Assignment for further discrimination:  leer, view, survey, inspect, regard, watch, contemplate.

Sentences: The inspecting officer ____ the men’s equipment.  The
student ____ his lessons carefully.  At this unexpected proposal Dobbett
merely ____.  Jimmie ____ at the fellow who had kicked the pup.  The
inquisitive maid ____ into all the the closets.  He ____ over his fallen
adversary.  The bookkeeper ____ over his ledger.  In the darkened hallway he
____ at the notices on the bulletin board.  “The poet’s eye, in a fine
frenzy rolling, Doth ____ from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.” 
From the way her father ____ the foolish, young man should have known it
was time to go.  He ____ long and lovingly upon the scenes he was leaving. 
The newcomer ____ insolently at his host and ____ the young ladies.

Abandon, desert, forsake.

Abandon denotes absolute giving up, as from force of circumstances or shirking of responsibility. Desert refers to leaving or quitting in violation of obligation, duty, or oath. Forsake, which may involve no culpability, usually implies a breaking off of intimate association or attachment.

Sentences:  The sailor ____ his ship.  Necessity compelled him to
____ his friends in a time of sore trouble.  They hated to ____ their old
haunts.  A brave man never ____ hope.  An unscrupulous man will ____ his
principles when it is to his advantage.  “When my father and my mother ____
me, then the Lord will take me up.”  We ____ our attempt to save the ship.

Abase, debase, degrade, humble, humiliate, disgrace.

To abase is to bring down so that the victim feels himself lowered in estate or external condition.  To debase is to produce a marked decline in actual worth or in moral quality.  To degrade is to lower in rank or status.  To humble is to lower in dignity or self-esteem, or as used reflexively, to restrain one’s own pride; the word often implies that the person has been over-proud or arrogant.  To humiliate is to deprive of self-esteem or to bring into ignominy.  To disgrace is to bring actual shame upon.

Sentences:  They ____ the guilty officer from captain to lieutenant. 
A man should ____ himself before God.  He had so ____ himself that I no
longer expected good of him.  His detection at cheating had ____ him before
the students.  By successive overlords they had been ____ into a condition
of serfdom.  The aristocratic old lady was ____ by her loss of social
position.  The conversion of so much bullion into money had ____ the
coinage.

Answer, reply, response, rejoinder, retort, repartee.