Jumbo shrimp is an oxymoron. (oxymoron: contradictory pairing, combination of opposing terms, paradoxical expression)
The library's new notices had remarkable perspicuity only in the opinion of the official who had written them. (perspicuity: clarity, lucidity, intelligibility) Everyone else found the borrowing rules nebulous, particularly the instruction to return books at an appropriate future juncture. (nebulous: vague, indistinct, unclear) A petulant visitor demanded to know whether Tuesday counted as appropriate or merely as future. (petulant: irritable, peevish, sulky) The librarian offered a pragmatic answer by printing an actual date on the receipt. (pragmatic: practical, realistic, workable)
An obsequious assistant praised the original notices until he was asked to use them to find the reading room. (obsequious: fawning, servile, sycophantic) A conspicuous arrow then solved a problem that three paragraphs of formal language had failed to resolve. (conspicuous: obvious, noticeable, prominent) The librarian did not obfuscate the reason for replacing the notices: people could not follow them. (obfuscate: obscure, confuse, cloud) She considered the old wording an impediment rather than a monument that future generations were required to admire. (impediment: obstacle, hindrance, barrier)
A meticulous volunteer tested each new sign by asking someone unfamiliar with the building to follow it. (meticulous: careful, painstaking, thorough) Her discerning questions uncovered a staircase marked both up and elsewhere, depending on which end one approached. (discerning: perceptive, insightful, astute) The official became less ostentatious when he discovered that the simplest sign received the most appreciative comments. (ostentatious: showy, pretentious, flamboyant) His praise was still not lavish, but he stopped describing clear language as an unfortunate concession to ordinary people. (lavish: abundant, profuse, generous)
The official issued an ostensible apology that initially sounded more like an explanation of why the visitors ought to have tried harder. (ostensible: apparent, professed, purported) The librarian asked him to construe the word help from the perspective of someone entering the building for the first time. (construe: interpret, understand, take to mean) A pertinent question about the return slot exposed another notice that explained the slot's history but not its location. (pertinent: relevant, germane, applicable) A judicious revision kept the history in a small display and put the location on the actual sign. (judicious: prudent, sensible, thoughtful)
The official's noncommittal response softened when a visitor thanked him for the improvement without mentioning the earlier confusion. (noncommittal: undecided, uncommitted, equivocal) He found a plethora of decorative words in his next draft and removed those that did not clarify the instruction. (plethora: overabundance, profusion, excess) The librarian was meticulous about preserving distinctions that mattered, including different return dates for different kinds of loans. (meticulous: careful, painstaking, exacting) Their lucid language simplified the explanation without pretending that every rule or circumstance was identical. (lucid: clear, intelligible, understandable)
An opportune school visit supplied a new group of readers who had not learned their way around the old notices. (opportune: timely, favorable, well-chosen) Their candid questions became part of the next revision rather than evidence that the children lacked the proper appreciation of formal prose. (candid: frank, open, straightforward)
The library acquired a congenial atmosphere without changing its furniture or buying a single ceremonial pen. (congenial: pleasant, welcoming, agreeable) A child's lucid drawing showed how the main rooms connected and revealed a cupboard everyone had mistaken for a hallway. (lucid: clear, understandable, coherent) The librarian preserved the old notices as a cautionary exhibit about the difference between sounding important and being understood. (cautionary: warning, admonitory, caution-giving) Its final label was deliberately explicit: complicated language is not always complicated thought, and a useful direction should lead somewhere. (explicit: clear, definite, unambiguous)