1.       Ms. Llewellyn is known to gently ___________ students who do not do their homework, but because of her generally amiable demeanour, she refuses to punish anyone, and seldom even raises her voice.

A.      Pillory                                

B.      Detest   

C.      Malign

D.      Penalize

E.       chide                           

2.       The professor explains the efficient market hypothesis with ____________ uncommon among business finance faculty she is not fully convinced of the validity of the theory.

A.      An enthusiasm

B.      A degree of humility

C.      A thoroughness

D.      A level of scepticism

E.       An eloquence

3.       In front of her parents, adults euphemistically referred to the overly talkative young girl as precocious, though they privately found her to be _______.

A.      Garrulous                        

B.      Skittish  

C.      Solicitous

D.      Endearing

E.       Naive                          

4.       The independent audit showed that the company was not ___________, let alone flourishing, as its initial report to its stockholders tried to over.

A.      Copious                           

B.      Evasive                             

C.      Thriving

D.       Unprecedented

E.       Solvent

5.       During the prolonged and elaborate farewell tour, no one thought the plaudits, heaped upon him were ___________, since his heroics were well documented and admired by all.

A.      Obsequious                 

B.      Derivative 

C.      Deserved

D.      Vestigial

E.       Antiquated                      

6.       Once considered able to only __________ emulate actions without understanding the actins deeper significance, bearded dragons have recently been observed copying non-instinctive actions of other bearded dragons, prompting scientists to question whether other reptiles might also be capable of genuine imitation.

A.      Alliteratively                  

B.      Insensibly                    

C.      Listlessly

D.      Actively

E.       Consciously

7.       The Donner party made a __________ choice to try to cross the Sierra Nevada too late in the season, and they paid clearly for that dangerous decision.

A.      Prudent                           

B.      Parlous                          

C.      Suicidal

D.      Semiotic

E.       Providential

8.       After a brief initial struggle over power, the group elected a leader and _________ into a surprisingly harmonious team

A.      Fractured                   

B.      Syncopated

C.      Coalesced

D.      Agglomerated

E.       Amortized                  

9.       Today’s highly partisan political environment is far from ___________; not so long ago, ideological opponents were still able to set aside differences and work across party lines, as is typically necessary to pass productive legislation.

A.      Civil                               

B.      Immutable                

C.      Polemical

D.      Efficacious

E.       Enjoyable

10.   Even the __________ and allowing charms of Paris were not sufficient to cure the young expatriate of his yearning for the simple and quaint charms of his rural American home.

A.      Lascivious                  

B.      Sophisticated  

C.      Foreign

D.      Alien

E.       Alienating         

11.   Children who are recognized as preternaturally intelligent often go on to fulfil their early promise, contrary to the stereotype of maladjusted ____________ wasting their gifts.

A.      Prodigies                  

B.      Teenagers

C.      Cranks

D.      Theorizers

E.       Pragmatists                 

12.   During his sales pitch, the car salesman attempted to ___________ the young couple into purchasing the luxury automobile, despite the pair’s obvious indifference to his flattery.

A.      Support                      

B.      Inveigle    

C.      Deliberate

D.      Marginalize

E.       Hector                 

13.   astrophysicist argues that our books and films about interstellar space travel are a form of mass __________, and that only a miracle on a scale heretofore unseen could allow a human being to voyage to even the closest star in another solar system.

A.      Innovation                  

B.      Delusion 

C.      Dementia

D.      Hysteria

E.       Catastrophe                  

14.    Nora Ephron’s 1989 Film, When Harry met Sally, was more than a hit movie-for a generation, it was a cultural regarding the often fraught relation between men and women.

A.      Rudder                       

B.      Bolster                      

C.      Touchstone

D.      Stanchion

E.       Cornerstone

15.   In an age of near-instantaneous fact checking, political candidates must be careful of making spontaneous statements intended to appease a crowd, as any fictitious claim will inevitably be found to be ________.

