Vocabulary 13 test
Directions: select the word
that best completes the sentence.
1. I could tell from his
animated expression and his sprightly step that he was in a (buoyant, versatile) mood.
2. They claimed to be
unselfish patriots, but we knew that, in reality, they were acting from the most (untenable, sordid) motives.
3. There are more than 100
members in the state legislature, but the real power is held by a small (clique, prelude) of insiders.
4. A good politician must
appear (sordid, congenial) even when
he or she is feeling cross and unsociable.
5. Good citizens should not
sit idly by while the vitality of their community (wanes, concedes).
6. Our problem now is not to
(sever, apportion) blame for our
failures, but to find a way to achieve success.
7. I appreciate her interest
in me, but I am annoyed by her tendency to offer criticism and advice (bona fide, ad infinitum).
8. The successful invasion of
9. You are at a stage of life
when you should begin to (wane, sever)
the apron strings that tie you to your mother.
10. Shakespeare’s clowns are
often simple (cliques, rustics) who
are trying to behave like sophisticated men of the world.
11. Leonardo da Vinci was a (versatile,
buoyant) genius who excelled in many different fields of art and science.
12. Because our tank forces
had been destroyed, the position of the ground troops proved (congenial, untenable).
13. They will not be allowed
to vote in the election because they are not considered (ad infinitum, bona fide) residents of the community.
14. American society in
recent years has been deeply affected by the steady (migration, clique) from the inner city to the suburbs.
15. The atmosphere in the
tiny, airless cell soon grew as (buoyant,
rancid) as the foul-smelling soup the prisoner was fed every night.
16. One of the aims of
education is to enable us to (perceive,
sever) the difference between what is truly excellent and what is
second-rate.
17. When he came home from
college for Thanksgiving break, he treated us “high school kids” with (sordid, lofty) scorn.
18. The psychologist said
that troubled young people often have a (perverse,
rancid) impulse to do exactly what will be most injurious to them.
19. My faith in that
seemingly ordinary young girl was entirely (vindicated, perceived).
20. He talks a great game of
tennis, but I (wane, concede)
nothing to him until he has shown that he can beat me on the court.