There is a story in our family that my great-great-grandfather was a train
robber, but I think the story is apocryphal. I’ve never seen any proof.
Apocryphal means
A. fictitious.
B. difficult to understand.
C. true.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
2 apocryphal
– adjective
• A hero of American folklore is the giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan, whose
footprints supposedly formed the Great Lakes. Clearly, this story is
apocryphal.
• There is a story in our family that my great-great-grandfather was a train
robber, but I think the story is apocryphal. I’ve never seen any proof.
Apocryphal means
A. fictitious.
B. difficult to understand.
C. true.
Since giants don’t exist, the story must be fictitious, or made-up.
Having never seen proof that the great-great-grandfather was in fact
a train robber, the speaker suspects the family story is fictitious.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
3 desultory
– adjective
• When the shoe repair shop lost my boots, the clerk’s search was so
desultory and disorganized that I had to go through the shelves and find
them myself.
• Darrin went to the emergency room with a severe stomachache, but the
doctor on duty gave him only a quick, desultory examination and sent
him home.
Desultory means
A. fake.
B. random.
C. intensive.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
3 desultory
– adjective
• When the shoe repair shop lost my boots, the clerk’s search was so
desultory and disorganized that I had to go through the shelves and find
them myself.
• Darrin went to the emergency room with a severe stomachache, but the
doctor on duty gave him only a quick, desultory examination and sent
him home.
Desultory means
A. fake.
B. random.
C. intensive.
The word disorganized suggests that the clerk searched for the
boots in a random way. A doctor doing a more systematic, less
random examination might have identified the stomachache’s
cause and treatment before sending the patient home.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
4 garbled
– adjective
• When Tim printed his essay, a computer error made it come out garbled.
Only meaningless symbols and numbers appeared on the page.
• The children played a game in which each one whispered a message to the
next child in line. The first child whispered, “My favorite color is purple,”
but the message the last child heard was garbled: “You shouldn’t holler at
your uncle.”
Eevn if wrods are grbaeld,
you mihgt sitll be albe to
udnersnatd tehm if the
frist and lsat ltteers are in
the rghit pclaes.
An example of garbled text
Garbled means
A. lengthy.
B. shortened.
C. distorted.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
4 garbled
– adjective
• When Tim printed his essay, a computer error made it come out garbled.
Only meaningless symbols and numbers appeared on the page.
• The children played a game in which each one whispered a message to the
next child in line. The first child whispered, “My favorite color is purple,”
but the message the last child heard was garbled: “You shouldn’t holler at
your uncle.”
Eevn if wrods are grbaeld,
you mihgt sitll be albe to
udnersnatd tehm if the
frist and lsat ltteers are in
the rghit pclaes.
An example of garbled text
Garbled means
A. lengthy.
B. shortened.
C. distorted.
A computer error distorted the words in
the essay into meaningless symbols and
numbers. The words became distorted
as each child whispered the sentence to
the next child.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
5 irascible
– adjective
• “The holidays are supposed to be a happy time,” sighed Martina. “But
with all the extra work and guests, I find myself becoming irascible—
I’m a real grouch.”
• “I know my patients are improving when they become grumpy,” said Dr.
Imiri. “An irascible patient is on the road to recovery.”
Irascible means
A. bad-tempered.
B. nervous.
C. depressed.
Photo: Alex Lee
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
5 irascible
– adjective
• “The holidays are supposed to be a happy time,” sighed Martina. “But
with all the extra work and guests, I find myself becoming irascible—
I’m a real grouch.”
• “I know my patients are improving when they become grumpy,” said Dr.
Imiri. “An irascible patient is on the road to recovery.”
Irascible means
A. bad-tempered.
B. nervous.
C. depressed.
Photo: Alex Lee
The word grouch suggests that
during the holidays Martina can be
bad-tempered. The word grumpy
suggests that recovering patients
can be bad-tempered.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
6 loquacious
– adjective
• Kyle, who prefers to sleep or read on a long plane trip, says it never fails:
he always ends up with a loquacious seat companion who wants to chat
nonstop.
• The British have an amusing way of describing loquacious people: they
say that such a person can “talk the hind leg off a donkey.”
Loquacious means
A. talking too much.
B. aggressive.
C. irritable.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
6 loquacious
– adjective
• Kyle, who prefers to sleep or read on a long plane trip, says it never fails:
he always ends up with a loquacious seat companion who wants to chat
nonstop.
