Since the criminal got his sentence reduced "from a year to six months in jail," we know that we're looking for a verb that means something like reduce. Because of this, "mitigate," which means lessen the severity of, is the best answer choice. (While "belittle" sounds like a likely answer, it doesn't actually mean to make smaller. Instead, it means cause someone to feel or appear unimportant or cause something to appear unimportant.)

Since Thomas cannot totally remove the injustice, he at least wishes to improve the situation and make it less burdensome for some people at least. When one “alleviates” something, he or she makes it less “heavy” or less severe. Often, we think of “alleviating suffering,” though the term can be used much more generally. The term literally means “[moving] toward a lighter state.” The “-lev-” portion comes from Latin roots meaning light (in weight) and can be found in English words like “levity” and “levitate.”

The key thing to note in this opposition is that Gina “lags” in mathematics and science, meaning that she “falls behind” the others. Therefore, the word that we need must capture the sense of “going or passing ahead of” the others (in music). The word “surpass” literally means to pass over. The prefix “sur-” means over or on top of, as is found in the English “surface,” which literally means the top face.

The key expression in this sentence is “did not suppress it completely.” Since the engine did not lose its operational capacity entirely, the best option will be one that expresses a “partial loss.” When something is “impaired,” it is made to be in a diminished state (though not totally extinguished).

The key phrases for this sentence is “political secrets.” The informant is not merely communicating to his listener. Even worse than that, he is giving out things that should be secret. Such an act is one of “divulging.” The word comes from the Latin root for “vulgar,” a word that originally meant the common people. When someone divulges something, he or she makes it known “to the masses” or “commonly” (as opposed to keeping it secret as was the case before the divulging).

We can infer from the sentence's context that we need to pick out a verb that describes something moving "back and forth in graceful waves." While "jolting" and "stumbling" might each refer to movement, the movements they describe are too jarring to be called "graceful waves." (Plus, a snake can't really "stumble" because snakes don't have legs.) "Undulating," however, is a verb that means "moving with a smooth wavelike motion," and because it best fits the context of the sentence, it is the correct answer.

The key phrase is “in the hopes of dissuading buyers from purchasing.” Since the city wishes to reduce purchasing, it is safe to think that it wishes likewise to reduce consumption. When something is “curtailed” it is reduced or restricted.            

We can infer that because the sentence discusses "the defendant's lawyer" who learns of "the ruling against his client" and prepares to "argue that the court had ruled against an innocent man," we need to pick out a verb that means something like "oppose," because we can see that the lawyer prepared to oppose the court's ruling against his client. "Support," then, cannot be the correct answer, because "support," when used as a verb, can mean "give approval, comfort, or encouragement to," making it an antonym of the verb for which we are looking. "Contest," however, is a word that when used as a verb, can mean "oppose (an action, decision, or theory) as mistaken or wrong" or "engage in dispute about." Because "contest" is the answer choice that best conveys how the lawyer prepared to oppose the court's decision, "contest" is the correct answer.

We can infer that we need to pick out a verb that can describe a coin bouncing off of "the metal sides of the well." "Thudded" might look like a potentially correct answer, but "thud" as a verb means "move, fall, or strike something with a dull, heavy sound," and because a coin would not make "a dull, heavy sound," "thudded" cannot be the correct answer. "Plink," however, is a word that when used as a verb, means "emit a short, sharp, metallic or ringing sound," and because "plink" best describes the noise a coin would make when bouncing off of the metal sides of a well, "plinked" is the correct answer.

The only thing implied by the sentence is that the man “turned away from” his influential work to the simpler form of life. It cannot be said that he necessarily despised it, and any talk of reduction does not capture the sense of “converting” from one lifestyle to another. The word “forsook” is the past form of “forsake,” meaning “to abandon.” This is the closest option for matching the sense of turning from one life to another.