The first answer must be something to soothe, like a soothing lotion, or "liniment." The second must be a synonym for lessen, like "allay," and the third must be a synonym for make worse, such as "exacerbate."

The first answer must be something to soothe, like a soothing lotion, or "liniment." The second must be a synonym for lessen, like "allay," and the third must be a synonym for make worse, such as "exacerbate."

The best first clue for this sentence is the word "horrors." This indicates that the sentence is talking about more than mere battles and happenings of war. The second blank is best filled by "atrocities," which means extremely horrible events, often because of great injuries and death that are caused. The other two blanks are then easily filled given that the sentence is talking about the general experience of such horrors. Any soldier who has been a witness to such horrors will be quite aware of their reality.

The options given for this question contain many tempting, but ultimately less correct, answers. A "novice" is someone who is new to a given field or position, as is a "greenhorn." A "charlatan" is someone who lies in claiming to have a given set of skills or knowledge. One could very easily convince oneself that these sets are correct; however, the best hint for the answer is the "superficial grasp." A "dilettante" is specifically a person who gathers together various forms of knowledge without any interest in going deeply into the details. We might call such a person a "dabbler." He or she would accumulate knowledge on a variety of topics. "Sundry" means of several kinds or, merely_, various._

You are told that the neighbor's son is "well-behaved" and shows "patience." From this information it is reasonable to conclude that the son could be described as "stoic" meaning calm, not emotional, impassive. Further, if the son is demonstrating his patience it makes sense that he is also demonstrating "compliance" or obedience, by not running around and disrupting his parent. Finally, the last blank is clearly related to running around heedlessly, so the correct answer is "ramble." To provide additional help, "irritable" means easily annoyed; "garrison" refers to troops stationed in a fort to protect it; "erudite" means well-educated, scholarly; "gravitas" means dignity; "curtail" means reduce in impact; "fleeting" means not lasting very long; "emigrate" means move to a new country; "apathy" means not caring; "wizened" means_ancient, very old_; "ignominy" means shame, disgrace; "appropriate" (when used as a verb) means take something not belonging to you and refit it to fit your need.

We know that initially, not a lot of evidence supported the scientist's theories. We know the word for the first blank is a adjective with a negative connotation because of the phrase "at best" that follows it; from these context clues, we can select "ambiguous," "esoteric," and "tenuous" as possible choices. For the second blank, we need a word similar to "confirmed," so "corroborated" and "vindicated" are both suitable choices. For the final blank, we need to choose between "accolades" (a wards granted as acknowledgments of merit) and "elegies" (laments for the dead), and "accolades" is the best choice. So, the correct answer is "tenuous . . . corroborated . . . accolades."

Based on the context of these two sentences, we can tell that the individual in question has commited some "base and undignified crime." Furthermore, based on the use of "hard to imagine," we know that, even though he wasn't well-liked, his employees still felt that his actions were surprising. As such, we can reasonably infer that the first blank will involve conveying a sense of surprise or shock, that the second blank will in some way describe the severity of the crime committed, and that the third blank will describe a characteristic that contrasts with "base and undignified."

Given this, "flabbergasted," meaning astonished, and "bewildered," meaning perplexed, both could make sense for the first blank. "Nonplussed," meaning unphased, would clearly not work here. "Chagrined," meaing embarassingly vexed, isn't completely nonsensical, but doesn't quite fit given the context. "Buttressed," meaning supported, also does not work. This narrows our options down to "flabbergasted . . . odious ... highfalutin," or "bewildered . . . insipid . . . prodigious."

Moving to the next blank, we can see that "odious" is a definite possibility, as it means revolting. "Insipid," meaning unimaginative, does not seem to work quite as well. This is confirmed when we examine the final blank, in which "prodigious," meaning impressively large, gives a nonsensical meaning to the sentence. By contrast, "hghfalutin," meaning pompous, fits the context perfectly, and so by process of elimination, we are left with the correct answer: "flabbergasted . . . odious . . . highfalutin."

The best first clue for this sentence is the word "horrors." This indicates that the sentence is talking about more than mere battles and happenings of war. The second blank is best filled by "atrocities," which means extremely horrible events, often because of great injuries and death that are caused. The other two blanks are then easily filled given that the sentence is talking about the general experience of such horrors. Any soldier who has been a witness to such horrors will be quite aware of their reality.

The first answer must be something to soothe, like a soothing lotion, or "liniment." The second must be a synonym for lessen, like "allay," and the third must be a synonym for make worse, such as "exacerbate."

For the first blank, we need a verb that means something like stop. "Abstain from," "forbear from," and "cease" could all work, as they mean just that. For the second blank, we're looking for an adjective that means something like "causing harm"; either "deleterious" (causing harm or damage) or "pernicious" (having a gradual harmful effect) could work. For the last blank, we need a noun that means something like "fondness"; in choosing between "predilection" (a preference for something) and"platitude" (a moral saying used too often to be interesting or thoughtful), "predilection" is the better choice, so the answer is "abstain from . . . deleterious . . . predilection."