Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 13 - Day 4

Word List
  • surmise [sər mīz´]
    guess
    → “The commanding officer surmised that the other ship in the cove was a coaster.” Joseph Conrad, Tales of Hearsay
  • curtail [kėr tāl´]
    to cut short
    → “A court decision to a freeze on regulations to curtail cross-state pollution was unpopular.” “EPA’s Reduced Standards,” Newsday, 6/15/99
  • repress [ri pres´]
    to put down
    → “General McClellan repressed his feelings about President Lincoln but he expressed his private anger in letters to his wife.” David Herbert Donald, Lincoln
  • cryptic [krip´ tik]
    puzzling
    → “Ms. Bogart, an iconoclastic director known for her cryptic reworkings of everything, turns out to be an ideal interpreter for Gertrude Stein.” Ben Brantley, “Gertrude and Alice,” New York Times, 6/14/99
  • inchoate [in kō´ it]
    in an early stage
    → “The general plan is inchoate and incoherent and the particular treatments disconnected.” Hillary Corke, Global Economy

The chain reaction took place precisely as Enrico Fermi had surmised. After twenty-eight minutes he curtailed the experiment, giving the signal to replace the control rod. The normally reserved scientists, unable to repress their excitement, let out a tremendous cheer and gathered around Fermi to shake his hand. Although it was time to celebrate, some of the men remarked soberly that “the world would never be the same again.” On December 2, 1942, the news of Fermi’s achievement was relayed in a cryptic telephone message:

“The Italian Navigator has reached the New World.”
“And how did he find the natives?”
“Very friendly.”
The Atomic Age was inchoate—but truly here!

Sample Sentences Use the new words in the following sentences.

  1. Publication of the lurid* magazine was __________ by the district attorney.
  2. Although his remarks appeared __________ at first, we began to see how really pertinent* they were.
  3. I had to __________ my desire to interject* my criticism during the debate.
  4. Edna had __________ that she would be charged a nominal* sum and so she was outraged when she got the bill.
  5. The young couple was disappointed to see the __________ state of their new house.

Definitions Match the new words with their meanings.

  1. a. puzzling
  2. b. guess
  3. c. to put down
  4. d. to cut short
  5. e. in an early stage
  1. surmise __________
  2. curtail __________
  3. repress __________
  4. cryptic __________
  5. inchoate __________

Answer Key
to keep the pot boiling—to see that interest doesn’t die down
Dickens kept the pot boiling by ending each chapter on a note of uncertainty and suspense.

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