IELTS - Lesson 29 Exercise

Appearances and Attitudes

1. ambivalent: having conflicting feelings toward a person or thing, such as love and hate

2. bucolic: rural; rustic; pastoral. The Greek word boukolikos means “herdsman”

3. crotchety: full of peculiar whims; ill-tempered; eccentric. Crochet work was done with a small, twisted hook; from “twisted” it was an easy jump to “eccentric” –thus the connection between crochet and crotchety

4. dilatory: slow; late in doing things; inclined to delay; meant to gain time

5. disconsolate: sad; dejected; cheerless

6. dudgeon: resentment; an angry or offended feeling. It comes from the Anglo-French expression en digeon, which meant “the hand on the dagger hilt”

7. froward: contrary; not easily controlled; stubbornly willful

8. genteel: well bred; refined; excessively polite

9. jocund: pleasant; agreeable; genial. Our word joke can be traced back to jocund.

10. loquacious: talkative. Some synonyms are garrulous, voluble, prolix, verbose, and prating.

11. splenetic: irritable; bad-tempered; spiteful. The word derives from spleen, the abdominal organ that the ancients regarded as the seat of emotions

12. tendentious: opinionated; advancing a definite point of view or doctrine

13. truculent: fierce; cruel; savage

14. vacuous: empty; purposeless; stupid; senseless

15. venal: really bribed or corrupted

Exercises

I. Which Word comes to Mind?

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

1. Cows in meadow, sheep in the corn

(venal, bucolic, disconsolate)

2. First, I want to go-then I want to stay

(ambivalent, truculent, dudgeon)

3. “What’s your rush? So what if we’re late?”

(jocund, dilatory, genteel)

4. The millionaire asked to be buried in his Rolls Royce

(crotchety, tendentious, froward)

5. “Were you vaccinated with a phonograph needle?”

(vacuous, loquacious, splenetic)

6. Jane always has a smile on her face

(froward, venal, jocund)

7. Firing someone can easily put him/her into this frame of mind

(dudgeon, tendentious, bucolic)

8. The slightest remark sets Virginia off on a rampage

(truculent, splenetic, dilatory)

9. I can’t make up my mind

(crotchety, ambivalent, tendentious)

10. A decidedly partisan view of the inaugural address

(genteel, splenetic, tendentious)

II. True or False?

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

_________ 1. A jocund person has a good chance of being hired as a receptionist
_________ 2. Splenetic behavior is always a sign of good breeding
_________ 3. Truly great bullfighters welcome an animal that is froward
_________ 4. Watergate has become synonomous with venal arrangements
_________ 5. Skyscrapers and subways are integral parts of the bucolic life
_________ 6. Greg’s genteel nature may account for his shyness
_________ 7. A truculent response is guaranteed to win friends.
_________ 8. Feeling disconsolate over his loss, Fred briefly considered retiring from baseball.
_________ 9. The student’s vacuous stare suggested he did not understand the question
_________ 10. Because of his loquacious nature. Carlos had little to say.

III. Fill in the Blank

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

Martha wondered how Gary could hope to convince her with such ______________ explanations
The successful politician walks a thin line between appearing too ______________ and too wishy-washy.
Stephan tired to sort out his ___________________ feelings of respect and resentment towards his father.
After the hectic campaign, the president-elect was refreshed by his _______________ retreat
A(n) ____________________ child perhaps needs more love than a well-adjusted one
The _____________ life has its merits, but most people cannot resist the attractions and excitement of the city.
A _________________ person tends to give others little opportunity to express themselves.
The fans were deeply disappointed to learn that their idol had been bitten by the ______________ bug
The _________________ host easily broke the iciness between two of the guests who had been enemies for years.
Because of George’s ________________ habits, we often referred to him as the late George Owens.

IV. What’s the Antonym?

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

punctual ______________________
gentle _____________________
even-tempered _____________________
gross _____________________
incorruptible _____________________
agreeable _____________________
cheerful _____________________
unequivocal _____________________
urban _____________________
intelligent _____________________

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