Essential Vocabulary - Noel's ESL eBook Library

216 Essential Vocabulary
QUICK REVIEW #77
Match the word from column 2 with the word from column 1 that means most
nearly the same thing.
1. society
2. solace
3. solicitude
4. solidify
5. soluble
6. somber
7. sonnet
8. sophisticated
9. spate
10. species
11. specific
12. specious
a. harden
b. plausible
c. population
d. outpouring
e. urbane
f. explicit
g. community
h. grave
i. solvable
j. comfort
k. poem
l. care
spectacle (SPEK ti kl) n. 1. a strange and/or remarkable sight; 2. a public exhibition
on a grand scale —pl. a pair of eyeglasses
• The dog balancing on the beach ball was a spectacle to behold.
• The parade of the circus performers and animals from the train station to
the arena was a spectacle worth coming out to watch.
• Willa bought a new pair of spectacles.
speculation* (SPEK yoo LAY shin) n. 1. the act of thinking about; meditation;
2. gambling in stock or land values
• Whether or not your parents are going to allow you to go away for the
weekend is purely a matter of speculation.
• Day traders are engaged in stock price speculation, and more lose money
than gain any.
spontaneous (spahn TAY nee uhs) adj. 1. all at once, without advance preparation
or premeditation; 2. without apparent outside cause or influence
• Alice’s decision to follow the white rabbit was a spontaneous one.
• People used to think that maggots appeared on dead bodies by spontaneous
generation.
• At the pianist’s first appearance, the audience erupted in spontaneous
applause.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. instinctive, impulsive]
spurious (SPYUR ee uhs) adj. 1. false; make-believe; not genuine; 2. similar in
appearance, but not in structure
• The note asking Linda’s teacher to excuse her not having her homework
turned out to be spurious and was written in Linda’s poorly disguised
handwriting.