Casual

Question 1

pervade

verb

|a smell of stale cabbage pervaded the air
|the sense of crisis that pervaded Europe in the 1930

Answer 1

• (especially of a smell) spread through and be perceived in every part of
• be present and apparent throughout.

suffuse, penetrate, permeate, flood, interpenetrate, percolate (into), pass (into), saturate, fill (up), diffuse (through)

Question 2

beset

verb

| the social problems that beset the inner city
| blades of grass beset with glistening drops of dew

Answer 2

• trouble or threaten persistently
• be covered or studded with

plague, afflict, persecute, besiege, bedevil, torture, torment, bother

Question 3

improbabilities

noun

| his belief in the improbability of war in Europe
| the film is full of improbabilities

Answer 3

• unlikelihood

unlikelihood implausibility doubtfulness uncertainty dubiousness

unlikeliness, impracticability, dubiousness, impracticality, implausibility, doubtfulness, incredibility

Question 4

no leg to stand on

idiom

| He claims that the company cheated him, but without evidence of a written agreement, he doesn’t have a leg to stand on

Answer 4

lack support or justification for a position or argument. It suggests a weak or indefensible stance

Question 5

debility

noun

| most of the cases presented with general debility, muscle weakness, and weight loss

Answer 5

physical weakness, especially as a result of illness.

frailty, weakness, feebleness, enfeeblement, enervation, devitalization

weakness, exhaustion, fatigue, feebleness, debilitation, infirmity, enervation, faintness

Question 6

parse

verb

| he has always been quick to parse his own problems in public

Answer 6

examine or analyze minutely.

analyze, dissect, review, notice, examine, inspect, study, scrutinize

Question 7

pejorative

most of what he said was inflammatory and filled with pejoratives

Answer 7

adj. expressing contempt or disapproval.
n. a word expressing contempt or disapproval.

disparaging, derogatory, denigratory, deprecatory, defamatory

Question 8

contend

verb

| she had to contend with his uncertain temper
| he contends that the judge was wrong

Answer 8

• struggle to surmount
• assert something as a position in an argument

cope with, face, grapple with, deal with, take on

Question 9

ameliorate

verb

the reform did much to ameliorate living standards

Answer 9

make something better.

improve, make better, better, make improvements, to enhance, help

Question 10

conflate

verb

| The two views are often conflated, which leads to confusion and misinformation
| Schizophrenia is also conflated with dissociative disorder

Answer 10

combine (two or more texts, ideas, etc.) into one.

blend, coalesce, combine, commingle, flux, fuse, immix, meld, merge, mix

Question 11

unbridled

adj

| the forces of the world capitalist market were unbridled and spread quickly

| she had an unbridled enthusiasm for life

Answer 11

uncontrolled; unconstrained

rampant, uncontrolled, runaway, unbounded, unchecked, unrestrained, unhindered

Question 12

unstinting

adjective

he was unstinting in his praise

Answer 12

given or giving without restraint; unsparing

willingly given, free, free-handed, ready

Question 13

pedant/pedantic

• the royal palace (some pedants would say the ex-royal palace)
• many of the essays are long, dense, and too pedantic to hold great appeal
• he’s very pedantic about grammar

Answer 13

n. a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules or with displaying academic learning.

overscrupulous, scrupulous, precise, exact, over-exacting, perfectionist

Question 14

etiolated

adjective

the long, stressful days and sleepless nights gradually etiolated him

Answer 14

• having lost vigor or substance; feeble
• something that is not having enough force or energy

weaken, soften, waste, hurt, injure, exhaust, sap, tire

Question 15

tantamount

adjective

• His statement was tantamount to an admission of guilt
• They see any criticism of the President as tantamount to treason

Answer 15

equivalent in seriousness to; virtually the same as

comparable, similar, equivalent, akin, such, related, like

Question 16

mired

verb

• sometimes a heavy truck gets mired down
• the economy is mired in its longest recession since the war

Answer 16

• involve someone or something in (a difficult situation)
• cause to become stuck in mud

stained, blackened, dirtied, messed, muddied, sullied, mucked, soiled
entangle, tangle up, involved

Question 17

pragmatic

• Or maybe he was never as pragmatic as I had given him credit for being
• All three authors point out that as a composer Stravinsky was very pragmatic

Answer 17

dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical

practical, realistic, sensible, logical, rational, cynical, down-to-earth, matter-of-fact