Lab Activity 6: Context Clues

Chapter 2: Vocabulary Skills
Lab Activity 6: Context Clues

Objective
To determine the definitions of unfamiliar words by using context clues.

Step 2: Using the context clues you underlined in the Lab Manual, select the letter of the definition for the words below.

1. nuances

a. annoyances

b. literal meanings

c. shades of meaning

d. sounds

2. onus

a. responsibility

b. client

c. lawyer

d. talent

3. vacillated

a. solved

b. married

c. commanded

d. wavered

4. relegated

a. promoted

b. demoted

c. honored

d. trained

5. neophyte

a. driver

b. traveler

c. beginner

d. expert

6. perplexing

a. obvious

b. confusing

c. conclusive

d. comforting

7. ire

a. lecture

b. readiness

c. reward

d. anger

8. pontificate

a. preach

b. stray

c. question

d. investigate

9. consortium

a. government

b. partnership

c. freedom

d. burden

10. draconian

a. gentle

b. easy

c. simple

d. severe

11. sanguine

a. gloomy

b. angry

c. cheerful

d. moody

12. prolific

a. productive

b. unpopular

c. difficult to comprehend

d. unknown

13. brouhaha

a. silence

b. uproar

c. agreement

d. cooperative spirit

14. egregious

a. unremarkable

b. appreciative

c. obviously bad

d. adaptable

15. magnanimously

a. generously

b. seriously

c. reluctantly

d. insistently

16. supplant

a. examine

b. improve

c. suspect

d. substitute

17. purports

a. propels

b. claims

c. avoids

d. investigates

18. vendetta

a. friendly gathering

b. feud

c. romance

d. cultivation

19. replete

a. plentiful

b. scarce

c. fearful

d. exhilarated

20. mercurial

a. calm

b. sensitive

c. silently thoughtful

d. quickly changeable