Vocabulary Context

The editor, preferring a more terse writing style, cut 500 words from the 2,000-word article.

Terse means:

• elegant

• factual

• descriptive

• concise

• innovative

Victor Frankenstein spent the last years of his life chasing his elusive monster, who was always one step of his creator.

Elusive means:

• unable to be compared

• unable to be captured

• unable to be forgotten

• unable to be avoided

• unable to be accepted

Xiu's timely joke served to diffuse the tension in the room, and the rest of the meeting was highly productive.

Diffuse means:

• refuse

• intensify

• create

• soften

• thicken

I completely lost track of Tula's point because she kept digressing to unrelated topics.

Digress means:

• to deviate, stray

• to regress, revert

• to change the tone

• to express concisely

• to repeat, reiterate

The senator evaded the question by changing the subject and accusing his opponent of misconduct.

Evade means:

• to escape or elude

• to answer indirectly

• to refuse to answer directly

• to deceive

• to challenge

Samantha hasn't said why she's been so withdrawn lately, but I would surmise that it is because she is still upset about not being able to go to camp.

Surmise means:

• confirm

• surprise

• believe

• deny

• guess

The details can be worked out later; what's important is that we agree with the crux of my argument, which is that everyone should be held equally accountable.

Crux means:

• overall tone

• specific fact

• main point

• logic, reasoning

• persuasiveness

Marty kept interrupting the meeting with remarks that were not only tangential but downright irrelevant.

Tangential means:

• loosely related

• rude and obnoxious

• very important

• thoughtful, intelligent

• obtuse, not intelligent

Sunil honed his public speaking skills by practicing in front of a mirror each day until he felt confident about his abilities.

Hone means:

• to make a habit of

• to sharpen or improve

• to reveal, make public

• to express clearly

• to do repeatedly

The evidence was incontrovertible, and the jury found the defendant guilty on all charges.

Incontrovertible means:

• questionable

• illegally obtained

• indisputable

• circumstantial

• inconclusive