Vocabulary Games: Strategy

STRATEGY (based on Jeopardy)
Overview

This activity allows students to use a combination of two comprehension strategies -- context clues and knowledge of roots and affixes -- to figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words. The competitive nature of the activity creates a dynamic environment in which students can both employ effective comprehension strategies and have fun with language. The collaborative nature of the activity (students compete in teams of 4-5) promotes interaction and enables students to engage in reciprocal teaching as they learn the strategies.
Procedures
The students form five evenly sized teams. Each team's task is to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, based on a combination of two sets of clues: information regarding the meanings of roots and affixes, and an illustration of the word used in context. The teams have a choice of categories to choose from on each of their turns. In this activity, the choices come from among three categories, each of a different degree of difficulty. (In all activities in this book, "degree of difficulty" has been determined by both pilot tests and extensive experience with using the activities. If you or your students feel that a word is improperly categorized, by all means make adjustments.) In Round 1, Category #1 is worth 10 points; Category #2 is worth 20; and Category #3 is worth 30. The point values reflect the words' relative degree of difficulty.
Prior to the activity, the teacher distributes lists of common prefixes, roots and suffixes to each team. (For Method #1, the root/affix sheet follows this set of activity procedures; for Method #2, the roots and affixes are taken from VCBS.) The students use these word elements to help figure out the meanings of the words used in the competition. The action proceeds as follows:
1. The first team to go may choose any one of the three (10, 20 or 30 points) categories for its question. When it makes its choice, the teacher chooses a word and reads the given sentence from the appropriate category in the "Strategy Context Sentence" list, and writes the underlined word on the board. The students on that team are given roughly 90 seconds in which to make a guess at the meaning of the designated word. (You will probably want to adjust the given amount of time to the ability and grade level of your students, and the difficulty of the words you are issuing.) A correct response gives that team the appropriate number of points; an incorrect response results in no penalty. Say, for example, that Team #1 goes first, and elects to try a Category #2 word. The teacher selects a word from the "Strategy Context Sentence" list from Category #2, ambulophobia, reads the sentence, "Tom's ambulophobia led him to own several cars," and writes the word on the board. The students have 90 seconds in which to study their lists, look at the context of the word, and make a guess as to its meaning. Here, they will find "phobia" (the fear of....) on the suffix list. They then combine this knowledge with an examination of ambulophobia's context, plus a possible familiarity with words like "ambulation" to make a guess at the word's meaning. If they correctly guess "fear of walking," they receive 20 points; if their guess is wrong, they receive zero points. It is important to stress that all teams in the competition should be attempting to determine the word's meaning because should Team #1 guess wrong, then all other teams have an opportunity to guess the meaning.
2. If the team guesses wrong, all other teams may then have a chance to make a guess at the word's meaning. This opportunity to "second guess" encourages all teams to try to figure out all of the words in the activity. They should be working on the word's definition while the primary team is working on it. If the primary team guesses wrong, any other team may submit a guess on a piece of paper. The other teams should have their guess ready when the primary team makes its guess, to save time. Teams making a correct "second guess" receive the point value for the word. However, if a team guesses wrong in this segment of the activity, it is penalized the point value of the word. Thus, "second-guessers" do so at a risk.
3. The next team then goes through the same process. Round 1 is over after each team has taken a turn. You may wish to adapt the number of turns each team takes to the length of your own class periods; we have used the activities in class periods ranging from 42 to 55 minutes and have adjusted the competitions to meet the time allotments.
4. The teams then play Round 2. The action in this round proceeds in the same fashion as Round 1, but the point values are doubled.
5. The activity concludes with The Challenge Round. In this round, each team may gamble any portion of its total points, betting on whether they can get the correct answer for the round's vocabulary word. They do this in secret, and inform the teacher of the amount of their bet before receiving the Challenge Round vocabulary word. The teacher will inform all teams of all wagers after the definitions have been submitted.
