The implication in this sentence is that the house was in more disrepair than even many other deteriorating houses in town. The best word to match this sense is “dilapidated,” which means “falling apart due to age or lack of care.” It is derived from the prefix “di-” meaning “apart or down from” and the Latin word for stone, “lapis.” The stone lapis lazuli is so named because it is the stone (lapis) from the place in Persia (now Iran) that was Latinized as Lazulus.

The important thing to note in this sentence is that, in his experiment at least, the physicist is unconcerned with the question of the soul’s immortality. The question could be said to be “outside” of his concerns or irrelevant for his considerations. When something is called “extraneous” it is being described as being thus unrelated. The word comes from the Latin for “external” or “foreign.”

As the young men avoid her, the elderly woman obviously dislikes modern dating habits, which rules out “approving” and “laudatory” as possible correct answers. Similarly, the young men’s unwillingness to talk indicates she was not “inquisitive,” or "curious." “Censorious,” meaning stern and critical, is the only possible correct answer.

The contrast here is between obscurity and clarity. When something or someone is “lucid,” he or she is able to express ideas or thoughts in a clear manner. The word actually comes from base words for “light,” which are found in English relatives like “lucent,” “translucent,” and even “Lucifer” (the so-called “light bearing angel” who later fell from grace, according to Christian tradition).

Since we know from the sentence's context that Chelsea's sister talks a lot, we're looking for an adjective that has to do with speech, and specifically means "talkative." While "garbled" has to do with speech and messages, it means distorted and refers to speech itself, not the people who speak. Since "garrulous" means talkative, it is the correct answer.

The sentence calls for a word that describes the type of movements of a trapeze artist, specifically the ability to walk a tight rope or fly through the air. The word that most closely fits this description would be “nimble.”

We can infer that because Jason's creative writing piece was full of overused sayings, we need to pick out a word that means something like "overused" to describe those sayings. Neither "authentic" nor "novel" will do, because each of those words is an antonym to "overused." "Trite" is an adjective that is used of a remark, opinion, or idea and means "overused and consequently of little import; lacking originality or freshness," and because it is the answer choice that best suits the sentence's context, "trite" is the correct answer.

The key expression here is “having little real content.” The words were therefore empty or “vacuous,” a word with clearly related terms like “vacuum” and “vacuity.”

Since no one knows who wrote the story, we're looking for an adverb that describes something done in a way so as to have one's identity remain secret. While "anomalously" and "anonymously" sound extremely similar, they have very different meanings: "anomalously" means "done in a way that deviates from expectations or norms" and "anonymously" means "done in a way that does not identify someone by name." So, "anonymously" is the best answer choice.

From context, you can tell that the underlined word must mean something like important or crucial. This should lead to the correct answer, which is “imperative.” “Imperative” means necessary. As for the other answer choices, “senseless” means without sense or pointless; “approachable” means friendly-looking and able to be approached; someone who is “opportunistic” seizes and takes advantage of opportunities; and “deleterious” means hurtful or harmful.