C-Suite Vocabulary — Set 1: In Context flashcards
10 of 34 cards free to study here · 10 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys
Fill the blank: 34 of the Set 1 words, each in a fresh sentence from boardrooms, offsites and negotiations whose clues point to one word (where a second also fits, the back says so), with the deciding clue and the tempting rival explained.
Learn deck · part of C-Suite Vocabulary · written against: The precise words of senior leadership: board, strategy and negotiation; extends the Willys app's Executive Register list; our own word selection. Updated 2026-10-10.
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Harlan Freight's chair refused to answer on the spot; after a month of site visits she gave her ______ opinion on the rail sale: no, at least at this price, with her reasons to follow.consideredJudgment & Prudence
Her answer waited on a month of site visits instead of coming on the spot, which makes it a considered opinion. Its reasons are still to come, so it is not yet reasoned; "at least at this price" leaves it open, so it is not definitive; and measured also fits, since it can describe a judgment weighed with care, not only a calm tone.
Also right: measured -
Ostrander Air's expansion plan starts from one ______ nobody has questioned, that its pilots will accept a two-year pay freeze; take it away, and every later slide in the deck collapses.premiseArgument & Evidence
That the pilots will accept the pay freeze is the one assumption the whole plan stands or falls on, which makes it the plan's premise. A conjecture is offered as a guess; this idea is treated as given. -
On a high street where six banks sell near-identical accounts, Corran Savings set out to ______ itself by turning its branches into cafés with a teller in the corner.differentiatePrecision & Nuance
Setting a business apart from rivals that sell much the same thing is to differentiate it. Delineate sets out precise boundaries; it does not set a company apart. -
Until she sees a working prototype and a signed order, the head of Vanterra's venture fund will stay ______ of the start-up's claim that its battery charges in ninety seconds, though she trusts the founders and suspects no trick.skepticalCertainty & Doubt
Doubting a claim until shown proof is skeptical. Wary means on the lookout for tricks or trouble, and she suspects none; dubious, said of a person, means unsure and hesitant, not demanding evidence. -
Only two forklift near misses so far, both at one depot, but the review traced them to the bonus scheme every warehouse runs on, which pays for speed and nothing for care; the risk, it said, is ______.systemicScale & Consequence
A risk built into how the whole operation is set up is systemic. With two incidents at one depot, the problem has not spread far enough to be endemic; the cause lies in the system itself.
Also right: pervasive -
The founder's return as chief executive did not bring growth back, but it did ______ the decline: after six straight quarters of falling sales, the numbers finally held flat.arrestChange & Trajectory
Stopping a decline so the numbers hold flat is to arrest it. Curb and curtail only rein in or shorten something; they do not bring it to a halt. -
The draft for analysts said margins would rise next year; the CFO asked her team to ______ the claim by adding "if steel prices hold" before it went out.qualifyConcession & Diplomacy
Limiting a statement by adding a condition is to qualify it. Caveat is mostly a noun, the warning itself; its use as a verb for hedging a claim is informal, but it fits here.
Also right: caveat -
Morland's notice to staff said the chief executive would "step back from operations," an accidentally ______ phrase: half the staff read it as retirement, the other half as a long holiday.ambiguousVagueness & Weak Thinking
A phrase with two possible readings is ambiguous. Nebulous means vague, not two-sided.
Also right: equivocal -
For years the help desk's wait times were a chronic, well-known grumble; since the new app launched, the problem has become ______: three-hour waits every Monday, though nothing worse than bad reviews is at stake.acuteForce & Obligation
The opposite of chronic, a problem now at its sharpest, is acute. Dire means threatening disaster, and only reviews are at stake; the problem was well known for years, so it has not just become palpable. -
A sand timer on the boardroom table, turned over whenever a regional head stood up, did more than any memo to ______ their urge to read every slide aloud.curbScope & Restraint
Keeping an urge the meeting could do without on a short leash is to curb it. Curtail cuts back an amount or shortens something, not an impulse; attenuate weakens a force or effect, and the timer held the urge in check rather than weakening it.
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About these cards
Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Senses, parts of speech and pronunciations checked against Merriam-Webster.com, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford Learner's, Longman and Cambridge learner's dictionaries; all definitions, notes and example sentences are original.
- Includes and extends the Executive Register word list first published with the Willys app; word selection is our own.
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