"Provoke" means to anger, to enrage, or to incite. "Aggravate," which means to annoy or to make worse, is the correct answer because its meaning is most similar to that of "provoke."

Incorrect answers:

"Postpone" means to put off to a later time, as in the sentence, "I will be late for our meeting at 3:00, so can we postpone it to 4:00?"

"Facilitate" means to make easier, as in the sentence, "The teacher moved closer to the school to facilitate her commute."

"Reinforce" means to make stronger, as in the sentence, "The wooden railway is falling apart so we need to reinforce it with steel."

When you "resent" someone or something, you greatly "dislike" that person or thing. "mail" means to send a letter or package through a postal service from one location to another; "approve" means agree; and "decipher" means to unlock meaning.

"Entice" means attract. "Tempt" is the best choice because it also means attract. Considering the other choices, "repel" is an antonym of "entice" and means to drive away.

"Despise" means abhor or hate something. "Hate" means to have an intensely strong dislike for something. Given the similarities between these two words, they are synonyms, and "hate" is the correct answer.

To “astound” means to surprise or to amaze, so "amaze" is the correct answer. While "astound" may look and sound something like "sound" and may have led you to pick "hear" as your answer choice, these three words have very different meanings.

Abhor means very strong hate. Something you abhor is opposite to something you love; abhor and love are antonyms of one another. To further help you, adore means love; worship means treat somebody very respectfully, like a god or goddess; enamor means charm.

To "pester" someone is to annoy or irritate him or her, so "irritate" is the correct answer. None of the other answer choices are close in meaning to "pester": "assure" means boost the confidence of someone else, convince, or affirm; "suffice" means be of an amount that is just enough to meet a certain need, without excess; and "detest" means greatly dislike.

"Intimidate" means to frighten somebody into doing something, "which is very similar to the meaning of "threaten," which is the correct answer. One could write, "The dishonorable politician tried to intimidate his opponents so they would drop out of the race." One could also achieve a very similar meaning by writing, "The dishonorable politician threatened to hurt his opponents to make them drop out of the race."

Incorrect answers:

"Fear," when used as a verb, means to be afraid of, as in the sentence, "Bobby feared Susan because Susan had threatened to steal his lunch money."

"Evolve" means to develop or achieve something gradually, as in the sentence, "What started as a small family-owned flower shop evolved into an international business."

"Linger" means to stay somewhere beyond the usual time, as in the sentence, "School ended several hours ago, but several teachers lingered in their classrooms to prepare for the following day."

"Evade" means avoid, oftentimes by not encountering, as in the sentence, "No matter how many times we chased the dog around the yard, it always evaded us until it was ready to go back inside."

When we "offend" someone else, we make that person angry or upset. Often we do this by our remarks but can also do so through our actions. For example, if you were to shout at your grandmother and tell her that she was not beautiful, this would be offensive. Not all actions need to be "insults" (though many "insults" are "offensive"). The main meaning of "offending" someone is to make that person angry or upset. Hence, "upset" is the best option.

Whenever we "disturb" someone, we distract his or her attention. A "disturbance" is something that upsets the balance of things. When we "disturb" the surface of water, we make it move. When we "disturb" someone else, we upset or distract that person's attention.