All teams receive the same word and sentence, taken from the Challenge Round word and sentence list. An example of how the Challenge Round might go is:
The totals for all teams following Round 2 might be:
Team #1 Team #2 Team #3 Team #4 Team #5
50 0 100 -70 60
Teams with negative point totals or zero points do not compete in the Challenge Round. Before the Challenge Round begins, each competing team must write down in secret the amount of its total points it wishes to bet. Team #1, for instance, has 50 points, and is 50 points behind the leader, Team #3. They might wish to bet all of their points. Team #5, on the other hand, might be more conservative, betting only 41 points and hoping that Team #3's answer is wrong. Team #2, with zero points, and Team #4, which has achieved a negative point value through poor second-guessing, are ineligible to play the Challenge Round. Team #3 might bet 30 points, figuring that a correct guess will win the competition regardless of what the other teams do. The teacher may wish to structure the rewards so that the first and second place teams receive points to prevent an all-or-nothing mentality; this would discourage every team from betting all of its points.
When each team has determined and submitted its wager, the teacher is ready to give the Challenge Round words and sentence. The teacher might say, for example, "In its ideal state, marriage is a biunial relationship," writing "biunial" on the board. All teams get two minutes to arrive at their guesses and submit them. When all guesses are in, the teacher reveals first the number of points each team has gambled, and then the definitions they have determined for the word. After reading all of the guesses, the teacher gives the correct definition (in this case, "combining two into one"), the final scores are tallied, and the winners are rewarded. To promote a positive attitude towards the activity and vocabulary study, members of the winning team could receive an A or some extra-credit points, with other students receiving no penalty. In case of a tie, the two teams could each have another try at another word from the Challenge Round list; or each member of both teams could receive a bonus. However you structure the rewards of the activity, we suggest that they serve to promote a positive attitude towards vocabulary study.

Condensed Procedures for Strategy
1. Divide class into teams
2. The team whose turn it is chooses a strategy and level
Level 1 = 10 points
Level 2 = 20 points
Level 3 = 30 points
3. Read the context sentence to the class and write the vocabulary word on the board.
4. The team has one minute to guess the meaning - no penalty for guessing wrong.
5. If the first team is wrong, other teams may "second guess" by turning in an answer immediately after the first team's guess. If correct, teams that second guess receive the point value of the word; if incorrect, they recive minus the point value.
6. Championship Round - Teams can gamble any or all points (teams with zero points or less do not compete). Teams must submit number of points wagered before hearing word and sentence.

MATERIALS FOR METHOD #1
STRATEGY - LISTS OF ROOTS-AFFIXES
PREFIXES
anti: opposite: against
auto: self
bi: two
circum: around
eu: well, good
im: not
mal: bad
mono: one
neo: new, recent
oxy: extreme
pachy: thick
pal: again
per: through, by
post: after
sol: alone
sub: under
tachy: fast
trans: across, change, transfer
xantho: yellow
xeno: foreign
xylo: wood
ROOTS
andro: man
arach: pertaining to peanuts
Bacchus: Greek god of wine
biblio: pertaining to books
chron: time
corps: body
cre: believe
culpa: fault
gyn: woman
hirsut: hair
lact: milk
luc, loq: speech
mast: teeth
mort: death
nomen: name
oct: eight
pecc: sin
plac: to please
pugn: tending to fight
pyro: fire or heat
quin: five
rap: seize
salu: health
ver: truth
vir: masculine
SUFFIXES
ine: resembling a certain animal
phobia: fear of.....

