Make sure to do all words from previous threads also...
1. Lachrymose - Weeping or inclined to weep; tearful; causing or tending to cause tears
2. Wardrobe - A tall cabinet, closet, or small room built to hold clothes; costumes belonging to a theater or theatrical troupe; department in charge of wearing apparel, jewelry, and accessories in a royal or noble household; garments considered as a group, especially all the articles of clothing that belong to one person
3. Dilettante - A dabbler in an art or a field of knowledge; lover of the fine arts; a connoisseur; superficial; amateurish; lacking professional skill and ease in a particular pursuit
4. Maverick - An unbranded range animal, especially a calf that has become separated from its mother, traditionally considered the property of the first person who brands it; one that refuses to abide by the dictates of or resists adherence to a group; a dissenter; being independent in thought and action or exhibiting such independence; radical
5. Prevaricate - Misleading or equivocate
6. Resilient - Marked by the ability to recover readily, as from misfortune; capable of returning to an original shape or position, as after having been compressed; bouncy, flexible; having the quality of springing back to a former position. Also: Able to recover quickly from sickness or difficulty; sturdy
7. Embolden - To foster boldness or courage in; encourage; impart courage, inspiration, and resolution to; give courage
8. Ethereal - Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible; highly refined; delicate; of the celestial spheres; heavenly; spiritual; so light and insubstantial as to resemble air or a thin film
9. Meet - To come together face-to-face by arrangement: get together; fitting; come together, convene; connect, join; touch; happen on; perform, carry out
10. Bedlam - A place or situation of noisy uproar and confusion; chaotic situation; a state of extreme confusion and disorder; scene of great uproar and confusion
11. Mitigate - To moderate (a quality or condition) in force or intensity; alleviate; make less severe or more bearable; check, diminish, lighten
12. Naive - One who is artless, credulous, or uncritical; free from guile, cunning, or deceit; guileless, unsophisticated person; easily imposed on or tricked; childlike, trusting
13. Heed - To pay attention to; listen to and consider; close attention; notice; care, thought; pay careful attention to
14. Adolescent - A young person who has undergone puberty but who has not reached full maturity; a teenager; being pre-adult or immature; older child or teenager
15. Indelible - Impossible to remove, erase, or wash away; permanent; unable to be forgotten; memorable; indestructible; cannot be removed, washed away or erased
16. Destitute - Utterly lacking; devoid; lacking resources or the means of subsistence; completely impoverished; down and out; wanting; poor enough to need help from others; not having a desirable element
17. Barefaced - Having no covering over the face; having no beard; without disguise; unconcealed; undisguisedly bold; brazen; shameless; open; unrestrained by convention or propriety; characterized by or done without shame
18. Banal - Commonplace; without freshness or appeal because of overuse
19. Meteoric - Similar to a meteor in speed, brilliance, or brevity; of or relating to the earth's atmosphere; brief, sudden; related to a small body in the solar system that glows brightly as it falls through the earth's atmosphere
20. Surly - Bad tempered; unfriendly
21. Affinity - A natural attraction, liking, or feeling of kinship; inherent similarity between persons or things; relationship or resemblance in structure between species that suggests a common origin; liking or inclination toward something; similarity; close relationship or connection
22. Invigorate - To impart vigor, strength, or vitality to; animate; stimulate; heighten or intensify; give life or energy to; make lively; impart vigor, strength, or vitality to
23. Repose - Freedom from labor, responsibility, or strain; relax; recline; calm; rest; to lie while being supported by something; to place (trust, for example); cease from troubling
24. Stoical - Indifference to pleasure or pain; impassiveness
25. Appease - To bring peace, quiet, or calm to; soothe; satisfy, pacify
26. Gull - A person who is easily tricked or cheated; a dupe; any of various chiefly coastal aquatic birds of the family Laridae, having long wings, webbed feet, a thick, slightly hooked beak, and usually gray and white plumage; person who is easily deceived or victimized; get money or something else from by deceitful trickery
27. Saunter - To walk at a leisurely pace; stroll; leisurely pace; leisurely walk or stroll; stroll; walk in a confident manner; act of walking, especially for pleasure
28. Rescind - To make void; repeal or annul; declare void; take back or remove
29. Elucidate - To make clear or plain, especially by explanation; clarify; give an explanation that serves to clarify; make clear or clearer; explain in detail; make the facts more clear; explain
