Unit 3 Vocabulary
1. articulate
(v.) to pronounce distinctly; to express well in words; to connect
by a joint or joints; (adj.) expressed clearly and forcefully; able to employ language
clearly and forcefully; jointed
Few people can _________________ their emotions during times of
stress.
The most ____________ student in the class was chosen to mediate the debate.
SYNONYMS:
2. cavort
(v.) to romp or prance around exuberantly; to make merry
The actors in the musical ______________ on stage.
SYNONYMS:
3. credence
(n.) belief, mental acceptance, credit
The government and the public failed to give __________ to the reports of
an impending water shortage.
SYNONYMS:
4. decry
(v.) to condemn, express strong disapproval; to officially depreciate
Every arm of government and every educational institution should _________
bigotry in all its forms.
SYNONYMS:
5. distraught
(adj.) very much agitated or upset as a result of emotion or mental
conflict
The workforce became __________ in the wake of the 1929 stock market
crash.
SYNONYMS:
6. evince
(v.) to display clearly, to make evident, to provoke
The crowd did not _______ any signs of panic but moved in an orderly fashion
to the nearest exits.
SYNONYMS:
7. feckless
(adj.) lacking in spirit and strength; ineffective, weak; irresponsible,
unreliable
Although a ________ youth, he eventually matured into a hard-working and
responsible citizen.
SYNONYMS:
8. nefarious
(adj.) wicked, depraved, devoid of moral standards
Brutus and Cassius hatched a ______ plot to assassinate Julius Caesar on the
steps of the Roman Senate.
SYNONYMS:
9. utopian
(adj.) founded upon or involving a visionary view of an ideal world;
impractical
A number of American religious groups like the Shakers have built separate
communities based on _______ schemes.
SYNONYMS:
10. verbiage
(n.) language that is too wordy or inflated in proportion to the sense or
content, wordiness; a manner of expression
The contract was full of meaningless _______ that seemed designed to confuse
the lay person.
SYNONYMS:
11. verdant
(adj.) green in tint or color; immature in experience or judgment
The tourists on safari traveled over the ________ grasslands of Kenya in
search of native wildlife.
SYNONYMS:
12. viscous
(adj.) having a gelatinous or gluey quality, lacking in easy movement or
fluidity
The varnish left a _____ residue on the wood that was hard to remove.
SYNONYMS:
Completing the Sentence
1.
The assembly speaker couldn’t be understood because he mumbled his words instead of
_______________________________ them clearly.
2. For as far as the eye could see, _______________________ fields of unripe corn swayed gently in the
morning breeze.
3. An educated citizenry will not give _______________________ to wild charges of extremists seeking
to undermine our political and economic system.
4. Sadly, the ________________________ schemes of high-minded idealists usually flounder on the
rocks of practical realities.
5. Though diesel fuels are not as thick as motor oil, they are a good deal more
_________________________ than regular gasoline.
6. When Bill was told that he had made the varsity wrestling team, he began to ____________________
around the gym like a young colt.
7. The NCAA has in recent years cracked down hard on such ________________________ practices as
“shaving points.”
8. The new chairman ____________________________ what she called the “deplorable tendency of so
many Americans to try to get something for nothing.”
Choosing the Right Word
1. The book has an interesting plot, but the author has practically smothered it in endless (verbiage,
credence).
2. The investigating committee (decried, dissembled) the use of substandard materials and slovenly
workmanship in the housing project.
3. One of the duties of a President is to (cavort, articulate) the policies and programs of his
administration in a forceful and convincing way.
4. The United States is cooperating with the other nations of the world in an effort to check the (feckless,
nefarious) trade in narcotics.
5. (Decried, Distraught) with grief, they sat motionless for hours, staring blankly into space.
6. Despite all the reports of “miraculous” cures, you would be well advised to withhold (verbiage,
credence) until the drug has been fully tested.
7. When life was easy he was all dash and confidence, but in times of trouble his essentially
(primordial, feckless) character came to the fore.
8. From the deck of our luxury liner, we occasionally caught sights of schools of porpoises (cavorting,
evincing) playfully in the waves.
Create-your-own: In each of the boxes, write a vocabulary word, use it in your own sentence, and draw a
picture to help you remember the word. Extra Credit: Do all 12 words.