IELTS - Lesson 27 Exercise

Appearances and Attitudes


1. pedantic: stressing trivial points of learning; lacking a sense of proportion in scholarship. A pedant is a narrow-minded teacher who insists on rigid adherence to a set of arbitrary rules.

2. pertinacious: stubborn; unyielding; holding firmly to some belief.

3. pontifical: ornate; stiff; having the pomp and dignity of a high priest or Pope.

4. pretentious: making claims to some distinctions; showy. Pretentious people put on airs, try to appear more important than they are.

5. prolix: wordy; long-winded

6. puerile: childish; silly; young. In Latin it means “boy”

7. quiescent: inactive; in repose; latent

8. recalcitrant: unruly; refusing to obey authority. In Latin it meant “to kick one’s heels (calx) in defiance)

9. restive: hard to control; restless; contrary

10. ribald: coarse; vulgar in language; irreverent

11. sardonic: sarcastic; bitterly sneering. it is believed that this word can be traced back to a Sardinian plant whose bitter taste caused facial distortion

12. sedulous: busy; working hard; diligent

13. sleazy: flimsy or thin in texture or substance; of poor quality. This word can be traced back to cloth made in Silesia, Germany.

14. supercilious: naughty; arrogant; contemptuous

15. voluptuous: sensuous; full of sensual delights and pleasures

Exercises


I. Which Word Comes to Mind?

In each of the following, read the statement, then circle the word that comes to mind.

1. A gangster’s cruel smile

(puerile, sedulous, sardonic)

2. Second-rate fabric that wears poorly

(quiescent, pertinacious, sleazy)

3. Someone who uses a dozen words when one would do

(prolix, supercilious, recalcitrant)

4. The natives were nervous before the battle

(pontifical, restive, pretentious)

5. A night club comic’s suggestive monologue

(pedantic, ribald, voluptuous)

6. A child who refuses to obey his parents and teachers

(puerile, recalcitrant, sedulous)

7. The actress’s beauty rather than her talent was responsible for her popularity

(ribald, pertinacious, voluptuous)

8. Once Barry forms an opinion, he’ll never change his mind

(pertinacious, pretentious, pontifical)

9. A trait that makes a person a success

(pedantic, sedulous, supercilious)

10. Someone follows the rules but misses the spirit

(pontifical, pedantic, quiescent)

II. True or False?

In the space provided, indicate whether each statement is true or false

  • _________ 1. Mules and oxen are frequently described as being pertinacious
  • _________ 2. Sleazy products deserve the high price they command
  • _________ 3. Gary Cooper, famed for using words sparingly drew compliments for that prolix style.
  • _________ 4. Although we strive to be young, no one wants to be described as puerile
  • _________ 5. Quiescent talent can often be brought to the surface through patient teaching techniques
  • _________ 6. Puerile behavior is not likely to win you friends
  • _________ 7. The defendant was acquitted because of his sleazy background
  • _________ 8. A restive person would appreciate frequent periods of silence.
  • _________ 9. Being puerile, Brenda often does not act her age
  • _________ 10. The voluptuous figures in the museum attracted the attention of the crowd

III. Fill in the Blank

Insert one of the new words in the proper space in each sentence below

  1. 1. Joanna, finding it difficult to tolerate the _____________________ attitude of the salespeople in the exclusive boutique, left without buying anything
  2. 2. The unscrupulous travel agent tried to sell the mystery trip as an adventure that would contain many _____________________ experiences
  3. 3. Realizing he was losing friends because of his ________________ airs, Martin vowed to stop being showy.
  4. 4. The ______________________ character of the two rivals prolonged the argument; neither would budge an inch
  5. 5. Defending his _________________ style, Professor Dobbins claimed he had written the book for scholars like himself.
  6. 6. The teacher advised the class not to adopt a(n) __________________ tone in a letter of application
  7. 7. Jerry actually drove his customers away with his ____________________ sales pitch.
  8. 8. The valedictorian was careful to keep _________________ expressions out of her speech
  9. 9. Parents wait for the day when their children will be as __________________ in fulfilling their family responsibilities as they are in preparing for a party.
  10. 10. There is a time for fun and revelry, but that does not include an overdoes of _______________ speech.

IV. What’s the Antonym?

Which of the new words is most nearly opposite in meaning to the one provide?

