| A | B |
|---|
| Russia sent its ___ (ambassador) to the United States, hoping that our country would agree to educate their top mathematics students in our finest engineering schools. | emissary (n) |
| The little brat was the closest being to Satan's ___ (envoy); he charged into our house, demanded a cookie, and sat watching television for the entire night with his feet on the coffee table. | emissary (n) |
| Princess Galadriel came as an ___ (envoy)of peace to the war-torn nations, promoting collaboration on the rebuilding of the demolished countries. | emissary (n) |
| Sukki is the proverbial swan: ___ on the surface but paddling like mad underneath the water. | serene (adj) |
| The mountain peak stands ___ , sloping down to valleys where life is teeming. | serene (adj) |
| Nell could hardly believe that Coretta, screaming and flailing her arms in a rage, was the same woman she always admired for her ___ deportment, elegance, and beauty. | serene (adj) |
| Richard allowed himself to be drawn into the ___ exotic beauty of the Caribbean and ordered another pineapple juice on the rocks. | serene (adj) |
| The Big Bad Wolf ___ climbed the chimney, hoping to reach down and grab a little pig by his curly pink tail. | stealthily (adv) |
| It was with __ that the burnished red fox snatched the little red hen from her coop and dragged her to his den. | stealth (n) |
| Guerilla fighters counter their opponents with __ , which is an effective strategy against those with force supremacy. | stealth (n) |
| Lulu, the Martins' trained chimpanzee, pulled the clothesline __ and traversed it as though it were a tightrope. | taut (adj) |
| As Agnes waited for the judge's decision, her muscles were __ with anticipation. | taut (adj) |
| Donald told Daisy to hold the water-ski rope line ___ or else she would be jerked forward as the boat picked up speed. | taut (adj) |
| If our political culture is addicted to racist ___ , criticisms, then it is high time we went into detox. | invective (n) |
| Although Horatio is capable of fierce ___ (criticism), his oratory is quite mild and impersonal. Ironic! | invective (n) |
| Raphael quickly fought back, hurling ___ (diatribe) against Katzenbach for all he was worth. | invective (n) |
| Billy Bob ___ (faked) an inability to make a decision between two toys, and in frustration, his mom bought him both. Score, Billy Bob! | feigned (v) |
| Elliot __ (fakes) a sickness accompanied by a high fever so that he can stay home to be with E.T. | feigns (v) |
| Raymond __ (fakes) ignorance about household chores, cleverly avoiding having to help Debra with the cooking and the cleaning. | feigns (v) |
| Robert's ___ (doleful) baritone voice adds to his hilarious portrayal of Mr. Feelgood. | lugubrious (adj) |
| When my dad starts to sing, my beagle punches out a long __ (woeful) howl that shuts down the entertainment almost immediately. | lugubrious (adj) |
| The sixth graders ___ (plaintively) shuffled into class for the third day in a row of 90 degree temperatures; when would the weather break? | lugubriously (adv) |
| Emma ___ with Rose over her breakup with Dudley; they had been together for five years, but no longer would they be a couple. | commiserated (v) |
| Kim did not gloat over her rival's fall on the ice; on the contrary, she ___ with her. An Olympic dream just went out the window. | commiserated (v) |
| Bimbo, the older male chimpanzee, patted the back of Goblin in ___ over his loss of a bunch of bananas to Big Mike. | commiseration (n) |
| Mr. Copperthwaite's tragic __ was a warning to us all to give up the terrible habit of smoking. | demise (n) |
| The decrease in interest in live entertainment contributed to the ___ of the circus industry. | demise (n) |
| The ___ , termination, of St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village has sent residents searching frantically for alternative healthcare sites. | demise (n) |
| Mrs. Pratchet made a horse whip out of __ , bendable, willow stems and gave her stubborn old mule a whack on the rump. | pliant (adj) |
| Desi remained __ , flexible, for most of his childhood years, giving in readily to his parents' demands, but once he hit fourteen, the fireworks began. | pliant (adj) |
| To keep her eighty-year-old skin ___, supple, Granny Chick rubbed olive oil into her skin every night before getting into bed, which left a greasy mess on the pillows. | pliant ( adj) |
| Doctor Doolittle ___ and drained the billy goat's wound; the troll had taken a bite of his flank, but the goat slipped away quashing his intended kill. | incised (v) |