            STRATEGY - CONTEXT SENTENCES
CATEGORY 1
masticate - mas'ta-kat (chew). Because he did not masticate             properly, he suffered great indigestion.
oxyosphresia - oks'i-os-fre'zi-a (extreme sensitivity to smell).          Dogs are used to detect the presence of drugs due to their        oxyosphresia.
xanthocroid - zan'tho-kroid (yellow or blond haired person). She     thought that by becoming a xanthocroid, she would look like     Marilyn Monroe.
eugenics - yoo-jen'iks (good breeding). Hitler thought that through eugenics he could create a master race.
quinquennial - kwin-kwen'-i-al (happening every five years). My    college class has quinquennial reunions.
xylographist - zi-log'-ra-fist (wood engraver). The xylographist       did a wonderful job of making the sign for the rustic         restaurant.
monocular - mo-nok'yoo-ler (having one eye). Brave Odysseus slew           the monocular beast.
exculpated - eks'kul-pat-ed (cleared of guilt). The defendant           was exculpated from the charges against him.
implacable - im-plak'a-bil (impossible to please). Mary has been     implacable since the death of her pet frog.
corporeal - kor-po're-al (tangible, substantial, relating to a physical material body). My great great great grandmother, though no longer corporeal, is still alive in spirit.
oxycanthous - oks'e-kan'thas (having very sharp thorns or    spines). I got many scratches walking across the field due          to the abundance of oxycanthous plants.
pachydermatous - pak-e-durm'a-tas (thick skinned). I hit the            pachydermatous animal with a baseball bat, and he didn't        even feel it.
xylophobia - zi-lo-fo'bi-a (fear of wood). Bill's xylophobia caused him to quit the Boy Scouts.
peregrination - per'-a-gri-na'shan (moving from place to place).       I got tired of peregrinating, so I sold my tent and camel             and bought myself a condo.
lucubration - luk'-yoo-bra'shan (long speech). The scholars were     exhausted after Stu Dent's lucubration.
bacchanalian - bak'a-na'li-an (wild and drunken). Her           bacchanalian behavior got her arrested.
salutiferous - sal'u-tif'er-as (pertaining to good health).         Harry's salutiferous diet keeps his cheeks rosy and his       disposition sweet.
palingenesis - pal-in-jen'a-sis (rebirth into a higher life         form). Once I was a cockroach; now, because of             palingenesis, I am a guru.
peccatophobia - pek'a-to-fo'bi-a (fear of sin). My peccatophobia      has caused me to clense my soul several times a day.
peccable - pek'a-bal (liable to sin) John Dillinger's peccable             personality has caused my mother to make me avoid him.
xanthodont - zan'tho-dont (person with yellow teeth). When he       smiled, the smoker revealed himself to be a xanthodont.
xanthoderms - zan'-tho-durm (people with yellow skin). "Yikes!     Look at those xanthoderms!" I exclaimed when I saw the            people with scurvy.
CATEGORY 2
circumfluent - ser-kum'-floo-ent (flowing around). The        circumfluent river did not disrupt Hoboken's downtown       traffic.
corpulent - kor'pu-lent (fat). Although he had been a track star         in his youth, in his middle age Tim became increasingly corpulent.
rapacious - ra-pa'shus (tending to take or seize from others).            Atilla the Hun was one rapacious fellow.
transcends - tran-send' (goes beyond). The appeal of Marsha           Mellow and the Mellow Fellows transcends that of ordinary     rock bands.
androcracy - an-drok'ra-se (government run by men). Margaret       Thatcher and Indira Ghandi could not become part of the      androcracy.
pyrotechnics - pi-ro-tek'-niks (fireworks). The spectacular pyrotechnics made the crowd ooh and aah.
monogamy - mo-nog'a-mi (marriage to only one person). My          commitment to monogamy caused me to turn down proposals from       Ted, Ned and Fred.
octogenerian - ok'to-ja-nar'i-an (person 80 to 89 years old). The octogenerian looked back on her long life with great        pride.
postprandial - post-pran'di-al (after a meal). My postprandial           cup of coffee went well with the delightful conversation.
soliloquy - sol-il'-o-kwi (speech made to oneself when alone).         It's a shame that no one heard my wonderful soliloquy this         morning.