  1. 1. indolent _________________________
  2. 2. mature _________________________
  3. 3. terse _________________________
  4. 4. docile _________________________
  5. 5. refined _________________________
  6. 6. dynamic _________________________
  7. 7. docile _________________________
  8. 8. unassuming _________________________
  9. 9. austere _________________________
  10. 10. concise _________________________
Home

1

Lesson-1

Jingoist, Lothario, Maverick, Nemesis, Philanderer, Philippic, Procrustean, Protean, Pyrrhic victory, Quixotic, Saturnine, Solecism, Spoonerism, Sybarite, Tawdry

2

Lesson-2

Acidulous, Baleful, Bellicose, Bilious, Bumptious, Captious, Churlish, Complaisant, Contrite, Convivial, Craven, Debonair, Dyspeptic, Lachrymose, Neurasthenic

3

Lesson-3

cabal, camaraderie, caste, cortege, detente, echelon, ecumenical, elite, esprit de corps, freemasonry, genealogy, hierarchy, hobnob, liaison, rapprochement

4

Lesson-4

adagio, andante, arpeggio, bravura, contralto, crescendo, falsetto, fortissimo, imbroglio, intaglio, largo, libretto, salvo, staccato, vendetta

5

Lesson-5

alienist, amanuensis, beadle, cosmetologist, dermatologist, entomologist, farrier, graphologist, internist, lapidary, ophthalmologist, ornithologist, osteopath, pharyngologist, physiologist

6

Lesson-6

Adonis, Bacchanal, Cassandra, Cornucopia, Erotic, Herculean, Hermetic, Hydra, Hymeneal, Iridescent, Narcissism, Odyssey, Olympian, Palladium, Phoenix

7

Lesson-7

aberrant, anthropomorphism, archetype, authoritarian, cathedrals, demography, epidemiology, euthanasia, extrovert, psychic, psychopath, psychotherapy, schizophrenia, subliminal, traums

8

Lesson-8

aficionado, barrio, bonanza, bravado, desperado, flotilla, grandee, hacienda, lariat, machismo, manana, palmetto, renegade, siesta, torero

9

Lesson-9

anachronism, anon, antebellum, antediluvian, atavism, augury, betimes, biennial, diurnal, eon, ephemeral, epoch, generation, score, tercentenary

10

Lesson-10

bane, deign, eke, knell, mete, moot, mulct, plumb, quail, roil, ruck, shunt, svelte, thrall, tryst

11

Lesson-11

abscess, aphasia, arteriosclerosis, biopsy, cadaver, carcinogen, comatose, etiology, malingerer, mastectomy, prosthesis, simian, therapeutic, tumescence, vasectomy

12

Lesson-12

bovine, equine, feline, hircine, leonine, lupine, ophidian, ovine, piscine, porcine, saurian, taurine, ursine, vixen, vulpine

13

Lesson-13

atonement, bicameral, Decalogue, decimate, dichotomy, double-think, millennium, nihilism, penultimate, primeval, protocol, quatrain, quintessence, tessellated, untrammeled

14

Lesson-14

adjudicate, appellate, collusion, deposition, equity, exhume, incommunicado, intestate, ipso facto, lien, litigation, perjury, pettifogger, tort, tribunal

15

Lesson-15

circumspect, demure, dispassionate, dolorous, edacious, effete, feisty, flaccid, flippant, florid, glabrous, imperious, ingenious, intractable, intransigent

16

Lesson-16

alchemy, arcane, conundrum, demonology, exorcise, inscrutable, pallor, phenomenology, polygraph, purloin, ritual, shamus, soothsayer, thaumaturgy, warlock

17

Lesson-17

archaeology, elfin, infinitesimal, Lilliputian, megalopolis, minimize, minutiae, palatial, peccadillo, picayune, simulacrum, soupcon, teeming, titanic, vista

18

Lesson-18

accolade, conclave, dirge, draconian, epicurean, gossamer, immolate, juggernaut, junket, ostracism, proletariat, rigmarole, rubric, Socratic, sycophant

19

Lesson-19

acrophobia, bibliophile, claustrophobia, Francophile, hydrophobia, misanthropy, misogyny, paranoid, philately, Philistine, phylogeny, philology, Russo phobia, triskaidekaphobia, xenophobia

