Robust Vocabulary Exercises
Word List 1 from Blizzard Under Blue Sky
What made the rams run rampant on the ramp?
What animal sleeps in an inverted position? (Inversion)
Would you rather be on the verge of passing or failing a course?
Role-play a scene in the cafeteria during which one students says to another "Whatever floats your boat."
Why would a fast-moving low-pressure weather system be called a "clipper?"
What tools do you need when you take inventory?
Would you rather sleep on a Thermarest or in a hammock?
Does it surprise you that the word "bivy" (from Bivy sack) comes from the word "bivouac," which means to camp without a tent or any cover?
Would you rather go on a brutal hike or endure a brutal dinner with your least favorite relatives?
Name two things that improve the clarity of an essay.
Utterly: What expression to you make when you are utterly exhausted?
Primal: Under what circumstances might you let loose a primal scream?
What is the opposite of the word futile?
How do you know if you have a fast metabolism?
Can you name a country other than Egypt that is known for its mummies?
What is a good way to warm your extremities on a cold day?
Can you make a silly noise that shows glee?
What would be a good name for a dog that's competing in the Iditarod?
Would you rather build a kayak or paddle one across one of the Great Lakes?
Can you come up with an example of a paradox or explain this one: Giving to charity can be a greedy thing?
Words from "Gryphon" by Charles Baxter
What do you think a gryphon likes to eat for breakfast?
If you were part of a cabal, what would be your main purpose?
Name two deciduous trees.
If you hear a loud knock on the door and heavy breathing outside, what might be imminent?
Who is the most famous marionette in the Disney universe?
I once called my father "fastidious." Do you think I meant it as a compliment?
Do you like it when pop or rock bands turn their songs into small concertos by having orchestras back them up?
What is something you often do with painstaking care?
Pantomime two gestures that show you're enjoying the hilarity of a good dad joke.
Can you think of two reasons sturgeon are well-known fish?
Do you think you will ever run into the word "fossicking" in your travels?
What are some of the attendant charms of a movie theater?
What is the common name for the repository of dairy products that you have in your house?
Why do some people always have belated birthday celebrations?
Name a celebrity whose appearance has undergone a number of permutations during their career.
Name two fabulous creatures.
I borrowed my brother's bike without asking and when he got made at me, I made no pretense of feeling guilty. Why did I act that way?
What three things would you pack if you were going to visit the antipodes?
Name two people who might posses arcane knowledge.
Words from A Raisin in the Sun (20 Words)
Do you think it's fair that young men could use their being in college as an excuse to defer entering the army during the Vietnam War?
Name a food that is known for the uniformity of its texture.
In The Odyssey, Which goddesses lured men to their ruin under false pretenses?
Make a feeble effort to get up from your seat.
What happens when a baseball pitcher is erratic?
What did the policeman do when he realized the motorist he'd pulled over looked rather disheveled?
What American problem might serves as an indictment of our educational system?
Why might someone who is not under the influence of alcohol end up in a stupor?
Why do some people find it impossible to refrain from looking at their phones?
What cause my profound fear of frogs?
A person who is not an assimilationist is probably a person who values ______________________.
What's the last piece of music you were enraptured by?
Name a music that you have a distaste for.
Would you ever want to be part of a fraternal or a sororal club?
What would an eccentric teacher wear on Halloween?
What animals are capable of making plaintive sounds?
Gesture menacingly at an imaginary friend.
What is the best and most logical technique for imploring your parents to raise your allowance?
Name two cars that you might call sensuous?
What might explain the retrogression of your teacher's basketball skills?
Flip displayed flippancy while flipping flapjacks. (pancakes) What did he do?
Should your parents intercede if you are being bullied at school?
How can you tell whether someone is being contrite when he apologizes?
Who is the most wayward actor in Hollywood?
Name two people known for their largess.
Enumerate the reasons students get better at writing essays.
Name two pieces of evidence that could incriminate a pickpocket.
Make an offhanded remark about your shoulder partner's new hairstyle.
How would you placate an angry toddler?
What is the last ramshackle place you have set foot in?
Slide down in your seat and make a recalcitrant expression.
What billows out of a chimney?
How long would you lament if the Celtics lost game seven of the finals on a half-court basket by their opponent?
Who is more reprehensible, a student who cheats on a test or an adult who runs at least one red light every day?
When is it not okay to saunter?
Give me a conjecture as to how hard the vocabulary test will be.
Who is well-known crooner these days?
What is another name for a deep sea probe?
Why do people hunker in the cold?
Is breaking into song in the middle of the cafeteria a capricious act or not?
Would your parents like you to be more pious or not?
What's a more politically correct word for vagrant?
2020 Catcher in the Rye Vocabulary
For a minute speak in affected way that makes you sound ridiculously intelligent.
Why is it considered an insult to point out that someone is bourgeois?
What are two synonyms for chisel as it is used in the novel?
What is the best part about being in a clique?
Look at your partner in a cockeyed manner and try to make them laugh.
What do you say to someone who is prone to digression?
Sing the Star Spangled Banner in your worst falsetto.
Why do some high school students avoid applying to colleges with fraternities?
