SAT, ACT, GRE Vocabulary - Worksheet #30

 

New Words for Today: Usurp, Sordid, Virulent, Ascendancy

 

Usurp (Verb)

Type	Meaning	Synonyms	Antonyms
Verb	1: seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession; "He assumed to himself the right to fill all positions in the town"; "he usurped my rights"; "She seized control of the throne after her husband died" 2: take the place of; "gloom had usurped mirth at the party after the news of the terrorist act broke"	assume, seize, arrogate

 

Sordid (Adjective)

Type	Meaning	Synonyms	Antonyms
Adjective	1: morally degraded; "a seedy district"; "the seamy side of life"; "sleazy characters hanging around casinos"; "sleazy storefronts with...dirt on the walls"- Seattle Weekly; "the sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils"- James Joyce; "the squalid atmosphere of intrigue and betrayal" 2: unethical or dishonest; "dirty police officers"; "a sordid political campaign" 3: foul and run-down and repulsive; "a flyblown bar on the edge of town"; "a squalid overcrowded apartment in the poorest part of town"; "squalid living conditions"; "sordid shantytowns"	seamy, seedy, sleazy, squalid, dirty, flyblown

 

Virulent (Adjective)

Type	Meaning	Synonyms	Antonyms
Adjective	1: extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom; "venomous snakes"; "a virulent insect bite" 2: infectious; having the ability to cause disease 3: harsh or corrosive in tone; "an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose"; "a barrage of acid comments"; "her acrid remarks make her many enemies"; "bitter words"; "blistering criticism"; "caustic jokes about political assassination, talk-show hosts and medical ethics"; "a sulfurous denunciation"; "a vitriolic critique"	deadly, venomous, acerb, acerbic, acid, acrid, bitter

 

Ascendancy (Noun)

Type	Meaning	Synonyms	Antonyms
Noun	1: the state that exists when one person or group has power over another; "her apparent ascendancy over her husband was really her attempt to make him pay attention to her"	dominance, ascendance, control

 

Today's Vocabulary Challenges *** Answers will be in the next worksheet of this level ***

 

Match Synonyms						Match Antonyms
1	equine	A	equid	1:		1	colloquial	A	hyperopia	1:
2	gratuitous	B	honor	2:		2	irrevocable	B	formal	2:
3	ascendancy	C	costless	3:		3	myopia	C	concentric	3:
4	guile	D	dominance	4:		4	extrovert	D	introvert	4:
5	accolade	E	craft	5:		5	eccentric	E	revocable	5:

 

Match Definitions
1	humorously sarcastic or mocking	A	usurp	1:
2	excessively or hypocritically pious	B	sanctimonious	2:
3	take the place of	C	culinary	3:
4	cause to concentrate about two conflicting or contrasting positions	D	ironic	4:
5	of or relating to or used in cooking	E	polarize	5:

 

Crossword Challenge
							1				Across: 2: take the place of(5) 6: of or relating to fish(7) 7: be false to; be dishonest with(6) 8: beat soundly(7) Down: 1: an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose(6) 3: morally degraded(6) 4: beyond or deviating from the usual or expected(8) 5: hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; once sought by the alchemists(7)
	2	3
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						5
	6
	7
			8

 

Engligh Language Trivia

there's no accounting for taste This expression is used to indicate surprise at another person's likes or dislikes. "She fell in love with a guy who's short, fat, bald and poor ... there's no accounting for taste!" Did you know? - Gazump means "To buy something already promised to someone else."

 

Recent Words Learned: ascendancy, virulent, sordid, usurp, indigenous, deride, singular, ideology, extrovert, sanctimonious, polarize, heterogeneous, belabor, piscine, amorphous, willful, culinary, contiguous, kinetic, assuage Answer to Crossword in worksheet 29: Across: 1: chasm, 3: delude, 5: ideology, 7: bereaved Down: 1: culinary, 2: cryptic, 3: daunt, 4: polarize, 6: guile