Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 39 - Day 4

Word List
  • turpitude [tėr´ pə tü]
    vileness, evil wickedness
    → “The government must be held responsible for these acts of moral turpitude resulting in so many civilian casualties.” TIME, 8/25/98
  • infraction [in frak´ shən]
    violation
    → “Order cannot be secured through fear of punishment for an infraction against a political entity.” Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, decision, 10/64
  • callous [kal´ əs]
    unfeeling
    → “The movie industry was callous in the way it treated writers who came from New York.” Alex Ross, New Yorker, 2/23/98
  • redress [ri dres´]
    to right a wrong, remedy
    → “There has been much discussion about the fairest way to redress centuries of discrimination.” “A Time to Begin,” Readers Digest, 5/92
  • vituperation [vī tü´ pər ā´ shən]
    blame, abuse
    → “To justify his action he used vituperation, calling his enemies ‘detestable pests.’” Barbara G. Walker, The Women’s Encyclopedia

Recently, there has been an attempt to improve Captain Bligh’s tainted* image. Historians maintain that there was no turpitude in Bligh’s actions aboard the H.M.S. Bounty. Perhaps he was imprudent* in failing to keep his temper under control. While an infraction aboard ship was quickly criticized, Bligh never carried out those callous actions the movie dramatized in order to depict* an evil man, say his defenders. After the mutiny, Captain Bligh astutely* navigated the lifeboat with the other 17 men for over 3,000 miles to safety. This prodigious* feat alone, say those who would restore Bligh’s good name, should be enough to allow for a full redress of the wrongs that have been blamed on him for over 150 years. While the coterie* defending Captain Bligh do not ask the public to praise him, they do request a more benevolent* attitude toward this traditionally* reprehensible* figure, and an end to the vituperation* heaped upon him for these many years.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in these sentences.

  1. We do not condone* or tolerate* an __________ of even the most trivial kind.
  2. It takes a __________ person to watch with equanimity* as a gullible,* naive* girl falls for the line of a loathsome* boy.
  3. How easy it is to heap __________ upon someone at the nadir* of his career.
  4. There seems to be no way to __________ a grievance against an omnipotent* ruler.
  5. From any facet* of his life, the acme* of moral __________ was reached by Adolf Hitler.

Definitions Match the new words with their definitions.

  1. a. unfeeling
  2. b. vileness, evil wickedness
  3. c. to right a wrong, remedy
  4. d. violation
  5. e. blame, abuse
  1. turpitude __________
  2. infraction __________
  3. callous __________
  4. redress __________
  5. vituperation __________

Answer Key
to be in fine fettle—to be in high spirits, or feeling well
He did a lot of woolgathering* and was in fine fettle during the whole of the Indian summer.*

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