We can infer that because the mayor "[paid] for [the senator's] expensive meal," he was attempting to gain favor with the senator. So, we need to pick out an answer choice that means something like "gain" and can refer to favor. "Lose," then, cannot be the correct answer because "lose" means the opposite of the word we're looking for, and the mayor clearly wasn't trying to lose the senator's favor by paying for his meal. "Curry," however, when used as a verb in the phrase "curry favor," means "ingratiate oneself with someone through obsequious behavior," and because it best describes the mayor's behavior, "curry" is the correct answer.

"Venerate" means to revere, respect, or give praise to. "Engender" means to cause something to happen. "Mitigate" means to lessen or diminish. "Rarefy" means to thin or make weaker. "Occlude" means to block or prevent.

The implication in this sentence is that the scent of the books remained for many years after their removal. There is nothing mentioned concerning the quality of the smell or about it being transported into the room. The word “linger” in general means “to remain for a long time.” It is related to the family of words connected to “long,” here in the sense of “staying for a long time.”

The trap answers to this question are “condemned” and “criticized,” for the reader might think that Gina’s friends made some official judgment on her crass manners. Instead, the key phrase is “they did not wish to be associated.” Therefore, they must have acted so as to exclude Gina from their group. When someone is “ostracized,” he or she is excluded from society. The word comes from the name of the hard material on which Greeks would write their decisions to banish someone from society (thus ostracizing them).

Since the sentence states that the principle did his action “in order to prevent” the damages from gum, it is safe to say that he did not merely consider the permission or even “scrutinize” (look carefully at) it. The sense conveyed is that he no longer allowed this permitted act. When someone “revokes” something, he or she literally “calls it back.” The word comes from the prefix “re-”, here used in the sense of “back,” and the “-voke” portion, which means “to call or name.” The latter is found in words like “invoke,” “invocation,” and “provoke.”

Although one might say that Bob is stealing from his parents, the sentence only uses language of using without payment. When someone relies upon another party without giving anything in return, such a person is often called a “leech” from the name for the small worm that often lives by sucking fluid from a host organism. This is what Bob is doing, at least with regard to his parents’ housing, utilities, and food.

"Incite" means to provoke or agitate. "Foster" means to promote or support. "Disdain" means to scorn or despise. "Placate" means to soothe or pacify. "Nullify" means to cancel or revoke.

The contrast in this sentence is between an even temper and something that is “greatly” different to it. When someone is “infuriated,” he or she is extremely angered. The word has an obvious relationship to the English “fury,” which is an extreme form of anger. To be “infuriated” literally means “to be led into extreme anger.”

Although Joseph might be said to have to oversee, study, or review the emails, note that he has to “amend (i.e. change) any remotely offensive wordings;” therefore, his task is more than mere “review” or “perusing.” Instead, he must censor the contents. While we often think of censoring as “bleeping” out offensive words on television, it more broadly means the process of removing anything offensive before something enters the public forum.

The key expression in this sentence is “rarely received any inflow or outflow.” Since the pond had little movement of water, it could be said to “stagnate,” which means having no flow (either of a body of water or air). It comes from the Latin for “pool” in the sense of a “still” body of water.