What do most soldiers do when they get furloughs?
What is the best way to tell someone they have halitosis?
What should you do if you are hemorrhaging money?
On what two holidays might you want to go incognito?
Slouch down in your seat and look nonchalant.
Why was my great great Uncle Ivor ostracized from his village in Norway?
Name two famous pacifists.
What qualms would you have about running for president?
What's a slang word for a "rake"?
Who is a sadist in the Harry Potter books?
Name a product other than a shampoo that you could call "Sauve"?
How would you decorate your swanky new apartment?
The Great Gatsby Vocabulary Words
Name two vehicles that could be considered hulking?
Give an example of a person behaving snobbishly?
Why would someone with an injured leg accentuate his limp?
Why do people play the lottery even though the odds of winning are infinitesimal?
Name a situation when it's inappropriate for show levity?
Why might a runner be peremptorily removed from a marathon?
Feign boredom right now.
I tell you I like your sweater. You make a contemptuous remark. What do you say?
Why should you be exempt from taking my final exam?
In the summer what do people do on their verandas?
My brother-in-law, the chef, has a reciprocal arrangement with the ski rental shop. What does that mean?
What do you bring to class to corroborate your claim that you were late because you went to the nurse?
Who would you volunteer to extemporize a rap about Gatsby?
Name two people who are known for their vocal inflections.
When might you feel like a pessimist?
What would you say to a cynical person who doesn't want to vote in an election?
What's the difference between being "cynical" and being "skeptical?
Where might you find riotous weeds?
Name two synonyms for crimson.
What is the most verdant spot in Winchester?
Where might you find forty-thousand fervent people?
What are two synonyms for "hauteur?"
What would a supercilious hat look like?
Name an animal that we imagine is gruff?
Name two things that would add a little swank to your house party.
Word List from Act 1 of The Crucible (40 Words)
List One
Name a television character who sometimes seems inert.
What does it mean to have a persecution complex? (persecute)
Where will you be when you conceive a plan to take over the world?
Which idea is closer to "creed": "summary of your beliefs" or a shortened for of "crazy greed"?
What is the most somber day of the week?
Make up a crazy ordinance for the town of Winchester.
Why do some people have a predilection for really ugly pets?
How might you rankle your uncle Hank Frankel?
Name two famous marauders.
Can you say that the land was defiled by the forest fire?
How did Henry the VII try to ensure the perpetuation of his family's power?
How did both Gandhi and MLK respond to social and political repression?
Why did Tom Brady go to court to seek and injunction against Roger Goddell?
Name a character on television who is known for his dissembling.
What is an antonym for apprehension?
Do you believe that pineapple on pizza is an abomination?
Would you rather have a friend who bawls or snivels?
Why might you begrudge the money you spent on a pair of new sneakers?
Name three synonyms for corruption.
Turn to your shoulder partner and tell them a blatant lie about what you did last weekend.
List Two
What are two ways to be vindictive toward someone you think has wronged you?
You snuck out if the house last week. Make sure your shoulder partner can corroborate your alibi.
Figure out a way to intimate to your teacher that we shouldn't be tested on anything this week.
What mountain is the most formidable in the world?
When would seeing a dog fill you with trepidation?
Do you think there will always be partisan bickering in American politics?
What makes a person vulnerable to calumny?
Name a piece of music that some people find titillating?
What is the difference between "wise" and "canny"?
Sit in a manner that exudes confidence.
What types of people--doctors, teachers, engineers, etc--are most often called upon to arbitrate disputes?
What would people do in a "den of iniquity"?
Why might it always be a bad idea to sue someone for defamation?
Would you rather be inculcated by a parent or a sibling?
Name a natural phenomenon that can enthrall people?
How might you begin the process of propitiation with a shy rescue dog?
What is a synonym for "licentious?"
What foreign words might help you remember the mean of "blanch?"
In what way is word "exaltation" similar to the phrase "blown away"?
Name a piece of art that has the power to enrapture people.
Vocabulary List 3 from The Crucible Act 4
1. Make a statement that demonstrates your adamant approval of your neighbor's new shoes.
2. When would you just stand there with your mouth agape ?
3. How do witches beguile people?
4.When might a smile belie the way someone really feels?
5. What is a slightly unusual outfit for a bridegroom to wear?
6. At what age will you stop cleaving to your adolescent ways?
7. What are two synonyms for the word "dispute"?
8. How might one say that Tom Brady is the embodiment the Patriot Way?
9. Who is empowered to cancel a day of school?
10. Give two reasons a Puritan might have been excommunicated.
11. Why did the horse falter when crossing the stream?
12. Who would flail more a blindfolded boxer or a person trying to get out of a dark room?
13. Under what conditions might you see a boat floundering ?
14. What is the difference between gaunt and slender?
15. Which character The Crucible ended his life on a gibbet ?
16. What do you need to get if you are the subject of an indictment?
17. Under what conditions might a convicted person receive a reprieve?
18. When might a person's speech have some added sibilance ?
19. "Cutting off the nose to spite the face" is a fairly common expression. What does it mean?
20. For whom do you have the utmost respect?