| A | B |
|---|
| extremely careful and precise | meticulous |
| thinking deeply about something, especially in a sad or serious manner | pensive |
| not discouraged or intimidated or full of fear | undaunted |
| thinly spread or occurring with spaces in between | sparse |
| to stand around without any obvious purpose; to do something in a slow, lazy way often stopping to rest | loiter |
| to move across, over, or through an area or a place | traverse |
| to receded from the land as the tide falls; to diminish or lessen in intensity | ebb |
| a strong liking, taste, or tendency for something | penchant |
| reckless confidence that might be offensive | temerity |
| to mock or treat with scorn or to eat food quickly and greedily | scoff |
| lean and muscular | sinewy |
| the ability to recover from change, illness, or misfortune | resilience |
| possessing the quality of being unusually stupid | moronic |
| unaware of or paying no attention to somebody or something | oblivious |
| to feel or express smug self-satisfaction about something such as an achievement, a possession, or somebody else's misfortune | gloat |
| set in opinion; very determined and not influenced by appeals to reconsider | adamant |
| dangerously unstable, unsteady, uncertain, or insecure | precarious |
| to search thoroughly; to examine closely and carefully usually to commit robbery | ransack |
| tiny bright flash of light; sparkle; to look or appear briefly or quickly | glint |
| having no trees or other growing plants; not able to bear children | barren |
| The ski patrol ___ the mountain paths, looking for the lost skiers; they never returned to meet their ski club bus, and the club leader had reported them missing. | traversed (v) |
| Losing game after game did not create a negative attitude amongst the soccer team; they remained ___ and went on to win all their games in the last half of their season. | undaunted (adj) |
| The doctor sat ___ for almost an hour after reviewing the CAT scan of his young patient; now he had to deliver the bad news that the disease had spread rapidly throughout his entire body. | pensively (adv) |
| The flood waters ___ ,giving residents hope that within a week they would be able to return to their homes. | ebbed (v) |
| The students had a ___ for using the dry erase whiteboards to practice vocabulary words. | penchant (n) |
| The Bernardsville police chased the group that was ___ outside Buona Pizza; the owners were worried that the group would discourage customers from entering the restaurant. | loitering (v) |
| Willie ___ cleaned the silver buckle on his favorite belt; it shone like new when he was done. | meticulously (adv) |
| Teddy ___ at his mother's reprimand; he had a mind of his own and no punishment deterred him. | scoffed (v) |
| Sandy and Mary were amazed at Karen's ___ ; they thought that Karen would never survive the loss of her job and marriage all in one year, but she did. | resilience (n) |
| Barbara was completely ___ to the fact that her puppies were having the time of their lives, chewing on her brand new leather loafers. | oblivious (adj) |
| Mark was ___ that Mom and Dad should not be told about the speeding ticket; they would find out soon enough when their insurance rates increased. | adamant (adj) |
| Henry acted in a ____ way when he heard that Ralph had won a trip to Hawaii; he cut a hole in the seat of every single pair of Ralph's swim trunks. | moronic (adj) |
| Ryan's ___ was legendary; he burped over the loudspeaker after giving morning announcements. | temerity (n) |
| Mountain Lakes __ over their ten point lead in the last softball game; the players stood at the dugout fence and cheered wildly every time a Bernards player made an error on the field. | gloated (v) |
| Jake's ___ physique did not make him the best candidate for defensive tackle; he was 5' 10'' at 150 pounds. | sinewy (adj) |
| When Jackie passed the last math test, her teacher felt that there was a ____ of hope that she would pull a passing grade for the marking period. | glint (n) |
| The __ landscape kept urban sprawl to a minimum; the dry brown hills are unattractive to most. | barren (adj) |
| Her new laptop dangled ___ on the edge of the desk; it was destined to end up on the floor. | precariously (adv) |
| The fraternity boys ___ the professor's office leaving plenty of fingerprints behind; campus police found the perpetrators quickly. | ransacked (v) |
| His head was ___ covered with gray hair giving him the look of someone ten years his senior. | sparsely (adv) |
| Ms. Johnson returned home after a night out at her friend's and gasped in disbelief; someone had ____ her house, looking for jewelry, cash, and electronics. | ransacked (v) |
| Billy swayed ___ on the tight rope. He was sixty feet in the air and had to traverse the entire length of the arena. | precariously (adv) |
| I sneaked into my brother's room as he was doing his homework and slipped his favorite Fergie CD out of his backpack; Jake was completely ___ to my presence. Mission accomplished! | oblivious (adj) |
| When Jon held his shiny copper penny up to the light of the projector, it _____ , throwing out a piercing ray of light. | glinted (v) |
| After Bradon's team won the championship, he started to chant his team's victory song; the opponents were annoyed by his ___ and rushed the bus in frustration. | gloating (n) |
