(n.) a cheerful readiness; brisk and eager action

Neighbors respond with ________ to the woman's cries for help.

Synonyms: promptness, willingness, dispatch celerity

Antonyms: reluctance, unwillingness, hesitancy

(v.) to relieve, make more bearable

The doctors and nurses did everything they could to __________ the patient's severe pain.

Synonyms: lessen, lighten, allay, mitigate, assuage

(n.) the direct opposite, a sharp contrast

Discriminatory practices may be said to constitute the very ______________ of our nation's democratic ideals.

Synonyms: contrary, antipode

(v.) to fill with dismay or horror

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 ________ the nation and the world.

Synonyms: shock, shun, stupefy, horrify

Antonyms: please, cheer, gladden, elate, exhilarate

(adj.) warlike in manner or temperament; quarrelsome

Teddy Roosevelt's foreign policy was often driven by a rather _____________ brand of patriotism.

Synonyms: aggressive, combative, belligerent

Antonyms: amicable, peaceable, conciliatory, pacific

(v.) to belittle, speak slightingly of; to undervalue

Don't you think voters are getting awfully tired of listening to politicians ____________ their opponents' voting records?

Synonyms: degrade, decry, run down, underrate

Antonyms: praise, extol, laud, plug

(adj.) not in harmony; disagreeing, at odds

The clamor of ____________ voices could be heard clearly through the closed doors of the meeting room.

Synonyms: grating, strident, unmelodious, irreconciliable

Antonyms: harmonious, agreeing, euphonious

(adj.) amusingly odd

The hero or heroine of a popular sitcom may be surrounded by a cast of _______ eccentrics

Synonyms: comical, humorous, whimsical, zany

Antonyms: humorless, solemn, dour

(n.) an order issued by someone in authority

Only in fairy tales can human unhappiness and misery be banished forever by royal ______.

Synonyms: command, decree, proclamation

(v.) to clarify, explain

The precise meaning of a passage in the Bible is sometimes hard to __________.

Synonyms: interpret, expound, explicate

Antonyms: obscure, becloud, muddy, obfuscate

(v.) to praise

At the assembly the principal ________ both students and teachers for the schoolwide improvement in reading scores.

Synonyms: hail, extol, glorify, exalt

Antonyms: criticize, censure, belittle, disparage

(v.) to act in a lazy manner; to lounge; to recline, droop

There is nothing i would rather do on a hot, humid summer afternoon than ______ in a hammock under a tree.

Synonyms: loaf, loiter, sag, dangle

(adj.) talkative, wordy; fond of talking

My dinner companion was so ___________ that our conversation quickly turned into a monologue.

Synonyms: gossipy, voluble, garrulous, long-winded

Antonyms: silent, reticent, closemouthed, terse, taciturn

(adj.) generous in forgiving, above small meanness

The general's victory was so decisive that he could afford to be _____________ toward his former enemies.

Synonyms: unselfish, charitable, noble, bighearted

Antonyms: petty, selfish, unforgiving, spiteful

(adj.) required, obligatory

A union contract may stipulate that members are to receive a __________ annual cost-of-living increase.

Synonyms: compulsory, requisite, imperative

Antonyms: optional, voluntary, discretionary

(adj.) ordinary, not outstanding; not easily classified

Fashion critics judged the designer's fall clothing line to be disappointingly _________.

Synonyms: plain, unremarkable, unimpressive

Antonyms: distinctive, remarkable, vivid, prepossessing

(adj.) slow-moving, sluggish; unemotional

Sloths are such __________ creatures that they have earned the reputation of being the slowest animals on Earth.

Synonyms: lethargic, indolent, torpid, stolid, impassive

Antonyms: emotional, sensitive, thin-skinned, excitable

(v.) to repeal, cancel

A sitting Congress sometimes _________ statutes passed by its predecessors.

Synonyms: withdraw, revoke, retract, annul, abrogate

Antonyms: affirm, endorse, uphold, ratify

(adj.) lively, sprightly, full of energy

A ___________ individual, will certainly never lack for companions.

Synonyms: spirited, animated, ebullient

Antonyms: dull, spiritless, listless, indolent, languid

(v.) to sharpen, put an edge on; to make keen or eager

In most mystery novels, the first chapter is designed to _______ your curiosity to find out "who done it."

Synonyms: hone, excite, stimulate

Antonyms: dull, blunt, deaden, stifle, dampen