30. Prolong - To lengthen in duration; protract; lengthen in extent; make or become longer: draw out; extend in time or duration
31. Conductor - One who directs an orchestra or other such group; substance or medium that conducts heat, light, sound, or especially an electric charge; lightning rod, as on a house or barn; one who is in charge of a railroad train, bus, or streetcar
32. Score - The notation of a musical work; written form of a composition for orchestral or vocal parts; music written for a film or a play
33. Wary - On guard; watchful; characterized by caution; vigilantly attentive; trying attentively to avoid danger, risk, or error; careful, cautious; openly distrustful and unwilling to confide
34. Succinct - Characterized by clear, precise expression in few words; concise and terse
35. Benevolent - Characterized by or suggestive of doing good; of, concerned with, or organized for the benefit of charity, charitable, kind
36. Bewilderment - The condition of being confused or disoriented; situation of perplexity or confusion; a tangle; state of being confused; confusion resulting from failure to understand
37. Drift - To move along with or be carried away by the action of water; pass smoothly, quietly, and undisturbed on or as if on a slippery surface; move about at random, especially over a wide area; put into a disordered pile; group of things gathered haphazardly; something suggestive of running water; general sense or significance, as of an action or statement; thread or current of thought uniting or occurring in all the elements of a text or discourse; move aimlessly; pile caused by wind
38. Sequential - Forming or characterized by a sequence, as of units or musical notes; following one after another in an orderly pattern; occurring in an order
39. Oblivious - Lacking all memory; forgetful; lacking conscious awareness; unmindful; unable to remember; unaware, ignorant
40. Estrange - To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate; remove from an accustomed place or set of associations; to make distant, hostile, or unsympathetic; destroy the affections of
41. Erudite - Having or showing profound knowledge and scholarship; well-educated, cultured; very learned
42. Keen - Eager and enthusiastic; very intelligent; sharp, piercing; make inarticulate sounds of grief or pain, usually accompanied by tears; having a fine edge, as for cutting
43. Fingerprint - A distinctive or identifying mark or characteristic; impression on a surface of the curves formed by the ridges on a fingertip, especially such an impression made in ink and used as a means of identification; identify by means of a distinctive mark or characteristic
44. Pride - A sense of one's own dignity or worth; quality of being arrogant; regarding of oneself with undue favor; be proud of (oneself), as for an accomplishment or achievement; self-importance; treasure; best; take pleasure in accomplishment
45. Delegation - A person or group of persons officially elected or appointed to represent another or others; assignment of responsibility
46. Discordant - Not being in accord; conflicting; disagreeable in sound; harsh or dissonant; not in harmony; conflicting; made up of parts or qualities that are disparate or otherwise markedly lacking in consistency
47. Effervescence - The process of bubbling as gas escapes; the property of giving off bubbles; enthusiasm, vivacity
48. Latent - Hidden; beneath the surface; not obvious or active; dormant; capable of being but not yet in existence; existing in a temporarily inactive form or state; fingerprint that is not apparent to the eye but can be made sufficiently visible, as by dusting or fuming, for use in identification; present or potential but not evident or active; undeveloped but capable of normal growth under the proper conditions
49. Garrulous - Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative; wordy and rambling; talkative
50. Overhaul - To examine or go over carefully for needed repairs; dismantle in order to make repairs; make extensive renovations or revisions on; renovate; catch up with; overtake;restore to proper condition or functioning
51. Bilious - Bitterness of temper; ill humor; irascibility; bitter, alkaline, brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow fluid that is secreted by the liver, stored in the gallbladder, and discharged into the duodenum and aids in the emulsification, digestion, and absorption of fats; Either of two bodily humors, black bile or yellow bile, in ancient and medieval physiology
52. Hermetic - Completely sealed, especially against the escape or entry of air; impervious to outside interference or influence; having to do with the occult sciences, especially alchemy; magical
53. Assuage - To make less severe or more bearable; soothe, relieve; reduce fear, excitement, pain, or disease
54. Extricate - To release from an entanglement or difficulty; disengage; get out of situation; relieve of responsibility
