We need to pick out an answer choice that means something like "influential" or "persuasive" because the sentence tells us that the judge is agreeing with the lawyer's argument. So, "compelling," an adjective that means persuasive or unable to be proven false, is the correct answer choice because it best fits the sentence's context. None of the other answer choices would make sense in the blank space: "lackluster" means dull or boring; "incorrect" means false; and "weary" means tired.

Because the author was still hungry after dinner, we can assume that he must have been given too little or not enough food. A word that means not enough, too little, tiny is “paltry.” To provide further help, “excessive” means too much; the other three answer choices, “gigantic,” “colossal,” and “massive,” are synonyms and all mean very big. 

The context of the sentence suggests that the author’s boyfriend focuses on meaningless or silly issues. This means the correct answer is “petty,” which means trivial or insignificant. To provide further help, to “repent” means to apologize for or to work for forgiveness; “significant” means important, noteworthy; “remarkable” means extraordinary.

Since the sentence is structured to compare those who believe in global warming and those who do not, the blank word must mean something like irrefutable, obvious. The correct answer is therefore “blatant,” which means obvious, not concealed. To provide further help, “baloney” and “drivel” are synonyms that both describe verbal nonsense; “hybrid” means a combination of two or more things; “anonymous” means unknown.

In this sentence, the best answer choice is one that describes the weather as not normal or strange. The best answer choice is "peculiar," which means strange. None of the other answer choices make sense in the blank: "paltry" means small and refers to quantities; "prominent" means important; "ravenous" means starving or very hungry; and "inept" means not having any skill.

In this sentence, we are looking for an answer choice that explains the effect of eating too much sugar on someone's health. The only answer choice that makes sense is "detrimental," which means harmful. None of the other answer choices make sense in the blank: "feeble" means weak; "moral" means honest; "solitary" means alone; and "thrifty" means not wanting to spend a lot of money.

The word that best fits this answer choice describes the farming area that the sentence's subject likes to live in. The best answer choice is "rural," which means having to do with the country as opposed to the city. None of the other answer choices make sense in the blank: "urban" means having to do with cities as opposed to the country; "prominent" means obvious or important; "egregious" means surprisingly terrible; and "mountainous" means full of mountains.

The answer choice for this sentence needs to explain why anyone who drank the river water could get sick. The answer choice that makes the most sense is "toxic," which means poisonous. None of the other answer choices make sense in the blank: "captivating" means interesting; "tentative" means unsure; "oblivious" means completely unaware of something; and "mediocre" means so-so or of average quality when higher quality was expected.

The context of the sentence describes how some people come from a “fortunate” background with many “advantages,” and other people do not. Those people who do not could be said to be “disadvantaged.” The prefix "dis-" is a negative prefix; it causes a word to mean the opposite of its root word, so “disadvantaged” is the opposite of “advantaged.” None of the other answer choices make sense in the blank: “beneficial” means helpful; “benevolent” means good-natured; “benign” means harmless; and “despised” means hated. (The prefix "ben-" means good.)

When the weather is wet and cloudy, we call the conditions “overcast.” None of the other answer choices make sense in the blank: “stifling” means very hot; “frigid” means very cold; and “lukewarm” means of a middling temperature, often not as hot as one would like. "Lukewarm" often refers to the temperature of liquids or beverages; for instance, one might call a cup of coffee or tea that has slightly cooled off since it was prepared or served "lukewarm."