A.      Dull                            

B.      Bogus                        

C.      Genuine

D.       Unnecessary

E.       Unfamiliar

16.   The distinction between architecture and engineering professions that it resembles is that the former must consider (i)_________ as well as functionality, as clients often base their decisions more on the beauty of the project than its practicality.

A.      Insouciance               

B.      Utility    

C.      Price

D.      Aesthetics

E.       Profundity                     

17.   The senator’s _________ upbringing seemingly had no effect on his policy: he vociferously championed economic, political and even cultural isolationism.

A.      Cosmopolitan          

B.      Bucolic                      

C.      Liberal

D.      Tendentious

E.       Opulent

18.   Patients who stop taking antibiotics when symptoms subside contribute to the evolution of drug resistant strains, because an incomplete course of treatment spares the most _________ bacteria.

A.      Widespread             

B.      Immature              

C.      Robust

D.      Benign

E.       Notorious

19.   The beauty pageant contestant told the Judges she wanted world peace, but her suggestion to bring about world peace was ________ apparently, she naively thinks everyone could just be told to “love one another” and all the world’s disagreement would fade away.

A.      Convoluted               

B.      Facile                        

C.      Impeccable

D.      Amicable

E.       Dulcet

20.   As an evolutionary adaptation, cats have developed a mechanism whereby their heads are measuring devices, as their bodies can fit through any space that their heads can, and this physiology is safeguard that __________ their success as a species.

A.      Reproduces           

B.      Ensures                    

C.      Enhances

D.      Mitigates

E.       Inundates

21.   After many years of war and bloodshed, some because __________ suffering, casting a blind eye to scenes of misery around them.

A.      Inured to                

B.      Exempted from   

C.      Dominant over

D.      Effusive over

E.       Maudlin over

22.   Faced with _________ job market, many young people are returning to graduate school rather than attempting to compete for the few available jobs.

A.      A myopic                                    

B.      An anaemic

C.      A botched                  

D.      A booming

E.       An educated

23.   When first introduced by senior management, the new boss was viewed as a figurehead at best, but after months of watching him shake up the office hierarchy and double productivity, even the most __________ of his employees was astonished at what he was able to accomplish.

A.      Scrutinized              

B.      Clueless                  

C.      Sceptical

D.       Senior

E.       Resolute

24.   The comedian’ s _________ wit has long been the cause of the polarized sentiments she evokes in her audience; some adore her caustic sense of humour, while other abhor it.

A.      ample                        

B.      acerbic

C.      anachronistic

D.      abstruse

E.       astounding

25.   Dogmatic professors often alienate their classes because they fail to realize that their _______ enervates rather than inspires students.

A.      Wisdom

B.      Pedantry

C.      Parsimony

D.      Pulchritude

E.       Wit

26.   The highly anticipated female of the TV series was divisive: newcomers to the show found the fast-paced action enjoyable while long-time fans _________ the storyline unfinished.

A.      Appreciated

B.      Generated

C.      Examined

D.      Considered

E.       Secured

27.   The engineer is not interested in developing products to meet market needs; her work is known for its technical brilliance much more than for its __________ potential.

A.      Scientific

B.      Ergonomic

C.      Commercial

D.      Academic

E.       Revolutionary

28.   The widespread tendency to __________ retired political leaders who were successful stems from an arguably primal human need to venerate both men and gods.

A.      Castigate

B.      Remember

C.      Lionize

D.      Appreciate

E.       Indemnify

29.   Contrary to the assumptions that many westerners hold about mindfulness practices, meditation is often anything but _____________; while using various methods to calm the mind, meditators frequently experience intense period of restlessness and doubt.

A.      Beneficial

B.       Mystical

C.      Orthodox

D.      Benign

E.       Halcyon

30.   Just as reminiscences of a childhood spent in rural Mexico colour the poet’ s work so too does the experience of war ________ her poetry.

A.      Inform

B.      Mimic

C.      Invalidate

D.      Defer

E.       Presage

31.   The apparent simplicity of a cup of coffee ___________ the dizzying number of hours of toil required to produce it, from months of cultivation of the bean tree to painstaking refinement in highly sophisticated machinery.

