The new workshop opened with an auspicious announcement, but the committee had forgotten to order tables for the first class. (auspicious: promising, favorable, propitious) Its chairman adopted a cavalier manner when the volunteers asked where forty people were supposed to sit. (cavalier: dismissive, high-handed, offhand) Mara, the carpenter, noticed a disparity between the money spent on signs and the money reserved for tools. (disparity: inequality, imbalance, difference) She requested an impartial review before anyone bought another gold-framed portrait of the chairman. (impartial: unbiased, fair, neutral)
The official plan was pretentious, promising a magnificent academy while offering only one blunt pencil. (pretentious: showy, affected, ostentatious) A precarious shelf held the application forms, and every arriving student made the shelf lean farther toward the door. (precarious: unstable, insecure, shaky) The chairman called these problems an aberration, although the same shelf had collapsed at the previous meeting. (aberration: anomaly, irregularity, deviation) Mara refused to remain acquiescent when another volunteer was blamed for the missing equipment. (acquiescent: yielding, compliant, submissive)
She proposed a pragmatic arrangement: borrow tables, repair the shelf, and teach one useful skill before making new promises. (pragmatic: practical, realistic, workable) Her explicit instructions left no uncertainty about who would collect the wood or unlock the building. (explicit: clear, definite, unambiguous) An analogous workshop across town had begun with borrowed tools, so modest surroundings did not trouble her. (analogous: comparable, similar, parallel) The committee could ameliorate the situation without pretending that every inconvenience had already disappeared. (ameliorate: improve, better, alleviate)
A perfunctory inspection of the cupboard revealed paintbrushes carefully stored beside a notice declaring that supplies were unavailable. (perfunctory: cursory, superficial, unenthusiastic) The caretaker tried to rationalize this contradiction by saying that the notice had been written during a less fortunate period. (rationalize: justify, explain away, make excuses for) Mara asked him to reconcile the list with the actual contents, which required counting rather than another discussion of appearances. (reconcile: resolve, bring into agreement, make consistent) The resulting clarity allowed a newcomer to begin painting without first interviewing three officials about the meaning of available. (clarity: lucidity, clearness, intelligibility)
An insipid exchange about who deserved credit threatened to interrupt the work until the baker arrived carrying food. (insipid: dull, bland, uninteresting) He offered an unorthodox suggestion: put everyone's name on the finished shelf rather than reserve the largest lettering for the person who had announced it. (unorthodox: unconventional, unusual, nontraditional) The group found this equitable arrangement easy to accept because it reflected contributions they had actually seen. (equitable: fair, just, impartial) Mara chose to curtail the debate before anyone designed a separate committee to determine the size of the letters. (curtail: limit, shorten, reduce)
By afternoon, an incessant argument over the color of the curtains had given way to the sound of saws. (incessant: ceaseless, unremitting, constant) Even the chairman became amenable to suggestions when someone offered to build him a chair instead of another portrait. (amenable: receptive, agreeable, open) The first student produced a rudimentary box, and everyone admired its straight edges more than the elaborate announcement. (rudimentary: basic, elementary, simple) For Mara, that small achievement was the antithesis of an empty promise: a useful object that existed outside a speech. (antithesis: opposite, reverse, contrary)