From the context of this sentence you know that the blank must be describing some sort of accommodating gesture or compromise made by the senator. Contagious means likely to spread from one to another; extravagant refers to luxury; arrogant and smug both mean cocky. Only conciliatory, which means trying to end an argument and make peace, makes sense in context.

The contrast here is between someone who is completely innocent and a criminal that must be particularly “nasty.” The word “notorious” means “well known,” often implying that said person is well known for bad or criminal acts. The word is related to English words like “noted,” in the sense of being known or recognized.

Since Robert was considered a liar, his words would likely lead to little belief by those hearing them. When someone has no “credibility,” he or she is said to be unbelievable, often because of past neglect of the truth. Hence, Robert is not likely to be a credible witness. It is derived from Latin roots for belief, founding related English words like “credence,” “incredulous,” and “incredible.”

That the team is losing because of something they did regarding money gives a contextual clue that they are not spending much of it on their players. We are also told that the team's losses are being blamed on the manager's "frugality." Parsimonious is defined as frugality to the point of stinginess, so it is the correct answer because it best fits the context of the sentence.

The key thing to note in this sentence is that Timothy is showing no interest in anything at all. A person who has little interest is best described as being “apathetic,” a word that literally means “having now emotions.” The “a-” prefix is here a negative prefix meaning “not,” while “pathetic” comes from Greek roots meaning “feeling” or even “suffering.” It is related to words like “pathos,” “empathy,” “sympathy,” and “passion.”

All of the listed goals are difficult to attain and require exceedingly hard work to make a reality; therefore, they can best be described as lofty or elevated.

The contrast being made in this sentence is between Byron’s poverty and the new house. The appropriate word must reflect above all this notion of being “not a poor man’s house.” Therefore, the best option is “affluent,” which means “wealthy.” The word literally is derived from root words in Latin that mean “to flow.” Someone who is “affluent,” in a sense “flows” with wealth / money / et cetera.

The sentence implies that Dalton now finds himself in an utterly different set of circumstances, no longer extremely wealthy but instead utterly poor. When someone is “destitute,” he or she is unable to provide even for the necessities of life (like housing, as appropriate to our sentence). The word comes from the prefix “de-” in the sense of “being down from” and the base “-stit-” as meaning “to stand.” One who is destitute has “stood down” from his or her place in life—though not necessarily by choice, mind you. The “-stit-” base can be found in words like “constitute” and “prostitute.”

The key expression here is “one item following another.” This implies that Timothy worked best with items that are given an order “one after another,” which is best described as being “sequential.” The word literally means “following an understandable order,” often meaning a temporal (time) order. The word comes from the Latin meaning “to follow” and is found in other English words like “consecutive,” “consequence,” and “consecutive.”

The key expression is “disappointing experiences,” implying that Laura had seen most enjoyments come to nothing. Such experiences would lead one to believe that happiness is not real or that it is an illusion; therefore, it is best described as “illusory.” The word “illus-” portion of the word actually comes from the Latin for “to play or mock,” so “illusory” is related to words like “ludicrous,” “elusive,” and “delusion.”