The storm finally abated. (abated: subsided, diminished, moderated)
The visitor brought a verbose speech to the lighthouse and planned to deliver it while the keeper checked the lamps. (verbose: wordy, long-winded, prolix) A virulent quarrel among the visiting club members had already made the boat ride unpleasant. (virulent: bitter, fiercely hostile, venomous) The keeper offered a tacit invitation to stop arguing by pouring tea and pointing to the approaching rain. (tacit: unspoken, implicit, understood) His phlegmatic manner did not mean he was unaware of the wind pushing against the windows. (phlegmatic: calm, unexcitable, impassive)
He requested a concise message for the harbor: the light was working, the door was secure, and everyone was inside. (concise: brief, succinct, terse) A tentative suggestion to inspect the roof was postponed until the ladder could stand without shaking. (tentative: provisional, uncertain, preliminary) The wind began to abate, and the visitor finally understood why the keeper had refused a dramatic midnight climb. (abate: subside, diminish, lessen) Their viable plan was to wait, inspect the damage in daylight, and avoid creating a second problem while handling the first. (viable: workable, feasible, practical)
The visitor had mistaken reticence for a lack of interest, although the keeper was listening carefully while checking the equipment. (reticence: reserve, restraint, reluctance to speak) His equivocal report of a broken lamp became clear when he identified which window he had actually been looking through. (equivocal: ambiguous, uncertain, inconclusive) The keeper could validate the lamp's operation directly instead of arguing about the visitor's confidence. (validate: confirm, verify, substantiate) Their tacit agreement was to distinguish a useful warning from a conclusion that had not yet been checked. (tacit: implicit, unspoken, understood)
A vicarious excitement remained in the visitor's account of the storm even though he had spent its strongest hour indoors. (vicarious: secondhand, indirect, experienced through another) The keeper found that account plausible once the visitor stopped describing precautions as proof that nothing interesting had happened. (plausible: believable, credible, convincing)
The visitor felt undaunted rather than embarrassed when asked to carry the tools instead of deliver his prepared address. (undaunted: unafraid, undismayed, resolute) His companions reached a unanimous decision that the speech could wait until the boat returned home. (unanimous: united, undivided, fully agreed) The keeper's unassuming competence had impressed them more than a declaration of fearlessness would have done. (unassuming: modest, unpretentious, self-effacing) The visitor left with a salient lesson: a useful sentence can be short enough to remember when the weather grows loud. (salient: notable, prominent, striking)