transient - tran'shant (going from place to place, changing    quickly). At the transient hotel, people rarely stay for       more than a few nights.
nomenclature - no'man-kla-tur (special names or terms) Not            knowing the proper nomenclature, I could not follow the instructions on how to operate the computer.
ambulophobia - am'bu-lo-fo'bi-a (fear of walking). Tom's    ambulophobia led him to own several cars.
xyloglyphist - zi-log'li-fist (one who makes artistic wood     carvings). The xyloglyphist used ebony to create her       statue.
porcine - por'sin (pig like). Her porcine behavior caused me to        think she had no manners.
autodidact - o'to-di-dakt' (self taught person). The autodidact          dropped out of college because she didn't need it.
pachycephalic - pak'e-sef-al'ik (thick skulled). The pachycephalic boxer did not flinch when he was punched in         the face.
CATEGORY 3
impunity - im-pu'na-ti (freedom from punishment). The secret         agent shot the spy with impunity.
hirsutorufous - hir-soo'ter-oo'-fas (red haired). Sean O'Malley          only goes out with girls who are, like him, hirsutorufous.
miscreant - mis'-kre-ant (wrongdoer). We found our stolen car,       but we never found the miscreant.
averred - a-vurd' (affirmed as true). I averred when George Washington confessed that he had chopped down the cherry        tree.
malaprop - mal'a-prop (bad usage of a word). When he said, "I        depreciate your help," he committed a malaprop.
eupeptic - yoo-pep'tik (relating to good digestion). The dinner         of Twinkies, ice cream and jalepeno peppers did not give    Sarah a eupeptic feeling.
impugned - im-pun' (call into question, fight against). When            they impugned Fred's reputation, he was quite upset.
eulogy - yoo'lo-ji (speech of high praise). The eulogy I got at          my testimonial dinner brought a tear to my eye.
anachronisms - a-nak'-ran-izm (error in chronology; out of time).    In the movie about prehistoric times, there were several    anachronisms, such as cars and television.
verisimilitude - ver'i-si-mil'-i-tood (appearance of truth). The          witness' verisimilitude convinced the jury.
colloquim - ka-lo'kwe-am (academic meeting on a specific topic). The colloquium on the Middle East was very enlightening.
circumvallation - sur'kam-val-a'-shan (fortification around something). Our lack of a circumvallation allowed the       cavalry to attack us easily.
euphemism - yoo-fa-mism (substitution of an inoffensive term for an offensive one). When the War Department's name was          changed to the State Department, the government was using a         euphemism.
androgynous - an-drog'en-as (having both masculine and feminine characteristics). My androgynous friend never has to go out      on dates.
arachibutyrophobia - ar-a'-ki-boo-te'ro-fo'-bi-a (fear of peanut         butter sticking to the roof of the mouth). Jimbo's bad case         of arachibutyrophobia will cause him to reduce his jelly       intake.
oxygeusia - oks-i-ju'-si-a (extreme sensitivity to taste). I      invited the gourmet over to dinner because of his oxygeusia.
subtegulaneous - sub'teg-yoo-la'ni-as (indoor). "I really don't           think that baseball should be played as a subtegulaneous           sport," said the purist.
substaquilate - sub-stak'-wil-at (defeat). The substaquilated nation's citizens were immediately enslaved.
tachydidaxious - tak'i-di-dak'se-as (fast teaching). The         professor's tachydidaxious style confused the scholars.
tachygraphy - tak-ig'ra-fe (shorthand). I never learned          tachygraphy, and so I can never get all of the lecture notes.
autotelic - o'to-tel'ik (something done for its own sake). My             autotelic hobby got me happiness, but little money.
autophagia - ot-o-fa'ji-a (biting oneself). After taking a puck            to the mouth, the hockey player could not commit autophagia.
tolypeutine - tol-e-pyoo'-tin (resembling an armadillo). My tolypeutine skin protected me when I slept on the bed of nails.
virvestitism - vir-ves'ti-tiz'am (female preference for males clothes). Her virvestitism caused her to purchase many pairs of trousers.
viraginity - vir-a-jin'i-te (masculinity in a woman). The girl who went out for the football team was thought to have     viraginity.
xenoepist - zen-o'a-pist (one who speaks with a foreign accent).      I could not understand Professor Szlzyvzski because he was a xenoepist.
