Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 42 - Day 1

Word List
  • quandary [kwon´ dər ē]
    doubt, dilemma
    → “New Year’s Eve presented a quandary for people in China, a country where the observance of non-political Western celebrations is a relatively recent phenomenon.” Elizabeth Rosenthal, “Party? What Party?,” New York Times, 1/1/00
  • callous [kal´ əs]
    hardened, unfeeling
    → “The movie industry was callous in the way it treated writers who came from New York.” Alex Ross, New Yorker, 2/23/98
  • expedient [ek spē´ dē ənt]
    advisable, fit
    → “There exists the age old choice between a moral action and an expedient one.” Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon
  • negligible [neg´ lə jə bəl]
    trifling, inconsiderable
    → “These politicians have voted themselves a big pay raise for the negligible amount of work they do.” The Queens Tribune, 8/6/98
  • blasé [blä zā´]
    indifferent, not responsive to excitement
    → “When he hit the home run that broke the record, he could no longer maintain his previously blasé attitude.” Newsday, 9/8/98

The consumer is in a quandary about making a felicitous* selection among the array* of products. The advertisers must influence the malleable* consumer, and often they do it in the most callous ways. Television offers many tangible* advantages for reaching the consumer. As a result, the consumer is inundated* by commercials. The advertiser knows that a television commercial is the most expedient way to reach large numbers of people. The cost for each commercial film is prodigious,* but because the audience is so large, the cost per viewer is negligible. Each commercial is prepared in the most meticulous* way in order to catch the attention of even the most blasé viewer and hold it until the message is through.

The reintroduced “new word” should have stood out immediately. Did it? It’s callous, of course.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in these sentences.

  1. It was fortuitous* that the accident occurred when there were __________ numbers of children in the buses.
  2. He was in a __________ about which selection from his extensive repertoire* it would be feasible* to perform for the children.
  3. Because she had committed only a venial* offense, he thought it __________ to abjure* a severe punishment.
  4. Who can be __________ about the presence of many indigent* families in proximity* to affluence?*
  5. People have become so __________ about the once thrilling, now mundane* flights into space.

Definitions Match the new words with their definitions.

  1. a. indifferent, not responsive to excitement
  2. b. hardened, unfeeling
  3. c. doubt, dilemma
  4. d. advisable, fit
  5. e. trifling, inconsiderable
  1. quandary __________
  2. callous __________
  3. expedient (adj.) __________
  4. negligible __________
  5. blasé __________

Answer Key
to do one’s heart good—to make one feel happy or better
It did my heart good to see that inveterate* egotist* eat humble pie.*

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