Although it might be tempting to choose one of the words related to old age, such as “senile” or “downtrodden,” it is necessary to pay heed to the key words “force and authority.”  While “defenseless” may seem to contrast this, it doesn’t match the sense as well as “impotent,” which directly signifies a lack of power.   It is derived from the “in-” prefix that means “not” (in this case) and “potent,” which means “having strength or power.”  The latter is derived from the Latin for “to be able” as well as other words meaning “power.”  Related English words are “potency,” “possible,” “potential,” “omnipotent,” and “potentate.”

Although William’s body is likely to be weak and fainting, all that we are told in the sentence is that he needs to be rehydrated (that is, replenished with regard to fluids, particularly water).  In such a case, it would be most appropriate to say that a person is “desiccated,” meaning that he or she is lacking fluid.  The word comes from the Latin root for “dry,” but it has few recognizable related words in English.  The word can also be used to indicate that one lacks passion or energy.

Although the professor’s words are likely endless and perhaps even academic or scholarly, the sentence wishes to indicate that they were a string of lifeless sources, strung together.  If something is (literally) dried out, it is said to be desiccated.  By extension, the term “desiccated” is applied to anything that lacks “sap” or vitality, even human words.

Since the soap dries the skin as it does, it must contain some sort of drying agents.  The word “siccific” is a rare English word, but it has related parts that should make it somewhat easier to guess.  The suffix “-fic,” as well as the related “-fac” and “-fy”, are all found in many words and means “to do” or “to make.”  Think of words like “efficacious,” “defect,” “ramify,” “exemplify,” and many others. The “sicc-” portion of the word is derived from the Latin for “dry,” and is found in the word “desiccate,” meaning “to dry out.”  It is often used in the past participle form “desiccated,” meaning “dried out.”  The word “siccific,” therefore means “something that acts as a drying agent.”

A religion that posits a strict equivalence between God and the world is known as “pantheistic,” meaning “all-god.”  The prefix “pan-” means “all” and is found in words like “pantomime” and “panacea” (the latter meaning “all-healing”).  The “-theistic” portion of the word means “related to God or gods” and is related to words like “theology” and “atheist” (meaning “no-God”).

Here, the correct answer is a very rare form of the word, but there are hints present in the sentence itself.  The author feels that he received insufficient praise; therefore, if we can find a word that merely expresses sufficiency, it would be more appropriate than anything excessive.  (That is, while Andrea might have believed that she gave excessive praise, only to be surprised by the slighted artist, the sentence even more directly encourages us to look for a word that merely meets the opposition to “insufficient,” namely something implying “sufficiency.”)  The word “meet” means “appropriate” or “just.”  It is related to the word “mete,” which means “to deal out justice.”  The word “meet” is sometimes found in late-nineteenth-century English Christian hymns that attempt to find a rhyme for the title “Paraclete” (a title of the Holy Spirit in Christian theology).  Thus, such rhymes will talk about giving “praise that is ‘meet’” to the “Paraclete.” 

Although we might want to compound the negative adjectives describing this ruler (adding, for example, “raging” to “harsh”), the best option would be one that likewise captures the political element.  Likewise, we must be careful not to assume that such “harshness” is tied to fury or vexation.  Therefore, the term “despotic” is best.  It means to rule in a manner that is absolute and generally implies that such ruling is done in a cruel manner. 

Although we often think of “valediction” in terms of high school “valedictorians,” the expression has a first meaning from which the graduation term was taken.  In Latin, the expression “vale,” although meaning “be well,” was often used as a term for saying “goodbye.”  One who provides a “valediction,” is one who says words (or gives a sign) of saying “goodbye.”  The “-diction” portion of the word is related to other terms meaning “to say or speak” such as “dictation,” “predict,” and “contradict.”  The high school valedictorian is the person who “says goodbye” to and on behalf of the graduating class.

The key thing to note is that the drinks are being taken before the meal, so at most we can say that they are “preprandial,” a word meaning “before lunch (or a meal).” The word comes from the Latin for dinner, “prandium.” Obviously, the prefix “pre-” adds the temporal qualification “before.”

The most tempting answer here is likely “conservative,” but do not be tricked into that option. While someone who is conservative does hold to traditions more strongly than some people, strictly speaking, a conservative is not unwilling to reconsider customs. The best option is “hidebound,” which implies such unwillingness to change because of conventional mores. The word comes from a term used to describe cattle and other animals that have dry skin that sticks tightly to the internal tissue.