| Billy's ___ was legendary; when the teacher asked him to pick up the papers he had dropped, he put his hands on his hips and told her to pick them up herself. | temerity (n) |
| Bobby was shocked to find that his almost perfect English class average had ___ to a seventy percent; he had been studying for quizzes and tests harder than ever, yet it seemed not to be helping. | ebbed (v) |
| Barry Bonds tried to persuade the authorities that he was not on steroids, but they were ____ that he indeed had used some sort of performance enhancing drugs. | adamant (adj) |
| Sammy ___ when he saw the children excitedly running around during the snowstorm; to him, snow meant long hours of backaching shoveling. | scoffed (v) |
| Gabriella and Stephanie sang a ___ song of friendship that annoyed me terribly; they were ten-years-old, but the song was one that a four-year-old would sing. | moronic (adj) |
| Lauren had a burning ___ for surfing the tube. The ten foot waves were the extreme thrill that she was looking for. | penchant (n) |
| Rita remained ___ . Although her trainer assigned her to ride evil Stella in the walk, trot, canter class, Rita cheerfully groomed the pony and entered the ring with confidence. | undaunted (adj) |
| Lulu thought ____ about the math problem. If she did poorly on one more test, she was sure that she would fail math for the marking period. | pensively (adv) |
| Five boys were___ around Basking in Java annoying the regular patrons; the owner asked the boys to move on, but eventually she had to call the police for help. | loitering (v) |
| Bobby Black hailed from a ___ populated town; McGillicuddy had just seventy-five people spread over twenty-five miles of steep mountainous country. | sparsely (adv) |
| Julia had great ____; after falling during her first jump in the Women's Figure Skating Championship, she pulled herself together, slipped in an extra jump, and finished without a flaw. | resilience (n) |
| I was astounded at the ___ builds of the boxers; they were remarkably powerful, muscular, and slim. | sinewy (adj) |
| The orange tabby ___ the busy street carefully avoiding the speeding traffic. When he reached the other side, he scooted over the fence and headed down Market Street toward Arthur's Fish Market. | traversed (v) |
| A ___ person, Brandon kept his desk, cabinets, and files neat, clean, and orderly. | meticulous (adj) |
| Madison quickly ____ down her breakfast; one more tardy would earn her a detention, and she didn't want that to happen. | scoffed (v) |
| His vanilla flavored ice cream was ___ covered with confetti sprinkles; unfortunately for Danny, there were just a few left. | sparsely (adv) |
| Sara, being a ___ child, recovered quickly from her broken leg and resumed playing soccer without any residual stiffness or immobility. | resilient (adj) |
| The chicken ___ the barnyard and entered the barn before the wily fox could pounce on her. | traversed (v) |
| We were ____ about keeping our plan a secret. If word got out that we were going to throw a surprise party for our coach after winning the championship, the opposing team would surely crash the party. | adamant (adj) |
| I grew ____ quiet when I realized that the promise I had made to take care of our new puppy would seriously cut into my time with friends. | pensively (adv) |
| The audience was entranced as the world-famous bareback rider balanced ___ on two pintos while they jumped through a ring of fire. | precariously (adv) |
| Walking in the ___ area gave us no amount of joy; we preferred lush green landscapes with dense vegetation. | barren (adj) |
| Alec had a ___ for root beer flavor; with every lunch and dinner he demanded a frothy mug of root beer soda and in between he sucked on root beer barrel candies. | penchant (n) |
| Aloyisius' desk was ___ ; not a vestige of dust, paper, or grime could be found upon it. | meticulous (adj) |
| The boys' ___ screams of laughter could be heard throughout the school as they foolishly and dangerously walked blindfolded down the halls, bumping into walls and falling down stairs. | moronic (adj) |
| William ___ so much about the stash of candy that he had from his Halloween visits that his sister decided he needed to be punished; she sneaked into his room and helped herself to a bagful. | gloated (v) |
| Annie stated, "I think the lean, muscular man in the picture looks really weird. I guess I don't appreciate a ____ physique." | sinewy (adj) |
| Salvatore, the manager of Starbucks, noticed a bunch of kids ___ in front of the store and became alarmed; he saw the same group yesterday skulking around the candy aisle in Shop Rite. | loitering (participle that starts a participial phrase) |
| Yesterday a girl from Belair had the ___ to walk into my boutique and mock the clothing that I was selling. | temerity (n) |
| The sea ___ just as the Frisbee landed in the water; it was sucked out to the depths, and we never saw it again. | ebbed (v) |
| Emily ___ the soccer field, picked up the ball, and headed for the goal. SCORE! | traversed (v) |
| Jack remained ___ . The teacher had screamed at him to be quiet, but he continued to talk at full volume, completely unconcerned. | undaunted (adj) |
