Name ___________________________ Period ________
"The Black Cat" Vocabulary Quiz

a.apparitions
b.atrocities
c.malevolence
d.paltry
e.irrevocable
f.conspicuous
g.succinctly
h.anomolous
i.exulted
j.sagacious
k.scruples
l.evinced
m.bravado
n.succumbed
o.blissful
p.felon

Directions: Write the letter of the word that best 
completes each sentence in the blank to the left.

_____1. Three words __ the Kennedy era and what it meant at 
the time: "Everything seemed possible."

_____2. When the Chatham soccer team won the sectionals, 
the stands __ in victory.

_____3. In China, where black hair is the norm, her blonde 
hair made her very __.

_____4. In all the years I have known Sarah, she has never 
__ any immoral traits. She is goodness incarnate.

_____5. In an act of great __, the narrator in "The Black 
Cat" gouges out the cat's eye.

_____6. After the Holocaust many German soldiers were put 
on trial for the __ they committed during the war.

_____7. Edgar Allen Poe incorporates supernatural beings 
like __, phantasms, and specters into his works.

_____8. I certainly hope that George W. Bush is more __ 
than he seems.  We need a wise president, not a foolish 
one.

_____9. While mopping her jail cell, Lenore recalled the __ 
days she'd spent with her children before her 
incarceration, and she smiled.

____10. Alex regretted his __ actions.  If he could only go 
back and change things, he would.

____11. Although it isn't considered unusual for a very 
young woman to marry a much older man, if the reverse 
occurs people consider it __.

____12. Robin Hood had no __ about robbing the rich.

____13. It was an act of __ when Macduff's young son stood 
up to Macbeth's henchmen in a vain attempt to stand up for 
his father.

____14. He wanted to become an actor but __ to parental 
pressure to become a lawyer instead.

____15. The irate customer called over his waiter to 
complain about the __ amount of food on his plate.  "This 
isn't a meal, it's an appetizer!" he vehemently stated.


Matching: Match the word to its definition.  There is one 
extra definition.

____16.   insufferable   a. to make (something) less strong

____17.   minute         b. very difficult to understand or 
                            know; not showing emotions
____18.   loathing       c. willingly doing what is not 
                            right or good
                         d. too grievous to bear; unable to
                            be borne
____19.   chimera        e. heinous crime

____20.   inscrutable    f. evil, low, mean

____21.   vile           g. grotesque; highly ornamental in 
                            an elaborate, grotesque manner

____22.   baroque        h. a deep-seated dislike or hatred

____23.   allay          i. Very small, tiny

____24.   atrocity       j. a mythological monster; a hope 
                            or dream unlikely to come true

____25.   perverse       k. obligatory