Mr. Holt wanted uniformity. (uniformity: consistency, sameness, regularity) His apples must have indistinguishable skins, interchangeable labels and comparable weights. (indistinguishable: undifferentiated, identical in appearance, identical; interchangeable: exchangeable, substitutable, equivalent; comparable: similar, analogous, corresponding) A slight deviation in color was grounds for rejection. (deviation: departure, divergence, variation) His helper found the criterion tedious but understood it. (criterion: standard, benchmark, measure; tedious: boring, tiresome, wearisome) The visitor who judged the pies had different priorities.
One basket held an aberrant apple with six pale ridges. (aberrant: anomalous, atypical, abnormal) Its atypical shape made it an anomaly. (atypical: unusual, untypical, anomalous; anomaly: aberration, irregularity, exception) Holt assumed that anything anomalous must also taste peculiar. (anomalous: atypical, abnormal, aberrant) He planned to consign it to the compost. (consign: entrust, commit, deliver) His helper asked to bake it into a pie. Being an outlier need not be a blight upon the orchard. (blight: scourge, curse, blemish)
The judge sampled slices from an array of numbered plates. (array: assortment, range, collection) She gave the ridged fruit first place, then asked to see the tree. There were only three apples left on it. Holt proposed making a hundred identical copies of the winner. The helper slipped the last apple into his pocket. "First taste this one," he said. "It's different again."