Sentence Equivalence

1. While the colonists would eventually push westward, first, they were in for a long, difficult winter, and the main

challenge was to _________ their existing resources.

sell

peddle

steward

upend

husband

procure

2. James Joyce, the author of many novels, including Lady Chatterley's Lover, saw deeply into the hearts of his

characters, but, in a life irony as subtle yet piercing as those endured by his characters, he himself could barely

_________ text well enough to proof his own galleys.

see

feel

walk

move

distinguish

interpret

3. Emblematic of the slaughter of the First World War, 60,000 British soldiers died for naught on the first day of the

battle of the Somme, literally consumed into a stew of blood and _________.

grief

gore

steel

bullets

carnage

anguish

4. Forty years ago, anthropologists firmly believed that Neanderthals and modern homo sapiens never mated, but

advances in genetic testing proved that incorrect — such is the _________ nature of science.

fallacious

evolving

counterfactual

advancing

vacillating

undeterminable

5. The daily routine of responding to lobbyists and exchanging polemics with intransigent political opponents seemed

at odds with the president's _________ tendencies.

tenacious

idealistic

dialectical

contentious

quixotic

altruistic

6. A field trip was arranged so that this troupe of _________ dancers could observe the real masters of their art.

seasoned

fledgling

expert

torpid

novice

lithe

7. The exhibit is not so much a retrospective as a _________; the artist's weaker early work is glossed over, and any

evidence of his ultimate dissolution is absent entirely.

paean

philippic

tirade

panacea

eulogy

crescendo

8. After a long, hard practice in the summer sun, the players were visibly _________.

flagging

hale

lissome

loathsome

vigorous

enervated

9. Nothing evoked memories of her grandmother's house like the _________ of scents associated with the holiday

feast.

paucity

anomaly

olio

mélange

dearth

pilfering

10. Unlike the politician's earlier evasions and equivocations, this latest statement is a _________ lie.

bald

tacit

overt

didactic

rhetorical

implicit

11. Possessed of a lighthearted approach to life, Winnie thought that those who were _________ in regards to values

and mores missed out on a certain liveliness and spontaneity.

lax

equable

priggish

redoubtable

impious

punctilious

12. After a second _________ attempt by Margulies to make a simple shot, the coach put him on the bench for the

rest of the game.

restless

flawless

bootless

indefatigable

feckless

auspicious

13. While he says that he did not mean to kill, some feel that his actions are _________ murder.

preceded by

on par with

superseded by

an homage to

an accrual of

tantamount to

14. For most of the 20th century, American political contentions reflected pragmatic rather than ideological

differences; candidate debates centered around whether programs were _________.

partisan

voluble

feasible

innocuous

prejudiced

viable

15. Though considered a somewhat somber drama at the time of its release in 1975, the film Shampoo, about a

philandering hairdresser, now seems more the _________ comedy.

puckish

uninhibited

prurient

wry

dated

puritanical

16. During the German occupation of France, the draconian measures of the occupiers met armed resistance from

civilian _________, inspired by desperate conditions to fight in their own streets.

poets

fighters

writers

mercenaries

politicians

partisans

17. Representative government arose in part from dissatisfaction with too many monarchs making _________

decisions without regard for precedents.

capricious

considered

malicious

pessimistic

insidious

erratic

18. Because the Lewis and Clark expedition through the West was conceived primarily as a mapping project,

government officials were _________ by the wealth of information on a myriad of topics that the explorers

gathered.

aggravated

flabbergasted

crushed

bedazzled

bored

disappointed

19. Only by ignoring Afghanistan's long history as a military quagmire could pundits pontificate that fresh infusions of

men and material would lead to _________ victory.

fleeting

contingent

expeditious

ephemeral

swift

pyrrhic

20. Geneticists find Iceland a living laboratory for the study of _________ because virtually all of its current 300,000

citizens descend from less than a thousand Icelanders who survived the medieval Black Death.

