Question: brackish

Answer: To our dismay, we discovered that the water we had worked so hard to bring to the surface was too ______ for human consumption.

Question: accost

Answer: As an employee of the local polling service last summer, it was my job to ______ people on the street and ask their opinions.

Question: maelstrom

Answer: Many a rich southern planter saw all his or her financial resources swallowed up in the ______ of the Civil War.

Question: summarily

Answer: After the prisoner had been found guilty of treason, he was led before a firing squad and ______ executed.

Question: animadversion

Answer: Saying that “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” is not an effective response to their ______ on your conduct.

Question: undulate

Answer: During the rainy season, the highway sank at so many points that its surface began to ______ like the track for a rollercoaster.

Question: suppliant

Answer: I stand before you an abject ______, hoping against hope for a sign of your forgiveness.

Question: avid

Answer: My brother is such a(n) ______ collector of toy soldiers that I sometimes think our house has been invaded by a pint-sized army.

Question: pejorative

Answer: The suffix -ling often as a(n) connotation, as in the word “princeling,” derived from “prince.”

Question: devious

Answer: On the return trip, we cut straight across the meadows rather than take the more ______ path along the river.