• The British have an amusing way of describing loquacious people: they
say that such a person can “talk the hind leg off a donkey.”
Loquacious means
A. talking too much.
B. aggressive.
C. irritable.
A person who chats nonstop is probably talking too much. A person
who rattles on so long that a donkey’s leg falls off is probably talking
too much.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
7 obtuse
– adjective
• Children can be remarkably obtuse about understanding school subjects
like math, but their wits sharpen amazingly when they’re learning a new
video game.
• Today, in front of Gillian, Harvey mentioned the surprise party we’re
planning for her. I kicked him under the table, hoping to shut him up, but
he’s so obtuse he just said, “Ow! Why did you kick me?”
Obtuse means
A. angry.
B. stupid.
C. thoughtful.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
7 obtuse
– adjective
• Children can be remarkably obtuse about understanding school subjects
like math, but their wits sharpen amazingly when they’re learning a new
video game.
• Today, in front of Gillian, Harvey mentioned the surprise party we’re
planning for her. I kicked him under the table, hoping to shut him up, but
he’s so obtuse he just said, “Ow! Why did you kick me?”
Obtuse means
A. angry.
B. stupid.
C. thoughtful.
Sharpened wits when learning video games are contrasted with
appearing stupid when trying to understand school subjects. It
would seem stupid to talk about a surprise party in front of the
guest of honor—and not even realize one’s mistake.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
8 opaque
– adjective
• We attempted to follow the movie’s complex plot, but the characters’
motives and reactions remained opaque. We finally gave up trying to
understand it.
• Articles on Einstein’s theory of relativity usually start reassuringly,
noting that there is no reason why this theory should be opaque to the
ordinary reader. Then they proceed to make it even more confusing.
Opaque means
A. fascinating.
B. difficult to understand.
C. improbable.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
8 opaque
– adjective
• We attempted to follow the movie’s complex plot, but the characters’
motives and reactions remained opaque. We finally gave up trying to
understand it.
• Articles on Einstein’s theory of relativity usually start reassuringly,
noting that there is no reason why this theory should be opaque to the
ordinary reader. Then they proceed to make it even more confusing.
Opaque means
A. fascinating.
B. difficult to understand.
C. improbable.
If they gave up trying to understand the movie’s complex plot, then
it must have been difficult to understand. If a theory is made more
confusing, then it would be difficult to understand.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
9 paucity
– noun
• The speaker’s elegant language could not conceal his paucity of ideas.
He had nothing meaningful to say.
• Serena wanted to get away from her small town because of its paucity
of intellectual life. It didn’t even have a library or a bookstore.
Paucity means
A. repetition.
B. conflict.
C. lack.
Photo: Nomadz
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
9 paucity
– noun
• The speaker’s elegant language could not conceal his paucity of ideas.
He had nothing meaningful to say.
• Serena wanted to get away from her small town because of its paucity
of intellectual life. It didn’t even have a library or a bookstore.
Paucity means
A. repetition.
B. conflict.
C. lack.
Photo: Nomadz
If the speaker said nothing meaningful,
he must have had a lack of ideas to talk
about. A lack of opportunities to share
books suggests a lack of opportunities
to share intellectual interests.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
10 recapitulate
– verb
• “To recapitulate what we told you on the phone,” said Ms. Brown to
the baby sitter, “we’ll be home at eleven o’clock, and you can reach us
at the Athens Café.”
• Before an exam, Ms. Chiu always has a review session in which she
recapitulates some of the most important material the class has studied.
Recapitulate means
A. to sum up.
B. to ignore.
C. to contradict.
TEN WORDS IN CONTEXT
Choose the meaning closest to that of the boldfaced word.
10 recapitulate
– verb
• “To recapitulate what we told you on the phone,” said Ms. Brown to
the baby sitter, “we’ll be home at eleven o’clock, and you can reach us
at the Athens Café.”
• Before an exam, Ms. Chiu always has a review session in which she
recapitulates some of the most important material the class has studied.
Recapitulate means
A. to sum up.
B. to ignore.
C. to contradict.
As a reminder, the parent summed up the two most important points
from their earlier phone conversation. As a review, the teacher sums
up the most important material from previous classes.