CHALLENGE ROUND
planiloquent - plan-il'o-kwant (straight talking). We understood      the message of the planiloquent candidate.
bibliopolist - bib-li-op'-a-list (rare book dealer). The             bibliopolist told me that his first edition copy of The      Odyssey was not for sale.
bicrural - bi-kroor'al (having 2 legs). The ostrich's bicrural status was threatened when it got caught in the bear trap.
biunial - bi-yoo'ni-al (combining two into one). In its ideal state, marriage is a biunial relationship.
METHOD #2
Adapting Strategy for use with VCBS is easy since you use the same basic procedures for the activity as you would with Method #1. Rather than using the roots and affixes provided in this book, you use instead word elements or thematic categories suggested by the chapters in VCBS.
For example, you can group words into thematic categories, such as words associated with joy/pleasure, sadness, or stoutness/thinness as suggested in Chapter 3 of VCBS, "Building Vocabulary through Central Ideas." The next step is to organize the words according to degree of difficulty. For example, in the category of "joy/pleasure" words, "bliss" might be a Round One word worth 10 points while "jocund" might be a Round Three word worth 30 points. Since a chapter in VCBS usually includes far too many words to cover in one class session of Strategy, you will probably either select only some of the words from the lesson or divide the lesson into more than one session of Strategy. Finally, your context sentences will be based on the words from the chapter in VCBS.
Students playing Strategy with Chapter 3 words will follow the same procedures described in Method #1, except that they will use categories from VCBS rather than from teacher-distributed lists of roots and affixes. Prior to the activity, you could project on an overhead screen or draw on the chalkboard a "game board" of stacked boxes containing categories and levels of difficulty resembling the game board on the television show Jeopardy.
A game board for Round One might look like this:
Category: Joy/Pleasure Sadness Stoutness/Thinness Flattery
Level: 1 1 1 1
Level: 2 2 2 2
Level: 3 3 3 3
The first team to play may choose any one of the four categories and any level of difficulty for its question. After the team has made its choice, the teacher marks through that box so that it cannot be chosen again, reads a sentence from the "Strategy Context Sentence" list corresponding to the appropriate box, and writes the underlined word on the board. From this point on, the action and scoring of the game proceed as described in Method #1.
The following list of categories, definitions, and context sentences is a sample that will allow you to conduct an entire session of Strategy with words found in Chapter 3 of VCBS. Strategy is also easily adapted for use with other chapters in VCBS which suggest clearly defined categories, such as Chapter 5 on "Words Derived from Latin" which is already divided into common Latin prefixes and roots in the textbook itself.

STRATEGY - CONTEXT SEQUENCES - METHOD #2
ROUND 1 WORDS
CATEGORY - Joy/Pleasure
Level 1 Word: bliss - blis' (perfect happiness). When Sharon won the contest, she was in a state of bliss.
Level 2 Word: blithe - blith' (merry, cheerful, happy). Because of her blithe disposition, Ms. Goodman was one of the most popular teachers in the school.
Level 3 Word: jocund - jawk'-und (merry, cheerful). Because he was not jocund enough, Fred was fired from the Santa job.
CATEGORY - Sadness
Level 1 Word: disgruntled - dis-grunt'-uld (in bad humor, displeased). His parents were disgruntled when Jerry received his tenth speeding ticket.
Level 2 Word: poignant - poi'-nyunt (painfully touching, piercing). The reunion of the hostage with his family was poignant.
