Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 22 - Day 2

Word List
  • incapacitated [in´ kə pas´ ə tāt id]
    disabled, made unfit
    → “His searing empathy for the parents of incapacitated clients is a product of the still-raw pain over the 1980 suicide of his younger brother.” Jan Hoffman, “Public Lives,” New York Times, 6/18/99
  • fabricate [fab´ rə kāt]
    to lie, concoct*
    → “Perhaps the dialogues that you fabricate are nothing more than monologues.” Miguel Unamuno, “Mist”
  • connubial [kə nü´ bē əl]
    related to marriage
    → “I never could imagine connubial bliss until after tea.” W. Somerset Maugham, Cakes and Ale
  • demur [di mėr´]
    to object
    → “At first the Crown Prince would demur, but after being prodded, he would generally choose dictation, which he liked least.” Elizabeth Gray Vining, Windows for the Crown Prince
  • appellation [ap´ ə lā´ shən]
    a name
    → “He went under the appellation of ‘Pretty Boy’ but to his victims he was anything but that.” Dexter Holcomb, Did the Roaring Twenties Really Roar? [adapted]

The typical alcoholic woman is above average in intelligence, in her forties, married, with two children. She started drinking socially in high school or college. Although frequently incapacitated, she can fabricate a story skillfully and thus conceal her true physical condition. She often attributes her alcoholism to connubial stress, boredom, or depression. A large percentage of the women give family histories of alcoholism. Most female drinkers would demur at the appellation of “alcoholic”—and that makes their treatment all the more difficult.

IMPORTANT NOTE: How good a detective are you? Did you spot one of the new words that had been introduced earlier? (fabricate) It should be part of your vocabulary now. From time to time in the lessons that follow, your alertness will be tested as a previously learned word is reintroduced.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in the following sentences.

  1. Dave’s metamorphosis* from an honest person to one who could __________ an alibi so adroitly* was amazing.
  2. The widow grew maudlin* as she reminisced about her former __________ bliss.
  3. I will have to __________ even if I receive a bona fide* invitation to run for the G.O. council.
  4. Because he was the scion* of the richest family on our block, Lenny was given the __________ of “Rockefeller.”
  5. He was ashamed to admit that a pesky* skin rash __________ him for weeks at a time.

Definitions Match the new words with their meanings.

  1. a. to object
  2. b. a name
  3. c. to lie, concoct*
  4. d. related to marriage
  5. e. disabled, made unfit
  1. incapacitated __________
  2. fabricate __________
  3. connubial __________
  4. demur __________
  5. appellation __________

Answer Key
in apple pie order—in neat order, good condition
The house was in dreadful condition when Mrs. Maslow arrived, but when she left it was in apple pie order.

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