Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 38 - Day 1

Word List
  • glib [glib]
    smooth of speech
    → “It is not glib to maintain that truth can never be contained in one creed.” Mary Augusta Ward, Robert Elsmere
  • homogeneous [hō mə jē´ ne əs]
    same or uniform
    → “Archaeologists have unearthed evidence showing that the people of ancient Egypt were far from a homogeneous civilization.” Brian Fagan, Time Detective
  • malleable [mal´ ē ə bəl]
    capable of being shaped or formed
    → “Is the mayor able to change from an apparently rigid personality to one more malleable to differences?” Alec Kuczynski, “The Mayor’s Makeover,” New York Times Magazine, 8/1/99
  • legerdemain [lej ər də mān´]
    sleight of hand, deceptive adroitness*
    → “Federal investigators pursuing money-laundering schemes are concerned with alleged acts of legerdemain by Russian banks.” Tim L. O’Brien, “Bank in Laundering Inquiry,” New York Times, 8/20/99
  • trend [trend]
    general direction
    → “We should make every effort to reverse the trend in popular music towards violent lyrics.” Portland Oregonian, 8/12/99

Of all the pressures young people face, the most pernicious* is that of fashion. By this is meant the current vogue* in dress. The teenagers, who are so glib when they speak of “individuality,” are turned into a homogeneous mass by the latest craze in fashion. How can youngsters who vehemently* resist advice from the older generation become so malleable in the hands of those who “make” fashion? Perhaps the sudden shifts in fashion occur fortuitously*. Or is there some group who, through legerdemain, switches styles and customs on us right before our eyes? Today’s teenagers seem to be quite gullible* when it comes to embracing the latest trend in fashions. But then, they have their elders as sage* examples to follow.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in these sentences.

  1. The charlatan* was able to wheedle* money out of the naïve* audience with a __________ talk on the medicine that would expunge* pain.
  2. They could not follow the __________ of his ideas, but his verbal dexterity* galvanized* the gullible* listeners.
  3. They were engrossed* as an ill man was “cured” before their eyes; some of the more urbane* said it was __________ .
  4. He ingratiated* himself into their confidence, and the __________ crowd was shaped into a subjugated* mass.
  5. While they started out as individuals, they became a __________ group whom he could motivate as he willed.

Definitions Match the new words with their definitions.

  1. a. capable of being shaped or formed
  2. b. sleight of hand, deceptive adroitness*
  3. c. smooth of speech
  4. d. same or uniform
  5. e. general direction
  1. glib __________
  2. homogeneous __________
  3. malleable __________
  4. legerdemain __________
  5. trend __________

Answer Key
by hook or by crook—any way at all, at any cost
He had bought the white elephant* without rhyme or reason*; now he had to get rid of it by hook or by crook.

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