| Dirk wore a black leather jacket that sported buttons ___ with the image of a skull. CHARMING! | incised (v) |
| Jesse __ the pots with elfin figures and shamrocks. | incised (v) |
| An exact __ of the Empire State Building sits prominently on his desk. | replica (n) |
| ___ of the Statue of Liberty are offered for sale at most NYC airports and train stations. | Replicas (n) |
| Ike commissioned Spike to paint a ___ of the Mona Lisa. | replica (n) |
| Be careful! Last week __ (dangerous) currents swept away an elderly vacationer. | treacherous (adj) |
| A ___ , deceitful, evil doer lured the ignorant people from their homes and stole everything they owned. | treacherous (adj) |
| A __ , disloyal, individual hacked the company's database and stole all their most precious trade secrets. | treacherous (adj) |
| ___ of glass flew in all directions as the earthquake hit. | Shards (n) |
| Not one single __ of glass remains, so feel free to walk in bare feet. | shard (n) |
| The Red Sox fans proved to be a ___ , riotous, audience when they were down 3 to 7 in the bottom of the ninth. | tumultuous (adj) |
| ___ (riotous) applause erupted from the students when a surprise half day of school was announced because of a power outage. | Tumultuous (adj) |
| Their __ , chaotic, personal life affected the lives of their children in a myriad of ways. | tumultuous (adj) |
| The rumbling vibrations sent the whole of Bernardsville ____ last fall. | quaking (participle) |
| That warning should have them ___ in their boots. | quaking (participle) |
| As Delia sidled out onto the stage, she began to ____ , but upon hearing her fans, she relaxed enough to begin her first number. | quake (inf) |
| Trina's answer ___ (confused) everyone in the audience; they could not understand why she chose to retire at the height of her career. | baffled (v) |
| The __ (perplexing) murder of her sister consumed her thoughts for much of her adult years. | baffling (adj) |
| This quiz was not meant to ___ (confuse) you; it was meant to make you apply what you have learned. | baffle (inf) |
| Extra police were called to ___ the disturbance. | quell (inf) |
| Connor ___ him with a look; he had had enough of Sam's inanity. | quelled (v) |
| Mr. Kelly spoke up again to ___ any panic among the assembled sixth graders over the safety drill. | quell (inf) |
| Edward's ___ repulsed Bella, but she eventually began to see it as beautiful. | pallor (n) |
| Patrick's ____ was a telltale sign that his health was declining. | pallor (n) |
| Considering her ___ and her emaciated body, I was sure that this child had been through some hard times. | pallor (n) |
| Tony __ , restrained, the limbs of his opponents in the scuffle behind the Cartwheel Candy Store. | pinioned (v) |
| While the vet tech ___ the 120 pound Rottweiler, the vet jabbed a needle in its back leg to extract a much-needed blood sample. | pinioned (v) |
| Mrs. Angry ___ the flailing baby and wrapped a clean diaper around his middle before she boarded the plane for Hawaii. | pinioned (v) |
| Ginger was sorely tempted to ___ her brother for revealing her newest crush. | throttle (inf) |
| The revolution has ___ the free exchange of information and opinion. | throttled (v) |
| The Board of Education has ___ (suffocated) the plans for an eight grade field trip to Washington D.C. | throttled (v) |
| When Dana announced that she had won American Idol, her classmates looked at her _____ . | skeptically (adv) or incredulously (adv) |
| Marvin promised his parents that he would change his "slacker" ways, but they were ___ , cynical, about his sincerity. | skeptical (adj) |
| Ida is a ___ (cynic) on this issue; she does not believe that the United States will ever give up the income tax. | skeptic (n) |
| Lizbeth let out an __ gasp when she saw her mother turn two cartwheels off the high dive. | incredulous (adj) |
| The Dog Whisperer promises to perform miracles with troubled canine pets, leaving their owners ___ (not believing). | incredulous (adj)/ skeptical (adj) |
| Dr. Plastic assured Fifi that he could make her look as young as a twenty-year-old, but she was ___ ; after all, FiFi had just celebrated her seventieth. | incredulous (adj)/ skeptical (adj) |
| Ms. Know-it-all __ , flooded, Dr. Berber with unsolicited advice every time she had an appointment. | barraged (v) |
| Lorilie ___ (bombarded) the professor with ridiculous questions, prompting him to ask his assistant to take over the class. | barraged (v) |
| A __ of sixty-second television spots was Senator Kay's answer to his failing popularity ratings. | barrage (n) |