55. Mollify - To calm in temper or feeling; soothe; lessen in intensity; temper; reduce the rigidity of; soften; ease the anger or agitation of; ause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of; make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate
56. Obscure - To make dim or indistinct; cut off from sight: block; deficient in brightness; far from centers of human population; liable to more than one interpretation; not known or not widely known by name; of undistinguished or humble station or reputation
57. Verbiage - An excess of words for the purpose; wordiness; manner in which something is expressed in words; repetition; use of many words to say very little
58. Absolve - To pronounce clear of guilt or blame; relieve of a requirement or obligation; grant a remission of sin to; free from a charge or imputation of guilt; free from responsibility or duty; to say that a person is not to be blamed or is free of sin
59. Inveterate - Firmly and long established; deep-rooted; persisting in an ingrained habit; habitual; long-standing, established; confirmed and chronic; long-established and difficult to cure; habitual
60. Belie - To give a false representation to; misrepresent; to show to be false; contradict; deceive
61. Gossamer - So light and insubstantial as to resemble air or a thin film; gauzy, thin; soft light delicate material
62. Isolate - To set apart from a group: close off, cut off; person, thing, or group that has been isolated, as by geographic, ecologic, or social barriers; et apart (a component, circuit, or system) from a source of electricity; separate (experiences or memories) from the emotions relating to them
63. Quarantine - A period of time during which a vehicle, person, or material suspected of carrying a contagious disease is detained at a port of entry under enforced isolation to prevent disease from entering a country; enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent the spread of contagious disease; isolation or confinement of a person or persons with a known or possible contagious disease
64. Inexorable - Firmly, often unreasonably immovable in purpose or will; cruel, pitiless; unrelenting
65. Dissuasion - The act or an instance of dissuading; persuasion not to do something; the act of talking someone out of an intended course of action; deterrence by argument or reasoning or entreaty
66. Indomitable - Incapable of being overcome, subdued, or vanquished; unconquerable; steadfast, unyielding; unconquerable
67. Unfathomed - Situated at or extending to great depth
68. Invulnerable - Immune to attack; impregnable; impossible to damage, injure, or wound
69. Restiveness - An uneasy or nervous state; the anxious feeling you have when you have the jitters; characterized by nervousness and quickness to take fright
70. Sublime - Large and impressive in size, scope, or extent; great, magnificent; of lofty appearance or bearing; haughty; impressive; of high spiritual, moral, or intellectual worth
71. Earshot - The range within which sound can be heard by the unaided ear; hearing distance; range of audibility; the range within which a voice can be heard
72. Ken - Perception; understanding; range of vision; range of what one can know or understand; view; sight; perceive directly with the intellect; to know (a person or thing); to recognize; have knowledge or an understanding
73. Friable - Readily crumbled; brittle; fragile; easily damaged; easily crumbled or broken up; easily reduced to powder or easily pulverized
74. Consensus - An opinion or position reached by a group as a whole; general agreement or accord
75. Irrational - The absence of reason; illogical, senseless; something that does not make sense
76. Beguile - To deceive by guile; delude; take away from by or as if by guile; cheat; distract the attention of; divert; pass (time) pleasantly; amuse or charm; delight; charm; deceive; draw notice or interest by charm
77. Torpor - A state of mental or physical inactivity or insensibility; apathy; dormant, inactive state of a hibernating or estivating animal; deficiency in mental and physical alertness and activity; lethargy; dullness
78. Prolific - Producing offspring or fruit in great abundance; fertile; producing abundant works or results; fruitful, productive; producing many offspring
79. Consonant - Being in agreement or accord; corresponding or alike in sound, as words or syllables; harmonious in sound or tone; agreeing, consistent; letter of the alphabet or speech sound that is not a vowel
80. Encumbrance - One that encumbers; a burden or impediment; lien or claim on property; hindrance
81. Elusive - Tending to elude capture, perception, comprehension, or memory; difficult to define or describe; evasive, mysterious; be difficult to detect or grasp by the mind
82. Nuance - A subtle or slight degree of difference, as in meaning, feeling, or tone; a gradation; expression or appreciation of subtle shades of meaning, feeling, or tone; slight difference; shading; slight variation between nearly identical entities
