Level F Unit 8
Task:
1. First, go through each sentence and fill in
(on the lines) the first word that comes to
your mind. Put a star * next to each slide
where your first guess was a synonym for
the word (check in the book).
2. Locate and highlight at least THREE
instances of contrast signal words. Note
the antonym by underlining it.
3. Standard RPS work: identify, make a key,
and define each root, prefix, and suffix.
Acrimonious
• She whirled to face me when I spoke, and her
answer startled me by its ____ bluntness.
• Vigorous debate is fine, but is there any real
need for such unrestrained and ___ namecalling?
• There is often a thin line between the kind of
debate that is spirited and that which Is ____
and nonproductive
bovine
• After I told him what had happened, he sat
there with a ____ expression and said
nothing.
• Although she seems rather plodding in her
behavior and rarely becomes excited, I think it
is unfair to call her “____”
• Their ____ stares and inability to understand
the seriousness of the situation made me
doubt their mental capacity
consternation
• His father looked at the mess with ____,
hardly knowing what to say first.
• To the ____ of the people in the stands, the
lion leaped from the cage and bounded
toward the exit.
• Imagine our ___ when the brakes failed and
we headed full speed toward the busy
intersection!
corpulent
• Though she had grown ____ with the years,
the opera singer’s voice and her way with a
song were the same.
• People with a tendency toward being ____
must wage a lifelong struggle against rich
foods.
• Not too long ago in our society, a ____ body
was genuinely admired as a sign of prosperity.
disavow
• The suspect stubbornly continued to ____
any part in the kidnapping plot.
• Now that these ugly facts about his business
dealings have come to light, I must ____ my
support for his candidacy.
• The prisoner attempted to ____ his confession
on the grounds that he had not been informed
of his legal rights.
dispassionate
• Being a neighbor but not quite a family friend,
he was called in to give a____ view of our
plan.
• We have had enough of the high-powered,
excited oratory; what we need now is a____
examination of the facts.
• Try your best to subdue your natural
reluctance and make a ____ decision that will
be in your son’s best interest.
dissension
• The political party was born by ____ and filally
split into two wings.
• Far from presenting a unified front, the party
is torn by all kinds of strife and _____.
• A certain amount of disagreement is healthy
in any organization, but in our club ____ has
become a way of life.
dissipate
• As chairman, he is free and open, but he ___
his energies on trivial things.
• Instead of using all their forces in one
concerted attack on the enemy, they ____
their strength in many minor engagement.
• The estate he had inherited from his father
was ____ in a long series of impractical and
mismanaged business enterprises.
expurgate
• According to the unwritten law of journalism,
the editor alone has the right to _____ the
article.
• Thomas Bowdler ____ certain words from
Shakespeare’s plays because he felt that they
were unfit ‘to be read aloud in a family’.
• If we are going to be required to perform an
____ version of the play, then I think it is not
worth doing.
gauntlet
• In the Middle Ages, a knight threw down his
____ as a challenge, and another knight
picked it up only if he accepted.
• The bold candidate threw down the ____ and
dared her opponent to face her with a
television debate.
• The retiring coach said he no longer had the
stomach to run the ____ of critics who
assailed him at every loss.
hypothetical
• Science is not based on _____ assumptions,
but on proven facts.
• Our discussion that day was a _____ one,
based on the possibility--- still far from
definite– that I would take the job.
• By reference to ___ cases, you may be able to
clarify the difference between ‘murder’ and
‘manslaughter’ for the law students.
ignoble
• Most people will agree that a noble purpose
does not justify ____ means.
• She is a person of such fine moral standards
that she seems incapable of an ____ act.
• Far from being ____, her failure after making a
valiant effort may serve as an inspiration to all
young people.
Impugn
• You can ____ the senator’s facts, but you
cannot accuse her of concealing her
intentions.
• I am not trying to ____ his truthfulness, but I
still do not see how the facts support his
claims.
• It is not for me to ___ his motives, but how
could anyone except an overambitious
scoundrel have misled his friends that way?
intemperate
• Experience taught her to control her _____
outbursts of anger.
• Though her overall position seemed to be
sensible, her language was so unrestrained
and ____ that people would not support her.
• Though I was annoyed by the child’s behavior,
the father’s outburst seemed to me
deplorably _____.
odium
• Those eager to heap ____ on the fallen tyrant
learned that he had escaped in the night.
• The ____ for this tragic failure does not belong
to any individual or small group but to the
community as a whole.
• My Spanish friend finds it hard to understand
the ____ attached to bullfighting in most nonHispanic countries.
perfidy
• Rulers in Shakespeare’s plays often find
themselves armed atainst enemies but not
against the ____ of their friends.
• Because Vidkun Quisling cooperated with the
Nazis, his name has become a symbol of ____
in his home country of Norway.
• Aren’t you going a little far when you accuse
me of ____ because I didn’t vote for you in the
beauty contest?
relegate
• Even if they ____ him to a mere clerical job,
he is determined to make his presence felt.
• The job of cleaning up the field and the stands
after the big game was ____ to the freshmen.
• When Mr. Kummer saw my pathetically inept
efforts to prepare a banana split, he ____ me
again to the ranks of the unemployed.
squeamish
• If I am called ____for disliking the horror
movie, what do we call those who say they
liked it?
• Anyone as ____ as that trainee will have
trouble accustoming himself to the sights,
sounds, and smells of hospital work.
• I am not ordinarily ____ as a person, but the
sight of that terrible auto accident haunted
me for weeks.
subservient
• The officers were taught to be respectful of
but not blindly ____ to their superior’s wishes.
• Under the American form of government, all
branches of the military are clearly ____ to
the civilian authority.
• I noticed with some distaste how her usually
overbearing manner became ____ when our
employer joined the group.
susceptible
• The trouble with being ____ to flattery is that
you can never be sure that the flatterer is
sincere.
• He is so _____ to flattery that with a few
complimentary words I can get him to do
almost anything I want.
Students who have been well trained in the
social sciences should not be ____ to the cheap
fallacies of racism.