VU 14


  1. Amenable→ (adj.) willing to follow advice or authority, tractable, submissive; responsive; liable to be held responsible 

    1. Synonyms: agreeable, complicit, docile 

    2. Antonyms: unresponsive, resistant, recalcitrant 

    3. They will be __________ to your instructions as long as what you say makes sense. 

 

  1. Berate→ (v.) to scold sharply 

    1. Synonyms: chide, rebuke, reprove, reprimand 

    2. Antonyms: praise, compliment, pat on the back 

    3. He removed the dog from obedience school when he discovered that the instructor had ________ it too harshly. 

 

  1. Carnage→ (n.) large-scale slaughter or loss of life 

    1. Synonyms: butchery, bloodbath, massacre 

    2. Antonyms: n/a 

    3. Until television began to broadcast footage of war, the __________ of battle was rarely made real to far-off civilian populations. 



  1. Deplete→ (v.) to use up as a result of spending or consumption; to diminish greatly 

    1. Synonyms: exhaust, empty, drain, bankrupt

    2. Antonyms: replenish, refill, restock, resupply 

    3. Dwelling on all that could go wrong with your project will __________ your energy and courage. 

 

  1. Extraneous→ (adj.) coming from the outside, foreign; present but not essential, irrelevant 

    1. Synonyms: incidental, extrinsic, adventitious

    2. Antonyms: intrinsic, relevant, pertinent, germane 

    3. One handy way to dodge a difficult question is to earnestly begin talking about something __________ to it. 

 

  1. Inception→ (n.) the beginning, start, earliest stage of some process, institution,etc. 

    1. Synonyms: commencement, inauguration, outset 

    2. Antonyms: completing, conclusion, termination 

    3. He has worked here steadily since the firm’s __________ and knows every facet of the job. 

 

  1. Infirmity→ (n.) a weakness or ailment (physical, mental, moral, etc.)  

    1. Synonyms: affliction, malady, defect

    2. Antonyms: n/ a

    3. Was his “deafness” an __________ of old age or a lack of interest in the conversation? 



  1. Potpourri→ (n.) a collection of diverse or miscellaneous items; a general mixture; petals mixed with spices for scent 

    1. Synonyms: hodgepodge, farrago, medley 

    2. Antonyms: homogeneous or uniform group 

    3. The furniture was a __________ of hand-me-downs from my father’s parents and my stepmother’s aunt. 

 

  1. Precocious→ (adj.) showing unusually early development (especially in talents and mental capacity) 

    1. Synonyms: gifted, advanced

    2. Antonyms: backward, slow

    3. She showed a __________ talent for science. 

 

  1. Sadistic→ (adj.) delighting in cruelty, excessively cruel

    1. Synonyms: brutal, vicious, inhuman, fiendish 

    2. Antonyms: masochistic, clement, humane, merciful 

    3. The Geneva Convention of 1949 outlawed torture and __________ treatment of prisoners of war.