Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 41 - Day 3

Word List
  • propriety [prə prī´ ə tē]
    suitability, correctness
    → “There is a propriety and necessity of preventing interference with the course of justice.” Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, decision, 10/28
  • advent [ad´ vent]
    the coming of an important event
    → “Industrial canning and the advent of freezing have reduced home canning to a curiosity.” Molly O’Neill, New York Times, 7/18/99
  • impious [im´ pē əs]
    lacking respect, irreverent
    → “The Sunis regard the Shias as impious heretics.” Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism
  • proffer [prof´ ər]
    offer for acceptance
    → “Orin came to proffer his condolences when, wonder of wonder, he fell in love with the grieving widow.” Terence Cavanaugh, “An Ill Wind”
  • spate [spāt]
    rush, flood
    → “There has been a spate of tell-all memoirs, destroying the organization’s special status.” Jewish Monthly, 9/99

Few question the propriety of the current haste on the part of manufacturers to bring out “new and improved” products at the prevalent* rate. At one time, in the dim, distant past before the advent of television, it was the vogue* for products to be advertised on the merits of their “tried and true” qualities. Few advertisers were impious enough to jettison* any part of a product that had been accepted by the public. Year after year, the local grocery store owner would proffer the same box of cereal, the same house cleaner. The acceptance was of the timetested product, and it appeared almost unconscionable* for the manufacturer to change his merchandise. Today’s spate of transient* products would have been considered an anomaly* in those days.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in these sentences.

  1. A few years ago there was a __________ of science-fiction films about awesome* monsters causing pandemonium* on our planet, but after a surfeit* of that genre*, their popularity began to wane.*
  2. With the __________ of text messaging, Roger was busy night and day.
  3. We question the __________ of making fun of obese* people.
  4. I’d like to __________ my belated* congratulations on your 25 years of married serenity.*
  5. In the milieu* of city street life it is not atypical* to hear __________ comments about authority.

Definitions Match the new words with their definitions.

  1. a. suitability, correctness
  2. b. offer for acceptance
  3. c. the coming of an important event
  4. d. lacking respect, irreverent
  5. e. rush, flood
  1. propriety __________
  2. advent __________
  3. impious __________
  4. proffer __________
  5. spate __________

Answer Key
a blind alley—a direction that leads nowhere
The modus operandi was leading up a blind alley and they were barking up the wrong tree.

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