Level 3 Word: compunction - kum-punk'-shun (regret, remorse, misgiving, qualm). Because the prisoner felt no compunction for his crime, the board denied parole.
CATEGORY - Stoutness/Thinness
Level 1 Word: svelte - svelt' (slender, lithe). The model was so svelte, she wore a size two dress.
Level 2 Word: haggard - hag'-urd (careworn, gaunt). After three all-night study sessions during the week of final exams, the student looked haggard.
Level 3 Word: attenuate - a-ten'-yu-wate' (make thin, weaken). Anorexics deliberately attenuate themselves.
CATEGORY - Flattery
Level 1 Word: adulation - ad'-ya-la'-shun (excessive praise, flattery). Actors must enjoy the adulation of their fans.
Level 2 Word: ingratiate - in-gra'-she-ate' (work oneself into favor). Doing extra work ingratiated the employee with his boss so that he received the promotion.
Level 3 Word: obsequious - ub-see'-kwe-us (slavishly attentive, fawning). The student was known as a teacher's pet because he was so obsequious.
ROUND 2 WORDS

CATEGORY - Animals
Level 1 Word: molt - molt' (shed feathers, skin, hair, etc.). After the severe sunburn, Sheila looked as if she were molting.
Level 2 Word: apiary - a'-pe-er'-e (place where bees are kept). You must wear protective clothing when you enter an apiary.
Level 3 Word: halcyon - hal'-se-un (calm, peaceful). Huckleberry Finn preferred the halcyon pace of river life.
CATEGORY - Health/Medicine
Level 1 Word: benign - bi-nin' (not dangerous; gentle, kindly). Although the sign said "Beware of Dog," the old German shepherd was actually benign.
Level 2 Word: virulent - vir'-yu-lent (extremely poisonous, deadly, venomous; very bitter). Prison turned the Barney into a virulent man.
Level 3 Word: salubrious - sa-lu'-bre-us (healthful). Sue attributed her longevity to a salubrious lifestyle.
CATEGORY - Praise/Defamation
Level 1 Word: malign - ma-lin' (speak evil of, vilify, traduce). Because the statement maligned her character, the entertainer sued for libel.
Level 2 Word: imputation - im'-pyu-ta'-shun (insinuation, accusation). The candidate was furious because of his opponent's imputation that he was immoral.
Level 3 Word: plaudit - plod'-ut (applause, enthusiastic praise). The movie received plaudits even though it was a directorial debut.
CATEGORY - Jest
Level 1 Word: flippant - flip'-unt (treating serious matters lightly). His flippant attitude about grades prevented Biff from graduating.
Level 2 Word: sardonic - sar-don'-ik (bitterly sarcastic, mocking, sneering). The employee was fired because of his sardonic attitude.
Level 3 Word: jocose - jo-cos' (given to jesting, playfully humorous, jocular). Much of Mark Twain's writing is jocose.
ROUND THREE
CATEGORY - Willingness/Relatives
Level 1 Word: genealogy - je'-ne-al'-a-je (a person's or family's descent, lineage, pedigree). The family tree traced Lucy's genealogy.
Level 2 Word: alacrity - a-lak'-ret-e (cheerful willingess, readiness, liveliness). The new employee performed with alacrity.
Level 3 Word: nepotism - nep'-a-tiz'-um (favoritism to relatives by those in power). The company's nepotism clause prevented relatives of employees from winning the sweepstakes.
CATEGORY - Height/Lowness/Depth
Level 1 Word: preeminent - pre-em'-e-nent (standing out above others, superior). Her preeminent performance earned the skater a gold medal.
Level 2 Word: consummate - kon-sum'-ut (perfect, carried to the highest degree). The restaurant received a five-star rating because of its consummate cuisine.
Level 3 Word: precipitous - pri-sip'-et-es (steep as a precipice; hasty, rash). Planning a wedding after the first date is rather precipitous.