A.      Redresses

B.      Confirms

C.      Belies

D.      Furnishes

E.       Fosters

32.   Commentators and Comedians had a field day with the widespread corruption in politics, so much that one __________ defined a “gaffe” as a politician accidentally telling the truth.

A.      Wag

B.      Apologist

C.      Diplomat

D.      Egoist

E.       Transgressor

33.   For eons, ___________ was considered not only polite, bur virtuous; now, fashionable behaviour lauds laxity and tardiness, and arriving at a function an hour late is considered appropriate.

A.      Probity

B.      Parsimoniousness

C.      Prodigality

D.      Punctiliousness

E.       Panache

34.   Every generation is accused of slacking by the preceding ones, before in turn calling its own progeny lackadaisical; such is the __________ of life.

A.      Vicissitude

B.      Irony

C.      Circle

D.      Serendipity

E.       Comedy

35.   Just as ancient Greek culture in some ways provided the romans with a model, the remnants of roman culture __________ the development of medieval European mores.

A.      Duplicated

B.      Curbed

C.      Foresaw

D.      Informed

E.       Hinder

36.   General McClellan focussed so intently on the petty, logistical details of the upcoming campaign that Lincoln felt that said attention to ___________, however necessary, had superseded more lofty goals.

A.      Irrelevancies

B.      Tactics

C.      Minutiae

D.      Strategy

E.       Peccadilloes

37.   For all the student’ s meticulous preparation, he received ___________ grade on his final exam.

A.      A passable

B.      A deplorable

C.      An exacting

D.      A surprising

E.       An outstanding

38.   For centuries, commercial portrait painters have employed a bifurcated aesthetic: like other artists, they strive to represent the truth that gives their works life, but commerce dictates that they simultaneously employ subtle __________ that make the likeness more attractive than the sitter.

A.      Palettes

B.      Aesthetic

C.      Artefacts

D.       Artifices

E.       Sentiments

39.   In an aptitude test in 1986, an argument posited that the possibility of conducting banking transactions from was as likely as flying cars, an argument that sounds __________ today, when such transactions are commonplace.

A.       Prescient

B.      Preternatural

C.      Preordained

D.      Preposterous

E.       Pithy

40.   It is strange to think that for the majority of the 1950s, the _________ of nuclear holocaust was a daily part of people’s lives, so much so that elementary school students ran drills in which they had to dive under their desks and curl up into a ball.

A.      Specter

B.      Annihilation

C.      Brutality

D.      Detonation

E.       Arms Race

41.   The danger of giving too many long and bombastic speeches while on the campaign trail is that a politician can come off as ___________ rather than eloquent.

A.      Unscrupulous

B.      Voluble

C.      Frank

D.      Hostile

E.       Languid

42.   In contrast to environmental economics, an older field that concerns itself with the monetary valuation of natural resources, the emergent field of ecological economics positions the human economy as a subsystem of natural ecologies, thus _______ environmental economics’ s subordination of the natural world.

A.      Circumscribing

B.      Corroborating

C.      Refuting

D.      Ameliorating

E.       Reversing

43.   ___________ against China’ s record on environmental protection has become a ubiquitous pastime at energy summits, especially among those already inclined to invective on such topics.

A.      Inveigling

B.      Speculating

C.      Needling

D.      Ranting

E.       Lauding

44.   While it would be lovely if what he said were true, many of the shareholders are afraid he is _____________ liar, based on observations made during his long tenure at the company.

A.      A libellous

B.      An inveterate

C.      A nullified

D.      An unverified

E.       A forfeited

45.   During years of mismanagement by the socialist party, Burma drifted into economic __________ and isolation, a far cry from the power and influence exerted by the country at the peak of the Toungoo Dynasty in the 16^th century.

A.      Monotony

B.      Opulence

C.      Nonchalance

D.      Feebleness

E.       Recrimination

46.   As the new government revealed itself to be far more authoritarian than the people could have guessed, and curfews and roadblocks threatened the ____________ of citizens, the public houses began to fill with whispers of a possible Coup d’etat.

