Name: ______________________________
Vocabulary Unit #8 Exercises
I. Definitions
1. allege – (v.) to assert without proof or confirmation
2. arrant – (adj.) thoroughgoing, out-and-out; shameless, blatant
3. badinage – (n.) light and playful conversation
4. conciliate – (v.) to overcome the distrust of, wine over; to appease, pacify; to reconcile, make consistent
5. countermand – (v.) to cancel or reverse one order or command with another that is contrary to the first
6. echelon – (n.) one of a series of grades in an organization or field activity; an organized military unit;
a steplike formation or arrangement
7. exacerbate – (v.) to make more violent, severe, bitter, or painful
8. fatuous – (adj.) stupid or foolish in a self-satisfied way
9. irrefutable – (adj.) impossible to disapprove; beyond argument
10. juggernaut – (n.) a massive and inescapable force or object that crushes whatever is in its path
11. lackadaisical – (adj.) lacking spirit or interest, halfhearted
12. litany – (n.) a prayer consisting of short appeals to God recited by the leader alternating with responses
from the congregation; any repetitive chant; a long list
13. macabre – (adj.) grisly, gruesome; horrible, distressing; having death as a subject
14. paucity – (n.) an inadequate quantity, scarcity, dearth
15. portend – (v.) indicate beforehand that something is about to happen; to give advance warning of
16. raze – (v.) to tear down, destroy completely; to cut or scrape off or out
17. recant – (v.) to withdraw a statement or belief to which one has previously been committed,
renounce, retract
18. saturate – (v.) to soak thoroughly, fill to capacity; to satisfy fully
19. saturnine – (adj.) of a gloomy or surly disposition; cold or sluggish in mood
20. slough – (v.) to cast off, discard; to get rid of something objectionable or unnecessary; to plod through as
if through mud; (n.) a mire; a state of depression
II. Completing the Sentence
1. However much it may cost me, I will never ___recant_______ the principles to which I have devoted
my life.
2. No sooner had the feckless tsar decreed a general mobilization than he __countermanded_ his order,
only to reissue it a short time later.
3. Though some “home remedies” appear to alleviate the symptoms of a disease, they may in fact
__exacerbate__ the condition.
4. Ms. Ryan’s warnings to the class to “review thoroughly” seemed to me to ___portend____ an usually
difficult examination.
5. The men now being held in police custody are ___alleged______ to have robbed eight supermarkets
over the last year.
6. Her friendly manner and disarming smile helped to ___conciliate____ those who oppressed her views
on the proposal.
7. The service in honor of the miners trapped in the underground collapse included prayers and
________litanies______.
8. We object to the policy of _razing__________ historic old buildings to make way for unsightly parking
lots.
9. You are not going to do well in your job if you continue to work in such a(n) _lackadaisical___ and
desultory manner.
10. The enemy’s lines crumpled before the mighty _juggernaut_______ of our attack like so much wheat
before a harvester.
11. As a snake ________sloughs____ off its old skin, so he hoped to rid himself of his weaknesses and
develop a new and better personality.
12. My shirt became so _________saturated_____ with perspiration on that beastly day that I had to change
it more than once during the match.
13. After he made that absurd remark, a(n) _____fatuous_______ grin of self-congratulation spread like
syrup across the lumpy pancake of his face.
14. “I find it terribly depressing to be around people whose dispositions are so ___saturnine______ and
misanthropic,” I remarked.
15. The breaking news story concerned corruption among the highest _echleon________ of politics.
16. Only someone with a truly __________macabre___ sense of humor would decide to use a hearse as the
family car or a coffin as a bed.
17. “It seems to me that such _____arrant________ hypocrisy is indicative of a thoroughly opportunistic
approach to running for office,” I said sadly.
18. The seriousness of the matter under discussion left no room for the type of lighthearted
_____badinage______ encountered in the locker room.
19. At first I thought it would be easy to shoot holes in their case, but I soon realized that their arguments
were practically ____________irrefutable___________.
20. His four disastrous years in office were marked by a plentitude of promises and a(n)
___________paucity_______ of performance.
III. Synonyms
1. the indisputable evidence irrefutable
2. the banter of the morning talk show hosts badinage
3. the egregious corruption of the officials arrant
4. claimed that a crime had been committed alleged
5. foreshadows dangers to come portends
6. an idea that permeates all aspects of society saturates
7. will aggravate tensions between the rivals exacerbate
8. a long rigmarole of questions and answers litany
9. a listless response from voters lackadaisical
10. the upper levels of power echelons
11. tried to placate both sides in the dispute conciliate
12. revoked the outgoing President’s orders countermanded
13. wore a very grotesque mask macabre
14. crushed by the force of progress juggernaut
15. slog through the seemingly endless files slough
IV. Antonyms
16. a growing abundance of cheap labor paucity
17. given to lighthearted predictions saturine
18. known for his sensible opinions fatuous
19. has reaffirmed her support of free trade recanted
20. constructed a downtown shopping district razed
V. Choosing the Right Word
1. By (portending, sloughing) off the artificiality of her first book, the novelist arrived at a style that was
simple, genuine, and highly effective.
