Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 39 - Day 3

Word List
  • flay [flā]
    strip off skin, scold harshly
    → “There is no shortage of critics who flay the journalists for being sensation seekers rather than news gatherers.” Herbert Brucker, Journalist
  • demeanor [di mē´ nər]
    conduct, bearing
    → “You could tell by her demeanor that she was more than a bit upset by the unexpected news.” New York Times, 9/7/99
  • delineation [di lin´ ē ā´ shən]
    sketch, description in words
    → “There is no need for an exact delineation of a standard for a permit to hold a street meeting.” Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, decision, 1951
  • vindicate [vin´ də kāt]
    absolve, justify
    → “His family was certain that his actions would be vindicated when all of the facts became available.” “Pilot Blamed in Crash,” New York Post, 11/26/99
  • heinous [hā´ nəs]
    hatefully evil
    → “All crimes against a whole people are measured by the heinous ones carried out by Hitler.” Civilization, 12/99

One of the most repugnant* names in popular legend is that of Captain William Bligh. He was the captain of the H.M.S. Bounty in 1789, and the mutiny that erupted* aboard that ship was the basis for a film in which Charles Laughton portrayed Bligh as an awesome* bully and an unmitigated* villain. He would flay both the body and the spirit of anyone who crossed him. The crew developed such an aversion* to Bligh’s mortifying actions and demeanor that, led by Fletcher Christian, they set the captain and 17 shipmates off in a lifeboat in the South Pacific. The ship continued to the Pitcairn Islands where the crew remained to live with the islanders. Laughton’s delineation of Bligh remains as the image we have of him. Only recently has any attempt been made to vindicate Captain Bligh and to remove the heinous reputation that permeates* history.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in these sentences.

  1. The mayor tried to __________ his actions that had been called capricious* and irrational* by critics.
  2. He castigated* his opponents and went to great lengths to __________ them with accusations of megalomania.*
  3. His __________ was atypical*; usually phlegmatic*, he was belligerent* and garrulous* during the broadcast.
  4. “The most __________ thing I have done,” he said in a stentorian* voice, “is eradicate* the untruth that my party is not compatible* with progress.”
  5. Then he gave an incisive* __________ of his fulsome* opponents as an antiquated* group, complacent* about the noisome* conditions in a moribund* city.

Definitions Match the new words with their definitions.

  1. a. hatefully evil
  2. b. absolve, justify
  3. c. sketch, description in words
  4. d. conduct, bearing
  5. e. strip off skin, scold harshly
  1. flay __________
  2. demeanor __________
  3. delineation __________
  4. vindicate __________
  5. heinous __________

Answer Key
to take by storm—to make a fast impression
The new opera star took the critics by storm and carried the day.*

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