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

Word List
  • solace [sol´ is]
    easing of grief
    → “He read in a Bible that he had neglected for years, but he could gain little solace from it.” Theodore Dreiser, “The Lost Phoebe”
  • aspirant [əspī´ rənt]
    candidate for high position
    → “A number of playwrights, small aspirants to the big screen, must already be pricing beach houses in Malibu.” Ross Wetzsteon, Introduction to New Plays USA
  • dregs [dregz]
    most worthless part
    → “Some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me.” William Shakespeare, Richard III
  • frenzy [fren´ zē]
    wild fit
    → “They had a sense of the wildest adventure, which mounted to frenzy, when some men rose on the shore and shouted to them, ‘Hello, there! What are you doing with that boat?’ ” William Dean Howells, A Boy’s Town
  • scurrilous [skėr´ ə ləs]
    coarse
    → “They were infuriated by the scurrilous articles about them that started to crop up in the tabloids.” Charles Blauvelt, Edward and Wally

Mullins sought solace in whiskey. Once a highly respected aspirant for the lightweight crown, he now found himself associating with the dregs of Skid Row.* He would work himself into an alcoholic frenzy in which he would trumpet scurrilous attacks on the champ, the old manager, and the judge. One avid* fight fan attributed Mullins’ absence from the ring to sickness, saying that he was “recovering from a bad case of—SCOTCH.”

Sample Sentences Use the new words in the following sentences.

  1. Vigilant* censors protect the public from listening to __________ language on television.
  2. The publisher scoffed* at the reports that he was an __________ for the job of Secretary of State.
  3. In a __________ , the teenager overturned every drawer while searching for the car keys.
  4. At the bottom of the beautiful wine bottle, only the __________ remained.
  5. In trying to offer __________ to the deceased’s wife, the reporter inadvertently* made the situation worse.

Definitions Match the new words with their meanings.

  1. a. most worthless part
  2. b. coarse
  3. c. easing of grief
  4. d. wild fit
  5. e. candidate for high position
  1. solace __________
  2. aspirant __________
  3. dregs __________
  4. frenzy __________
  5. scurrilous __________

Answer Key
to rule the roost—to be in charge, to be master (a roost is a perch where domestic birds can sleep)
Although he is a lowly private in the army, at home he rules the roost.

Favorite Books
Table of Contents