Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 43 - Day 4

Word List
  • pariah [pə rī´ ə]
    social outcast
    → “Apart from the other castes were the outcasts: India’s untouchables, or pariahs.” Barbara Walker, Women’s Encyclopedia
  • aloof [ə lüf´]
    distant, apart, reserved
    → “Greta Garbo held herself so aloof from her co-stars, they felt they had not been introduced.” Alistair Cooke, The Great Movie Stars
  • pragmatic [prag mat´ ik]
    practical, based on experience
    → “His conservative approach to investing has made millions of dollars for those who share Warren Buffet’s pragmatic philosophy.” “Master of Berkshire-Hathaway,” Profile of Warren Buffet, New York Times
  • vestige [ves´ tij]
    trace, evidence
    → “They kept at the rescue efforts as long as there was a vestige of hope for the earthquake victims.” TIME, 8/30/99
  • guise [gīz]
    manner, appearance, mien*
    → “Freedom is not worth fighting for, if, under its guise, one tries to get as much as he can for himself.” Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Seasoned Timber

Socially, the handicapped person is often treated as a pariah. Most people hold themselves aloof from normal contact with those who are “different.” This social separation propagates* additional feelings of antipathy*. If “normal” individuals would socialize with the handicapped individual, they would learn in a pragmatic way that these are people who happen to have a physical handicap; the handicap does not make them any less human. The iniquity* of assuming that physical superiority equals moral superiority prevents all of us from direct human relationships. As long as there is a vestige of feeling that handicapped people are inferior, then we are all handicapped in one way or another. Under the guise of physical superiority we demonstrate a moral turpitude* that is harmful to all.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in these sentences.

  1. After therapy*, there remained hardly a __________ of his phobia*.
  2. He was stigmatized* as a __________ when he had the audacity* to boast of his nefarious* and sordid* career printing bogus* money.
  3. Although many people say this is a propitious* time to invest in the stock market, there is a tenable* argument for remaining __________ .
  4. In the __________ of maintaining national unity under military rule, there was a paucity* of even innocuous* dissent*.
  5. “You can’t argue with success,” was his __________ reply to derogatory* remarks about a movie star who had only superficial* talent as an actor.

Definitions Match the new words with their definitions.

  1. a. manner, appearance, mien*
  2. b. social outcast
  3. c. distant, apart, reserved
  4. d. trace, evidence
  5. e. practical, based on experience
  1. pariah __________
  2. aloof __________
  3. pragmatic __________
  4. vestige __________
  5. guise __________

Answer Key
to tell tales out of school—to reveal harmful secrets
The fat was in the fire* for the politician when his private secretary started telling tales out of school about his secret sources of income.

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