An “ignominy” is shame, disgrace, or humiliation, so because he suffered one final “ignominy” after death, we can infer that his tomb must have been “desecrated,” which means defiled, disrespected, or dishonored. “Absolved” means forgiven or removed blame from; “vitalized” means gave strength and energy to; and “secured” means fixed so something can’t be moved or assured the protection of.

One would assume that a golfer would lose first place in a tournament if he messed up, so the correct answer must refer to a loss or stoppage in concentration. The correct answer is therefore “lapse,” which means brief but unwanted pause in focus. You may have heard of the phrase "lapse in judgment" before—you can see now that it refers to a decision someone made when they were not judging the situation very well, or in other words, a bad decision in a situation where they were expected to make a good one and perhaps had before. If the golfer had had either an "improvement" or an "increase" in concentration, it's unlikely that this would have led to his losing first place in the tournament, so neither of those answer choices can be correct.

After the semicolon, it is revealed that the climate is raining one minute, and very hot (“sweltering”) the next minute. When something is very changeable, it is called “capricious.” “Bleak” means desolate or offering little hope of success; “frigid” means extremely cold; “immaculate” means perfect or spotlessly clean; and “congruous” means consistent with something else.

From the way this sentence is structured, you know that the underlined word must mean something like characteristic or personality, so the correct answer is “disposition.” “Circumvention” is an act of bypassing something; “homeliness” is the lacking of style or elegance; “magnificence” is greatness or brilliance; “refinement” is the process of making something pure or a personality trait of finesse and sophistication.

The subject’s appearance made her seem heavenly and as if she did not belong in this world to those who beheld her. This should lead you to the correct answer, “ethereal,” which means dainty in a way that seems unreal. As for the other answer choices, “suspicious” means doubtful or dubious; “blissful” means happy, peaceful, and content; “disfavored” means not favored or disliked; and “immortal” means not mortal and therefore incapable of dying.

It makes sense that the suspension of the best player would spoil the feel of the victory for the team, so the correct answer is “marred.” “Marred” means spoiled, ruined the appearance of, or negatively impacted. As for the other answer choices, “tenured” means gave a permanent job to; “eased” means made easier; "improved" means made better; and "hastened" means sped up.

The key here is to pay heed to the description “burden” in the subordinate clause. The word we are searching for will best match that notion. While a burdensome task might be "remarkable" or "outstanding" (or even perhaps the other more negative choices), it most definitely is “onerous,” which means excessively burdensome. (This is further supported by the adjective “greatest” describing the perceived burden.)

The word “onerous” is derived from the Latin "onus," which means burden or load. Our English is derived from a form of the word that has the base “oner-.”

The necessary word describes a strengthening of the activity of standing. (The key to this interpretation is the phrase “but also”); therefore, the best fit is “ambulatory,” which means able to walk.

It is derived from the Latin "ambulare," to walk, which has derivatives not only in words like "ambulate" but likewise in the more familiar “ambulance,” which is indirectly derived from the Latin via a French expression for a type of moving (in a broad sense, "ambulating") field hospital.

Frederick’s frustration with the unmerited members of government and society imply that he wishes for the country to be ruled by those who have talent and ability. While we generally think of “aristocracy” as being rule by titled nobility. While this is often the usage, more generally, the term means rule by the noble in the more fundamental sense of “noble” (i.e. as being truly excellent). The “aristo-” portion of the word is derived from the Greek for “best.”

All of the answer choices are a type of speech, but the contrast in the sentence with "motivational tools" and the adjective "nasty" leads to an answer choice with a negative tone. "Harangues," which indicates loud, aggressive attacks, fits the rest of the sentence best in context.