Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 15 - Day 1

Word List
  • complicity [kəm plis´ ə tē]
    partnership in wrongdoing
    → “After 1945, Hitler’s Germans replaced complicity with denial.” Lance Morrow, “Done in the Name of Evil,” TIME, 6/14/99
  • liquidation [lik´ wə dā´ shən]
    disposal of, killing
    → “Hiding the forty-six comrades who were scheduled for liquidation became much easier.” David Hackett, The Buchenwald Report
  • accomplice [ə kom´ plis]
    an associate in crime
    → “His chief accomplice was Democratic boss John Dingell, who sold out his party in the dark of night.” Maureen Dowd, “The God Squad,” New York Times, 6/20/99
  • recant [ri kant´]
    withdraw previous statements
    → “The government’s key witness in the case recanted her testimony, claiming she had been intimidated by prosecutors.” Rob Polner, “Set Back for Prosecutors,” New York Post, 6/23/99
  • culpable [kul´ pə bəl]
    deserving blame
    → “When the jury found Stacy culpable, she collapsed in a state of shock.” Eloise R. Baxter, “Judgment Day”

In 1960, a young Chicagoan, Danny Escobedo, was given a 20-year jail sentence for firstdegree murder. Danny had confessed to complicity in the killing of his brother-in-law after the police had refused to allow him to see his lawyer. Actually, Danny was tricked into blaming a friend for the liquidation of his sister’s husband, thereby establishing himself as an accomplice. Despite the fact that Danny later recanted his confession, he was found culpable and jailed. Danny had been stereotyped* as a hoodlum and nobody raised an eyebrow over the hapless* felon’s* troubles.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in the following sentences.

  1. Proceeding on the premise* that the broker was guilty of __________ in the swindle, the detective followed him surreptitiously.*
  2. After the __________ of the gang leader, a mammoth* conflict arose among his ambitious lieutenants who aspired* to be boss.
  3. Once the incontrovertible* evidence was offered, the servant was held __________ in the theft of the jewels.
  4. When the clergyman refused to __________, his superiors were so nettled* that they relegated* him to an isolated parish in Alaska.
  5. Although he was judged as a minor __________, the driver had actually played an integral* part in planning the crime.

Definitions Match the new words with their meanings. Two of the words are very close in meaning.

  1. a. deserving blame
  2. b. partnership in wrongdoing
  3. c. an associate in crime
  4. d. disposal of, killing
  5. e. withdraw previous statements
  1. complicity __________
  2. liquidation __________
  3. accomplice __________
  4. recant __________
  5. culpable __________

Answer Key
woolgathering—absentmindedness or daydreaming
When the young genius should have been doing his homework, he was frequently engaged in woolgathering.

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