Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 20 - Day 3

Word List
  • extant [ek´ stənt] or [ek stant´]
    still existing
    → “Rumors are extant that the Federal Reserve members are greatly concerned about the irrational exuberance of investors.” Bloomberg Financial News, 4/12/98
  • vicissitudes [və sis´ ə tüdz]
    difficulties
    → “Her husband was not only faithful but patient in the face of remarkable vicissitudes.” Eliza Jane Berman, Noble Minds
  • edifice [ed´ ə fis]
    a building
    → “My love was like a fair house built on another man’s ground so that I have lost my edifice by mistaking the place where I erected it.” William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor
  • sultry [sul´ trē]
    extremely hot and moist, torrid
    → “The sun would shine up there in the lengthening spring day and pleasant breezes blow in sultry summer.” Maurice Walsh, The Quiet Man
  • trenchant [tren´ chənt]
    keen, incisive*
    → “Mr. Salinger’s views on celebrity are often funny and trenchant.” Clyde Haberman, “A Recluse Meets His Match,” New York Times, 6/18/99

Cockroaches are the oldest extant winged insects, having been traced back over 350 million years. They have endured the vicissitudes of weather, natural disasters, war, and planned liquidation.* They reside comfortably in caves in South America, in transcontinental airplanes, on mountain tops, in Park Avenue edifices, and in television sets. The climate may be sultry or frigid but roaches persevere.* In the words of one writer, “The miraculous survival of the roach is explained by its inherent* adaptability.” In fact, a trenchant analysis made the point that any forthcoming nuclear war will be won by roaches, not Russians, Chinese, or Americans.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in the following sentences.

  1. Hundreds of __________ copies of Shakespeare’s signature came from the same prolific* forger.
  2. The __________ of life in the Medical Corps are not for the squeamish.*
  3. We originally planned on a skyscraper but had to settle for a truncated* __________ .
  4. When he learned that the movie was to be replete* with __________ scenes, the cautious banker refused to underwrite* its cost.
  5. General Fox submitted a __________ report on the enemy’s latent* strength.

Definitions Match the new words with their meanings.

  1. a. keen, incisive*
  2. b. difficulties
  3. c. extremely hot and moist, torrid
  4. d. still existing
  5. e. a building
  1. extant __________
  2. vicissitudes __________
  3. edifice __________
  4. sultry __________
  5. trenchant __________

Answer Key
tongue in cheek—insincerely
Speaking with his tongue in his cheek, the parsimonious* employer promised to double everyone’s wages.

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