CATEGORY - Smell
Level 1 Word: pungent - pun'-junt (sharp in smell or taste, acrid, biting, stimulating). Garlic emits a pungent odor.
Level 2 Word: fusty - fus'-te (stale-smelling, musty, moldy; old-fashioned). The antique store smelled fusty.
Level 3 Word: noisome - noi'-sum (offensive to smell, disgusting; harmful, noxious). Gas masks were required in certain sections of the factory because of the noisome fumes.
CATEGORY - Age
Level 1 Word: defunct - di-funkt' (dead, deceased, extinct). The nation's economy was almost defunct after the stock market crash.
Level 2 Word: callow - kal'-o (young and inexperienced, unfledged). The veteran star received the part instead of the callow actor.
Level 3 Word: superannuated - su'-per-an'-yu-wat-ud (retired on a pension, too old for work). They threw a party for the teacher who would soon be superannuated.
ROUND 4 WORDS
CATEGORY - Sobriety & Intoxication/The Sea
Level 1 Word: doldrums - dol'-drumz (calm, windless part of the ocean near the equator; listlessness). Because she could not find a job, Carol was in the doldrums.
Level 2 Word: jettison - jet'-e-sen (throw goods overboard to lighten a ship or plane; discard). In a desperate effort to keep the boat afloat, the crew jettisoned most of their supplies.
Level 3 Word: dipsomania - dip'-se-ma'-ne-a (abnormal, uncontrollable craving for alcohol; alcoholism). The driver's dipsomania led to several citations for drunk driving.
CATEGORY - Cleanliness/Nearness
Level 1 Word: sordid - sord'-ed (filthy, vile). The woman changed her name in an attempt to escape from her sordid past.
Level 2 Word: expurgate - ek'-sper-gat' (remove objectionable material from a book, purify). At the school board meeting, a group of parents requested that controversial books be expurgated from the library.
Level 3 Word: propinquity - pro-pin'-kwet-e (kinship; nearness of place, proximity). Because of the propinquity of his home to his workplace, Fred was able to walk to work.
CATEGORY - Reasoning
Level 1 Word: plausible - plo'-ze'bel (superficially true or reasonable, apparently trustworthy). Marcia's parents grounded her because the reasons she gave for her lateness were not plausible.
Level 2 Word: tenable - ten'-e-bel (capable of being maintained or defended). The attorney's tenable closing argument ensured her victory.
Level 3 Word: eclectic - e-klek'-tik (choosing ideas, methods, etc. from various sources). The couple's eclectic decorating style left their living room with an antique table, modern art, and a mirrored ceiling.
CATEGORY - Shape/Importance
Level 1 Word: paltry - pol'-tre (practically worthles, trashy, piddling, petty). Because of the paltry starting salary, no one would apply for the job.
Level 2 Word: malleable - mal'-ye-bel (capable of being shaped by hammering, as a metal; adaptable). Gold is a malleable substance.
Level 3 Word: nugatory - nyu'-ge-tor'-e (trifling, worthless, useless). Worrying is a nugatory habit since it changes nothing.
CHALLENGE WORDS
CATEGORY - Sadness
ascetic - a-set'-ik (shunning pleasures, self-denying; a person who shuns pleasures). The monks led an ascetic lifestyle.

CATEGORY - Flattery
sycophant - sik'-e-fent (parasitic flatterer). New rulers must beware of sycophants.
CATEGORY - Lowness, Depth
nadir - na'-der (lowest point). The politician's life was at its nadir after he lost the election.
CATEGORY - Age
antediluvian - ant'-i-de-lu'-ve-en (antiquated, belonging to the time before the Biblical Flood when all except Noah and his family perished). In the age of compact-disc players, record albums seem almost antediluvian.
CATEGORY - Reasoning
sophistry - sof'-e-stre (clever but deceptive reasoning). Because the con artists were such experts at sophistry, the interrogators believed their alibis.