20

Lesson-20

archaeology, cardiology, ecology, endocrinology, gerontology, gynecology, morphology, necrology, neurology, paleontology, pathology, rhinology, seismology, speleology, toxicology

21

Lesson-21

jejune, libidinous, licentious, mercurial, meretricious, minatory, mutable, niggardly, nonchalant, noxious, obdurate, obtuse, officious, omniscient, pusillanimous

22

Lesson-22

amicus curiae, arson, barrister, embezzle, extradition, habeas corpus, immaterial, incarcerate, indeterminate, larceny, litigious, miscreant, perpetrator, plagiarism, probation

23

Lesson-23

avant-garde, bete noire, bot mot, coup de grace, cul-de-sac, dues ex machina, fait accompli, fin de siecle, gauche, junta, laissez-faire, mot juste, non compos mentis, non sequitur, sine qua non

24

Lesson-24

coiffure, demarche, denouement, éclat, élan, entrepreneur, impasse, ingénue, malaise, mélange, repartee, sangfroid, tete-a-tete, tour de force, vignette

25

Lesson-25

acrid, addle, ado, alms, amulet, aperture, askew, bauble, bevy, bilk, blithe, careen, chary, nabob, onus

26

Lesson-26

antaean, argonaut, calliope, cyclopean, gorgon, harpy, Homeric, myrmidon, oracular, paean, plutonian, Promethean, stygian, terpsichorean, thespian

27

Lesson-27

pedantic, pertinacious, pontifical, pretentious, prolix, puerile, quiescent, recalcitrant, restive, ribald, sardonic, sedulous, sleazy, supercilious, voluptuous

28

Lesson-28

a cappella, ad hoc, bon vivant, de facto, gemutlich, leitmotif, nolo contendere, per excellence, parvenu, piece de resistance, postprandlal, quid pro quo, qui vive, savoir faire, sub rosa, vis-à-vis

29

Lesson-29

ambivalent, bucolic, crotchety, dilatory, disconsolate, dudgeon, froward, genteel, jocund, loquacious, splenetic, tendentious, truculent, vacuous, venal

30

Lesson-30

amorphous, gargantuan, iota, lissome, macrocosm, magnitude, magnum opus, microcosm, micrometer, scabrous, scintilla, serpentine, sinuous, smidgen, tenuous

31

Lesson-31

bathos, malapropism, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, panegyric, paradigm, paralipsis, pleonasm, polyglot, semantics, simile, synecdoche, threnody

32

Lesson-32

argot, aspersion, badinage, bombast, braggadocio, censure, countermand, gainsay, gobbledegook, guttural, harangue, jargon, mellifluous, resonant, sententious

33

Lesson-33

canon, hegemony, oligarchy, peonage, pharisaical, plebiscite, plenipotentiary, proxy, recession, regicide, renascent, reprisal, subversion, surrogate, votary

34

Lesson-34

antipodal, cartography, concierge, hegira, hustings, landmark, peripatetic, portmanteau, safari, tandem, transmigrate, traverse, trek, wanderlust, wayfarer

35

Lesson-35

a la carte, assuage, comestible, condiment, cuisine, culinary, gastronomic, gourmand, manna, palatable, piquant, refection, repast, subsistence, viands

36

Lesson-36

antic, beguile, bonhomie, dalliance, divertissement, euphoria, guffaw, insouciance, japery, regale, risible, roguish, roister, squib, waggish

37

Lesson-37

anarchy, bourgeois, bureaucracy, demagogue, ethos, gerrymander, imperialism, Machiavellian,. martial, muckraker, partisan, reactionary, schism, suffrage, totalitarian

38

Lesson-38

abnegation, abscond, affidavit, altercation, battery, bequest, cause celebre, caveat emptor, codicil, contiguous, contraband, contumacious, disenfranchise, injunction, jurisprudence

39

Lesson-39

aphorism, dogma, empirical, epistemology, eschatology, fallacy, hedonism, pragmatism, predestination, ratiocination, syllogism, teleology, tenet, theosophy, utilitarian

40

Lesson-40

agnostic, apocalyptic, apocryphal, apostate, apotheosis, benediction, blasphemy, deist, infidel, mantra, ontology, pantheism, sacrilegious, syncretism, theodicy
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