Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 40 - Day 5

If there’s one thing a politician must know how to do, it is to use words effectively. He must weigh carefully each and every utterance. He must also select the proper word for the audience he is addressing. You may never run for office, but it would be comforting to know you were ready for it—vocabulary-wise!

Review Words

DEFINITIONS

  1. a. twist violently
  2. b. increase, enlarge
  3. c. nearness
  4. d. destroy the use or value
  5. e. praise highly
  6. f. use (sometimes exaggerated) of language
  7. g. to make clear
  8. h. slander, malign*
  9. i. difficult to handle, bulky
  10. j. works that an artist is ready to perform
  11. k. tutor, counselor, coach
  12. l. noble, generous
  13. m. insincere or almost meaningless talk
  14. n. small, exclusive group of people
  15. o. extremely slight or gradual
  16. p. dull, uninteresting
  17. q. weakness, weariness
  18. r. inane,* foolish, silly
  19. s. easily accomplished or attained
  20. t. offense, resentment
  21. u. the heart or substantial part
  22. v. to be on edge, jumpy
  23. w. to have ready, to have a thorough knowledge
  24. x. to be happy without a real basis

REVIEW WORDS

  1. augment __________
  2. cant __________
  3. clique __________
  4. contort __________
  5. elucidate __________
  6. extol __________
  7. facile __________
  8. fatuous __________
  9. imperceptible __________
  10. lassitude __________
  11. magnanimous __________
  12. mentor __________
  13. proximity __________
  14. repertoire __________
  15. rhetoric __________
  16. umbrage __________
  17. unwieldy __________
  18. vapid __________
  19. vilify __________
  20. vitiate __________

Idioms

IDIOMS

  1. to live in a fool’s paradise __________
  2. the sum and substance __________
  3. on pins and needles __________
  4. to have at one’s fingertips __________

Get to work learning the words that gave you trouble.

HAPLESS HEADLINES (From Weeks 36–40)

From the list of vocabulary words below choose the best ones to complete each of the newspaper headlines.

  • a. Therapy
  • b. Facile
  • c. Fatal
  • d. Decrepit
  • e. Confront
  • f. Retort
  • g. Vehemently
  • h. Tacit
  • i. Legerdemain
  • j. Vapid
  • k. Phobia
  • l. Clique
  • m. Fatuous
  • n. Repertoire
  • o. Motivate
  • p. Capitulate
  • q. Glib
  • r. Lassitude
  • s. Mentor
  • t. Vertigo
  1. U.S. Diplomats __________ Chinese over Alleged A-bomb Tests
  2. Psychologist Claims Success in Treating Flying __________
  3. Rebels __________, Throw Down Arms
  4. Auto Accident Proves __________ to Family
  5. __________ Salesman Arrested in Con Game
  6. Witness __________ Denies Allegation
  7. Pentagon Asks for Funds to Replace “__________ ” Aircraft
  8. New Company Director Praises Former __________
  9. La Bohème Is Mainstay of Opera Star’s __________
  10. Speech __________ Urged After Stroke

WORDSEARCH 40

Using the clues listed below, record separately using one of the new words you learned this week for each blank in the following story.

Clues
  1. 2nd Day
  2. 1st Day
  3. 4th Day
  4. 1st Day
  5. 2nd Day

In Thailand, Mum’s the Word

In this country we take for granted our right to speak out about our elected officials in any way we wish, without fear of arrest or imprisonment. The most disrespectful language is allowed. While some may take (1)__________ at an insult against the president, our Constitution protects that right.

Now, consider the country of Thailand. That land in southeastern Asia is ruled by a king. What happens to an individual who fails to (2)__________ this monarch? There is a case of a person who joked that if he were king he could sleep late every day and drink wine in the afternoon. For this somewhat (3)__________ remark, he was sent to prison for seven years. Or take the story of the woman who was hanging up the king’s photograph. When the police asked her what she was doing, she replied, “I’m nailing it up there on my wall.” She said “it” instead of “the king’s photograph” and for this (4)__________ alleged insult, she also was sent away for seven years.

While some U.S. citizens may (5)__________ our leaders, in Thailand the less said the better.

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