10WordsQStudy guides › Level 10 · Wordsmith
Shades of meaning
💡 The idea
Words that mean “about the same” differ in strength. Picture a volume knob: displeased is turned low, furious is turned all the way up. Choosing the right strength makes writing precise.
🪜 The steps
- Read the question: does it want the mildest or the strongest?
- For the strongest, look for the word that goes furthest: the one for an extreme.
- For the mildest, look for the word that says the least: the one for a small feeling.
Handy word sets
| Mildest | Strongest | The set |
|---|---|---|
| content | ecstatic | content, happy, delighted, ecstatic |
| uneasy | terrified | uneasy, nervous, frightened, terrified |
| small | microscopic | small, tiny, minuscule, microscopic |
| cool | freezing | cool, chilly, cold, freezing |
| poor | atrocious | poor, bad, awful, atrocious |
| concerned | panicked | concerned, worried, anxious, panicked |
⚠️ Watch out
- Only the two ends count. Words in the middle can swap places depending on who is talking (is anxious stronger than worried?), so the questions never ask about them.
- Read the question: strongest or mildest?
🎯 Try these
- Mildest: chilly · cool · freezing · cold
- Strongest: devastated · sad · down · miserable
Answers: 1) cool 2) devastated
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