<Harass, annoy, irritate, vex, fret, worry, plague, torment, molest, tease, tantalize.>
Sentences: The merchant ____ about his financial losses. "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and ____ his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more." The children never lost an opportunity to ____ the teacher. The other pupils ____ him because he was the teacher's favorite. The newcomer was ____ by their frequent questions. Don't ____ the child by holding the grapes beyond its reach. "He was met even now As mad as the ____ sea." Ah, but I am ____ by doubts and fears. "The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such as, wand'ring near her secret bower, ____ her ancient, solitary reign." The child ____ because the rain kept it indoors. When the joke was discovered, they almost ____ the life out of him. I was ____ at their discovering my predicament. "You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops, and to make no noise When they are ____ with the gusts of heaven."
<Hinder, restrain, obstruct, impede, hamper, retard, check, curb, clog, encumber, forestall, suppress, repress, prevent.>
Sentences: Baggage ____ the progress of an army. It is the purpose of modern medicine to ____ disease. The accumulations of dust and grease ____ the machine. "My tears must stop, for every drop ____ needle and thread." By acknowledging his fault he hoped to ____ criticism. Though before she had been unable to ____ her tears, she could now scarcely ____ a yawn. A fallen tree ____ his further progress. The horse was ____ with a heavy burden, and the unsure footing of the trail further ____ the ascent. His jealous colleagues ____ his plans in every way they could.
<Hole, cavity, excavation, pit, cache, cave, cavern, hollow, depression, perforation, puncture, rent, slit, crack, chink, crevice, cranny, breach, cleft, chasm, fissure, gap, opening, interstice, burrow, crater, eyelet, pore, bore, aperture, orifice, vent, concavity, dent, indentation. >
Sentences: The explorers, having eaten all the provisions they had carried with them, hurried back to their ____. The battering-ram at last made a[n] ____ in the walls. The ____ in the log had been caused by the intense heat. He tore off the check along the line of the ____. The ____ in the earth gradually deepened and narrowed into a[n] ____. Pyramus and Thisbe made love to each other through a[n] ____ in a wall. "Once more unto the ____, dear friends, once more." The ____ in the mountain ranges of Virginia influenced strategy during the Civil War. Several ____ in the toe of one of his shoes apprised me that he had a sore foot. The supposed ____ in the rock turned out to be a[n] ____ that led into a dark but spacious ____. He suffered a[n] ____ of one of his tires near the place where the laborers were making the ____. It was a gun of very large ____. The ____ in the percolator was made by a flatiron aimed at Mr. Wiggins' head.
<Idle, inert, lazy, indolent, sluggish, slothful.>
Sentences: "He also that is ____ in his work is brother to him that is a great waster." "The ____ singer of an empty day." Mighty, ____ forces lie locked up in nature, waiting for man to release them. He was a[n] ____, good-for-nothing fellow whose whole business in life was to keep out of work. "For Satan finds some mischief still For ____ hands to do." He was too ____ to do his work well. "The ____ yawning drone." His steps were so ____ one would almost think he was not moving. "As ____ as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean." "I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an ____ brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy."
<Ignorant, illiterate, uninformed, uneducated, untutored, unlettered, unenlightened.>
Sentences: Without public schools most children would be ____; without missionaries many barbarous tribes would remain ____. Andrew Jackson was ____ that peace had been declared when he fought the battle of New Orleans. Even the wisest men are ____ upon some subjects. "Lo, the poor Indian, whose ____ mind Sees God in clouds or hears Him in the wind!" The mountain whites, though often totally ____, are nevertheless a shrewd folk. "Their name, their years, spelt by th' ____ muse, The place of fame and elegy supply." The percentage of ____ persons is constantly decreasing in America.