83. Pernicious - Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly; causing great harm; destructive; evil; wicked; bad, hurtful; harmful; having the capability or effect of damaging irreparably; injurious
84. Prig - A person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner; petty thief or pickpocket; conceited dandy; a fop; steal or pilfer; self-righteous; a person regarded as arrogant and annoying
85. Accolade - An expression of approval; praise; special acknowledgment; an award; ceremonial embrace, as of greeting or salutation; ceremonial bestowal of knighthood; recognition; ornamental treatment, used over an arch, a door, or a window, composed of two curves meeting in the middle; often a richly decorated molding; approval
86. Dissipated - Intemperate in the pursuit of pleasure; dissolute; wasted or squandered; self-indulgent; unrestrained by convention or morality; preoccupied with the pursuit of pleasure and especially games of chance; used up(energy)
87. Straddling - To stand or sit with a leg on each side of; bestride; be on both sides of; extend over or across; fire shots behind and in front of (a target) in order to determine the range; equivocal or a noncommittal position; option to buy or sell a specific asset, such as a block of stock, at a predetermined price before a certain date; spread out in a disorderly way; sprawl; appear to favor both sides of an issue; applied to spokes when they are arranged alternately in two circles in the hub
ANALOGIES:
1. wardrobe:garment
2. meet:embolden
3. opera:music
4. oxygen:gas
5. he:she
6. saunter:walk
7. wary:gulled
8. conductor:score
9. fingerprint:identification
10. frequent:rare
11. delegation:represent
12. pride:esteem
13. discordant:harmony
14. driver:license
15. game:playground
16. thermal:heat
17. overhaul:revision
18. invulnerable:protection
19. earshot:ear
20. ken:see
21. perceive:touch
22. odor:smell
23. unfathomed:mysterious
24. indomitable:conquest
25. inexorable:dissuasion
26. quarantine:isolate
27. impede:encumbrance
ISSUE TOPICS:
1. People who pursue their own intellectual interests for purely personal reasons are more likely to benefit the rest of the world than are people who try to act for the public good
2. Over the past century, the most significant contribution of technology has been to make people's lives more comfortable.
3. The surest indicator of a great nation is not the achievements of its rulers, artists, or scientists, but the general welfare of all its people
4. The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant events and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten
5. The chief benefit of the study of history is to break down the illusion that people in one period of time are significantly different from people who lived at any other time in history
6. Competition is ultimately more beneficial than detrimental to society
7. The best way to understand the character of a society is to examine the character of the men and women that the society chooses as its heroes or its heroines
8. One can best understand the most important characteristics of a society by studying its major cities
ARGUMENT TOPICS:
1. The following appeared in a memo from the mayor of the town of Hopewell.
"Two years ago, the town of Ocean View built a new municipal golf course and resort hotel. During the past two years, tourism in Ocean View has increased, new businesses have opened there, and Ocean View's tax revenues have risen by 30 percent. The best way to improve Hopewell's economy, and generate additional tax revenues, is to build a golf course and resort hotel similar to those in Ocean View."
2. The following appeared in a newspaper feature story.
"At the small, nonprofit hospital in the town of Saluda, the average length of a patient's stay is two days; at the large, for-profit hospital in the nearby city of Megaville, the average patient stay is six days. Also, the cure rate among patients in the Saluda hospital is about twice that of the Megaville hospital. The Saluda hospital has more employees per patient than the hospital in Megaville, and there are few complaints about service at the local hospital. Such data indicate that treatment in smaller, nonprofit hospitals is more economical and of better quality than treatment in larger, for-profit hospitals."
3. Thirteen years ago, researchers studied a group of 25 infants who showed signs of mild distress when exposed to unfamiliar stimuli such as an unusual odor or a tape recording of an unknown voice. They discovered that these infants were more likely than other infants to have been conceived in early autumn, a time when their mothers' production of melatonin — a hormone known to affect some brain functions — would naturally increase in response to decreased daylight. In a follow-up study conducted earlier this year, more than half of these children — now teenagers — who had shown signs of distress identified themselves as shy. Clearly, increased levels of melatonin before birth cause
shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life.
