Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 14 - Day 3

Word List
  • lethal [lē´ thəl]
    deadly
    → “By evening we couldn’t even get any more people indoors where they would have had some protection from the lethal fallout.” Florence Moog, “The Bombing of St. Louis”
  • scurry [skėr´ ē]
    run hastily
    → “Some small night-bird, flitting noiselessly near the ground on its soft wings, almost flapped against me, only to scurry away in alarm.” Ivan Turgenev, “Bezhin Meadows”
  • incisive [in sī´ siv]
    acute
    → “Your hands are keen, your mind incisive, your sensitivity deep, your vision well honed.” Thomas A. Dooley, “To a Young Doctor”
  • precipitate [pri sip´ ə tāt]
    hasten
    → “The weight of a finger might precipitate the tragedy, hurl him at once into the dim, gray unknown.” Stephen Crane, “An Episode of War”
  • stereotype [ster´ e ə tīp´]
    unvarying pattern
    → “Treating the most respected leader in the land that way confirms the worst stereotypes and that really hurts us.” Alessandra Stanley, “Asking a Favor of the Pope,” New York Times, 6/12/99

Men all around Miller were succumbing* to the lethal spray of Japanese bullets. He dragged his captain to safety and turned back to see that the machine-gunner had been killed. Dorie took the big gun and trained it on the incoming bombers. Within the space of ten minutes he was credited with destroying four bombers while dodging the bullets of their fighter escorts. The enemy scurried away, having struck the incisive blow that precipitated U.S. entrance into World War II. Amidst the dead bodies and the ruined fleet were the heroes such as Dorie Miller. The Navy had told him that he did not have to fight but he hadn’t listened. The Navy had attempted to stereotype him, but Dorie changed all that.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in the proper blanks.

  1. Our editor castigated* the proposal with his __________ commentary.
  2. Poe’s hero watched the rats __________ across his inert* body.
  3. The jockey received a __________ kick from the fractious* horse.
  4. A quarrel was __________ among the relatives after they heard the terms of the reprehensible* will.
  5. The laconic* Clint Eastwood was a __________ of the strong, silent Western hero.

Definitions Match the new words with their meanings.

  1. a. acute
  2. b. run hastily
  3. c. unvarying pattern
  4. d. deadly
  5. e. hasten
  1. lethal __________
  2. scurry __________
  3. incisive __________
  4. precipitate __________
  5. stereotype __________

Answer Key
to gild the lily—to praise extravagantly
There was no need for the announcer to gild the lily because we could see how beautiful the model was.

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