1. Verbal Advantage 3.5

2. adroit, adj It was a shock when the adroit trapeze partnership ended when Lucky dropped Lady; in their eleven years, they’d never had an accident of any kind.

3. adroit, adj Skillful, in action or thought

4. platitude, noun William’s ingratiating compliments were platitudes that no longer had any effect on Julia; his flattery was overdone and insincere.

5. platitude, noun a trite or obvious remark

6. fastidious, adj No matter how good my grades are, I never gain praise for my erudition from my fastidious grandmother.

7. fastidious, adj very critical and difficult to please

8. vendetta, noun After Tybalt slew Mercutio, Romeo’s fury fueled a vendetta that would not be assuaged until Tybalt’s blood was spilled in retribution.

9. vendetta, noun 1.A feud between two families or clans that arises out of a slaying and is perpetuated by retaliatory acts of revenge; a blood feud. 2.A bitter, destructive feud.

10. lucid, adj The tutor’s lucid explanation of the math formula’s application made it easy to see where the student went wrong when completing the exam. In the heat of the tantrum, the child was slapped and seemed lucid for the moment the shock kept him silent; his eyes implied he was thinking through the reason for the slap, but then he screamed and cried even louder than before.

11. lucid, adj 1.easily understood; completely intelligible or comprehensible 2. characterized by clear perception or understanding; rational or sane

12. salient, adj While the politician touched on many subjects in the campaign speech, the salient content that peaked the crowd’s interest was the imminent recession.

13. salient, adj main; chief; most noticeable

14. categorical, adj The categorical denial of some people—despite records kept by Nazis, like photographs—that Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews during World War II upsets Holocaust survivors.

15. categorical, adj without exceptions or conditions; absolute

16. inscrutable, adj The inscrutable text was written in an ancient alphabet no one had seen before. When I asked Jillian to the prom, I couldn’t interpret her inscrutable smile. Superman found the box was inscrutable, as he cannot see through lead.

17. inscrutable, adj 1.incapable of being investigated, analyzed, or scrutinized; impenetrable. 2.not easily understood; mysterious; unfathomable: an inscrutable smile. 3.incapable of being seen through physically; physically impenetrable: the inscrutable depths of the ocean.

18. construe, v He could construe her intentions from her gestures and then by the rebuff that wounded his pride

19. construe, v to deduce by inference or interpretation; infer

20. allude, v The candidate alluded to the recent war by saying, "We've all made sacrifices."

21. allude, verb To make an indirect reference