Because the girl being discussed in the sentence tried "to bully her sister into doing her chores," the best word choice for the blank is "chastised," which means reprimanded. The girl's parents would likely reprimand her for such an action. None of the other answer choices makes sense in the blank: "affirm" means confirm; "defy" means reject the authority of or go against; "repress" means stifle; and "qualify" means add additional information to a statement in order to make it seem less sure or absolute.

The best hint for this sentence is the participial clause "leading to many disagreements among fighting parties." Perhaps the two tempting wrong answers are "ignore" and "overcome." Certainly, if members of the family begin to ignore the will's interpretation, this could cause disagreements—indeed, is likely to cause them. "Overcome" would be a bit odd in this sentence. We might overcome an opponent; rarely do we say that we overcome an interpretation of a will or another legal document. The word "contest" can be used as a verb in addition to its more regular noun form. As a verb, it means oppose.

The author tells us that the gender gap between men and women is massive and that we need to correct this imbalance. The best answer choice is “equalize,” which means to make equal. To provide further help, “implicate” means get into trouble; “detonate” means set off an explosion; “calculate” means work out the answer; “demoralize” means take confidence away from.

Since the sentence is talking about the Civil War, we can infer that the states who felt the government was working against them would want to break away from or leave the Union. This means the correct answer is “secede,” which means to separate from and become independent. To provide further help, “recall” means call back or remember; “receive” means to get; “surmount” means to defeat, to overcome; “declare” means announce. 

The fact that the family had to go home early implies that they had to shorten their vacation. The word that means the same as shorten is "curtail."

The man faked an illness so that he could receive benefits, which is the definition of "malingering." "Lucid" means unclear, "skeptical" means questioning the truth of something, and "meticulous" means paying close attention to detail. 

The sentence suggests that the president was asked to formally name and choose an individual to the Supreme Court. The correct answer is “nominate.” The prefix "nom-" often means related to names. To provide further help, “expedite” means speed up; “mitigate” means lessen, allay, calm; “retract” means take back; “remonstrate” means argue with. 

The best answer choice is one that means entered; therefore, the most fitting choice is that sunlight "filtered" or poured through the window. The other answer choices mean the following: "merge" is to connect; "fuse" is to attach; "retreat" is to move away from; and "infiltrate" is to invade space.

The parents were probably trying to stress the importance of schoolwork in their children and therefore were trying to "instill" or implant the importance of education. To "denote" is to mark; to "entrust" is to trust with something; to "commend" is to praise; and to "distill" is to purify.

Based on the child’s behavior and her mother’s frustration, we can infer that the mother would scream at her child to stop, or “desist.” To provide further help, “commence” means begin; “instigate” means bring about; “activate” means turn on; “originate” means comes from.