2. By denying your guilt without offering any explanation of your actions, you will only (recant,
exacerbate) an already bad situation.
3. Not surprisingly, the committee’s final report was an incongruous mixture of the astute and the
(irrefutable, fatuous).
4. Stephen King’s book Danse (Macabre, Lackadaisical) surveys popular and obscure horror fiction of the
twentieth century.
5. With incredible unconcern, the nobles of Europe immersed themselves in social frivolities as the fearful
(juggernaut, litany) of the World War I steamrolled ineluctably toward them.
6. She excused herself from lending me the money I so desperately needed by (conciliating, alleging) that
she had financial troubles of her own.
7. Over the years, hard work and unstinting devotion to duty have raised me from one (echelon, paucity) of
company management to the next.
8. Economists believe that the drop in automobile sales and steel production (countermands, portends)
serious problems for business in the future.
9. We have many capable and well-meaning people in our organization, but it seems to me that there is a
(paucity, juggernaut) of real leadership.
10. It is a good deal easier to (raze, allege) an old building than it is to destroy a time-honored social
institution.
11. I never ask anyone “How are you?” anymore because I am afraid I will be treated to an endless (litany,
badinage) of symptoms and ailments.
12. His attempts at casual (badinage, echelon) did not conceal the fact that he was acutely embarrassed by
his blunder.
13. What possible purpose will be served by setting up yet another hamburger stand in an arena already
(saturated, sloughed) with a fast-food shops?
14. His debating technique is rooted in the firm belief that anything bellowed in a loud voice is absolutely
(saturnine, irrefutable).
15. Our excitement at visiting the world-famous ruins was dampened by the (lackadaisical, arrant) attitude
of the bored and listless guide.
16. In earlier times, people whose views conflicted with “received opinion” often had to (recant, portend)
their ideas or face the consequences.
17. Only a(n) (arrant, macabre) knave would be capable of devising such an incredibly underhanded and
treacherous scheme.
18. The authority of the Student Council is not absolute because the principal can (countermand, exacerbate)
any of its decisions.
19. Someone with such a (fatuous, saturnine) outlook on life doesn’t make an agreeable traveling
companion, especially on a long journey.
20. The views of the two parties involved in this dispute are so diametrically opposed that it will be almost
impossible to (conciliate, saturate) them.
VI. Vocabulary in Context
The Grass Might Be Greener
In December 2000 President Bill Clinton signed the historic Comprehensive Everglades Restoration
Plan, a 7.8 billion-dollar project to rescue a unique natural habitat that was irrefutably on the brink of
destruction. Before the twin juggernauts of development and agriculture transformed Florida’s landscape, the
seasonally saturated lands known as the Everglades stretched from just south of Orlando to the Florida Keys.
This 60-mile wide ecosystem was comprised of sawgrass marshes, wet prairies, muddy sloughs, and hardwood
swamps. What made the region unique was the unpredictable changes in weather patterns that created very wet
and very dry periods. Indigenous wildlife adapted to these changes over the centuries, but the growing human
population of South Florida wanted to control the flooding and secure a reliable water supply.
In 1947 ten feet of rain fell on South Florida, flooding most of the region, including parts of Miami. The
residents agitated for government assistance, and to conciliate them, the Army Corps of Engineers initiated a
massive flood control project. Beginning in 1948, and for the next thirty years, an intricate network of canals
and levees was built across the region, managing water flow for the benefit of farmers and the general
population. These canals effectively cut off northern Everglades from the southern wetlands. This exacerbated
conditions in the southern region not only because water flow was reduced, but also because fertilizers
contaminated what water remained.
The bill President Clinton signed is meant to reverse these trends and restore as much as 1.7 billion
gallons of fresh water to the Everglades ecosystem.
1. Irrefutably most nearly means
a. Remarkably
b. Indisputably
c. Arguably
d. Irreversibly
4. The meaning of sloughs is
a. Fields
b. Trails
c. Ponds
d. Mires
2. The meaning of juggernauts is
a. Engines
b. Forces
c. Benefits
d. Industries
5. Conciliate most nearly means
a. Silence
b. Reward
c. Placate
d. Divert
3. Saturated is best defined as
a. Flooded
b. Cultivated
c. Neglected
d. Varied
6. Exacerbated most nearly means
a. Changed
b. Favored
c. Improved
d. worsened