A.      Insolence

B.      Epitome

C.      Belligerence

D.      Recidivism

E.       Autonomy

47.   O’ Neill’ s Irish ________ was so incomprehensible to the royal visitors, accustomed to speaking in formal Queen’ s English, that they struggled to complete the negotiation.

A.      Fortitude

B.      Patois

C.      Equanimity

D.      Diffidence

E.       Consternation

48.   Professor Honeycutt was known as a probing questioner of her students; she always wanted to get to the _________ of any intellectual matter.

A.      Emotions

B.      Academics

C.      Pith

D.      Periphery

E.       Examination

49.   After Bismarck’ s cunning leadership helped the Prussians overcome years of infighting , they were able to turn the aggression outwards, becoming known and feared across Europe for their ___________.

A.      Ennui

B.      Extravagance

C.      Opulence

D.      Covetousness

E.       Truculence

50.   After renouncing the significant advantages of his noble birth, he wandered from villages to villages as a lowly ___________; this reliance on alms, he maintained along with other members of his religious orders, was the life best suited to one who wished to see both the miserliness and the generosity of humanity.

A.      Abettor

B.      Mendicant

C.      Rube

D.      Anachronism

E.       Malefactor

51.   In contrast to American social conventions regarding neighbourly relations, in which families or individuals residing in close proximity often interact on a familiar basis, residential ______ does not necessarily imply intimacy (or even amity) among the English.

A.      Commodiousness

B.      Amiability

C.      Reciprocity

D.      Propinquity

E.       Cordiality

52.    The Jagged peaks and ________ drops of the Himalayas are signs of their relative youth; older mountains tend to be smaller and more rounded as a result of erosion.

A.      Overweening

B.      Notorious

C.      Surreptitious

D.      Precipitous

E.       Nascent

53.   According to the theory of natural selection, traits that prove particularly __________ have a greater chance of being passed on to future generations, because the individuals that possess these traits are more likely to survive long enough to mate.

A.      Innocuous

B.      Expedient

C.      Salient

D.      Titillating

E.       Prolific

54.   Larsen and Toubro is an extremely diversified company with businesses dealing in health care, office supplies, display and graphics, electronics and communications, industry and transportation, and security and personal protection all falling under its __________.

A.      Aegis

B.      Vagaries

C.      Covenant

D.      Opus

E.       Tutelage

55.   Blinking is an involuntary movement that occurs many times a day, and most times people are not even ______ of the fact that they do it so often.

A.      Reticent

B.      Foretold

C.      Cognizant

D.      Belied

E.       Unctuous

56.   Judge Gordon was known for his ________ in upholding the law; although his ruling sometimes went against his personal preferences, they wre always in keeping with legal precedent.

A.      Turpitude

B.      Probity

C.      Speciousness

D.      Torpor

E.       Urbanity

57.   Our group worked ______ on the account; for months, many of us got to work early and left late, and some even took work home.

A.      Ambiguously

B.      Exultantly

C.      Formidably

D.      Imperturbably

E.       Assiduously

58.   We were appalled by the waiter’ s ___________; when we complained that our food came cold, he told us that it was our fault for ordering an unusual dish.

A.      Effrontery

B.      Pusillanimity

C.      Dexterity

D.      Circumspection

E.       Asperity

59.   Walt’ s presentation was very ___________; it helped clarify some difficult aspect of our group’ s goals for the remainder of the project.

A.      Lucid

B.      Malevolent

C.      Meretricious

D.      Obscure

E.       Bewildering

60.   Napoleon is of course most famous for his military triumphs, but his innovative code of law had a subtler but more _________ impact, as it principles strongly influenced legal codes well into the 20^th century.

A.      Renowned

B.      Enduring

C.      Fleeting

D.      Insidious

E.       Martial

61.   Although retired, the Professor takes pain to remain _______ the latest development in her field.

A.      Akimbo to

B.      Abreast of

C.      Obtuse to

D.      Subservient to

E.       Askance to

62.   December earthquake was a __________ to a terrible year for a small island nation recently wrecked by civil strife and devastating tropical storms.