diversity

revivification

therapy

history

mutation

rejuvenation

21. Given the influx of information via social media, the only way that a person can function effectively is to

_________, to metaphorically separate the wheat from the chaff.

delete

triage

prioritize

respond

requite

eliminate

22. Although accommodating in person, George Orwell _________ defended his political positions in print.

tenaciously

obsequiously

inadvertently

doggedly

sycophantically

idiosyncratically

23. Although historically, paints were often tinted with toxic elements such as lead, cadmium, and mercury,

_________ number of painters lived to be seventy, eighty, and even ninety.

an incomprehensible

a flabbergasting

an impossible

a confounding

a dismaying

an enlightening

24. The phrase "gilding the lily" is a late 19th century expression that sneered at the ostentatious gestures of some of

the newly rich, such as applying gold gilt to the carved lilies on the entrances of their Beaux Arts homes; for

decades, it then served as a shorthand for any _________ and showy behavior.

gauche

eccentric

idiosyncratic

idiotic

irredentist

uncouth

25. In 1905, there were only fourteen automobiles in the United States, yet, _________ enough, two of them ran into

each other in St. Louis.

justifiably

ironically

inevitably

deservedly

ludicrously

lamentably

26. A "Mycenaean waist" refers to the taut, impossibly small waists characteristic of certain ancient drawings found

on Crete, and it certainly does not _________ any characteristic of modern, overweight Western societies.

deify

depict

denigrate

mirror

defame

distort

27. In the 19th century, Thomas Carlyle called economics "the dismal science," in part because of Malthus's theory

that population growth would outpace our natural resources, causing widespread _________.

dearth

pulchritude

rapture

ravishment

famine

debauchery

28. In uncertain times, _________ theories often gain greater and faster adherence among the populace than proven

ones do.

corroborated

putative

conjectural

assayed

irrefutable

irreconcilable

29. While the legend of Custer's last stand is commonly accepted and oft cited as an example of fortitude in the face

of adversity, recent studies of the remains indicate that, _________, many soldiers chose suicide rather than

risk capture by the Sioux.

surprisingly

risibly

tragically

remarkably

amusingly

horribly

30. In the early 1920's, Paul Cassirer, a Berlin art dealer, was famous not only for his clients, such as Renoir, but also

for _________ a credulous art world by correctly exposing several purported Van Gogh works as forgeries.

deluding

apprising

counseling

depressing

indicting

misleading

31. Arthur Conan Doyle's upstanding hero Sherlock Holmes engages in just as much clever deception as his nemesis,

Professor Moriarty, proving that ___________ is not inherently evil.

immorality

brilliance

cunning

subterfuge

wrongdoing

judgment

32. The etymologies of the words alpha and omega couldn't be more different; the former is obscure—the original

symbol for alpha was an ox's head, and an ox is 'alp in Phoenician — while the latter is ________, as omega

simply means "big O."

transparent

complicated

overt

erudite

abstruse

scholarly

33. While the muted colors do suggest a certain sobriety, the overall effect is undeniably _________.

vivacious

poignant

dull

lackluster

mirthful

benign

34. Although the system's _________ is not currently in dispute at the national level, increasing local allegations of

preferential treatment are threatening to change the situation.

unfairness

solemnity

probity

equity

partiality

solicitousness

35. Aghast at the indiscretion, the politician took a symbolic vow of _________, hoping that public attention to the

matter would quickly wane.

silence

chastity

openness

transparency

quietus

revenge

36. A petty man obsessed with—but in perpetual doubt about—his own power, he surrounded himself with

subordinates who could best be described as _________.

sages

myrmidons

sycophants

quacks

ascetics

sirens

37. While traveling to the spa's remote location could be hectic, visitors to the spa more than made up for the stress

by unwinding in a supremely _________ environment.

effusive

pacific

duplicitous

censorious

placid

blithe

38. The man looked much older than his 70 years, his _________ frame looking as though it had endured at least 40

years in the desert; although the casting director had initially pictured a more physically robust Moses, the actor

was, in the end, perfect for the role.

fetid

incendiary

desiccated

wizened

arid

hale

39. The children's attempt at a Mother's Day brunch was _________; soggy French toast, lukewarm coffee, and a

syrup fight in the kitchen that would inevitably end up being cleaned up by the very recipient of the brunch.

convivial

amiable

risible

satirical

farcical

labile

40. In a place rife with both poverty and crime, some cautioned the young student that to _________ about with his

fancy phone and designer clothing was only to invite trouble.

sprint

gallivant

tergiversate

traipse

digress

equivocate