A.       Prologue

B.      Catharsis

C.      Coda

D.      Homily

E.       Rampage

63.   The director inserted deliberate _________ into the play for example, Hamlet typed his letters to Ophelia on a laptop.

A.      Platitude

B.      Paradigms

C.      Neologisms

D.      Derivations

E.       Anachronisms

64.   The ancient tablet presents a true _________; none have been able to decode it.

A.      Gem

B.      Stanza

C.      Quagmire

D.      Enigma

E.       Incentive

65.   Introverts does not prefer a quiet gregarious lifestyle, whereas extroverts are more ________.

A.      Doctrinaire

B.      Convivial

C.      Sanguinary

D.      Jejune

E.       Modish

66.   The transformation of the NFL from a running-oriented game to a passing-oriented game demonstrates that, in any profession, when the ________ proves more successful than the time-honoured, industry leaders will embrace the new with alacrity.

A.      Aerial

B.      Exciting

C.      Novel

D.      Conventional

E.       Controversial

67.   After struggling to maintain her composure for hours upon hearing of her late husband’ s infidelities, the recently bereaved widow finally burst into _________.

A.      Hysterics

B.      Laughter

C.      Song

D.      Mirth

E.       Flames

68.   Modern Political campaigns are so full of misrepresentations that candour is an ________.

A.      Aphorism

B.      Anecdote

C.      Effacement

D.      Anomaly

E.       Overture

69.   Struggling with the uphill descent, the ancient Jalopy blew a gasket when it reached the level plateau, and then the car slowly _________ to a stop.

A.      Careened

B.      Castigated

C.      Trundled

D.      Tarried

E.       Transmuted

70.   The organizer of the university’ series of public debates commented that it is difficult to find a suitable adjudicator for debates on certain controversial matters, as there exist topics in regards to which no one is _________.

A.      Pellucid

B.      Disinterested

C.      Solipsistic

D.      Jocular

E.       Subjective

71.   It was apparent to everyone present that upon receiving the medal, a decoration long past due, the superannuated veteran adopted a mood of exaggerated hilarity, almost as if the unexpected resolution of a lifetime of injustice come as a _______ surprise.

A.      Sanctimonious

B.      Risible

C.      Parsimonious

D.      Prodigal

E.       Plangent

72.   Americans who were the first to fight fascism in Spain during the civil war were not allowed to join the US army later, as their initiative led to the American government labelling them __________ anti-fascists, and thus undesirable.

A.      Violent

B.      Erroneous

C.      Premature

D.      Prescient

E.       Communist

73.   Palaeontologist are always extracting dinosaur bones from pit in dusty deserts, but most of their research occurs in libraries, and most of their discoveries are ______ from tomes every bit as dusty as the aforementioned deserts.

A.      Perused

B.      Garnished

C.      Gleaned

D.      Involved

E.       Interpreted

74.   In their popular book sex at Dawn, Authors Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha’ ________ those who see paradigms for monogamy in nature, describing numerous animals and primitive peoples who have polyamorous relationships.

A.      Conspire with

B.      Block out

C.      Rail against

D.      Skitter around

E.       Pass over

75.   The king’ s attendants insisted that he had never made a bad decision during his entire reign, but the king ignored this __________, recognizing it as the unctuous chatter of toadies.

A.      Idleness

B.      Regalia

C.      Blather

D.      Puffery

E.       Confabulation

76.   Unable to raise sufficient funds for his quirky independent feature, the producer was heard to curse the philistines and __________ the lack of support for experimental art in this country.

A.      Debase

B.      Decry

C.      Deface

D.      Delimit

E.       Defer

77.   Unfortunately for the young hire, the amiable, gregarious air of his boss during the initial interview belied a vastly more ________ style on the job, a fact which he learned to his chagrin within the first days of employment.

A.      Draconian

B.      Friendly

C.      Fatuous

D.      Disconcerting

E.       Nonplussed