Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 45 - Day 1

Word List
  • wistful [wist´ fəl]
    longing, pensive,* wishful
    → “I am sad when I see those wistful ads placed by the lovelorn in the classified columns.” E. B. White, The Essays of E. B. White
  • raiment [rā´ mənt]
    dress, clothing
    → “No matter what her raiment, Marilyn Monroe looked absolutely fabulous on the screen.” Billy Wilder quoted by Earl Wilson, Chicago Tribune, 2/28/76
  • brigand [brig´ ənd]
    robber, bandit
    → “The history of motion pictures shows that, from the earliest silent films, stories about western brigands would capture a large audience.” John Simon, Reverse Angle
  • corpulent [kôr´ pyə lənt]
    fleshy, obese,* excessively fat
    → “When he squeezed his corpulent body into a chair he seemed to be stuck there forever.” Charles W. Thompson, Presidents I Have Known
  • rail [rāl]
    scold, use abusive language
    → “He cursed and railed, and finally declared he was going to trail the raiders.” Zane Grey, Raiders of the Purple Sage

Current novels are replete* with lurid* crimes, carnage* and death. Do you get wistful when you recall the romantic tales that begin with an innocent maiden travelling through the rustic* countryside? She is dressed in glittering raiment. The scene is idyllic.* Without warning, the group is set upon by a virile* brigand, who, in the most perfunctory* and callous* fashion, carries her off. Pandemonium* results! Her entourage* is in a state of bedlam.* Her corpulent escort is irate,* but unable to do anything to thwart* this debacle.* All he can do is rail against the catastrophe. What to do? What to do?

Sample Sentences Use the new words in these sentences.

  1. The potpourri* of au courant* fashionable __________ includes the fatuous* and the discreet.*
  2. While all disgruntled* men may __________ against malevolent* or Machiavellian* leaders, democracy offers a way to ameliorate* iniquities* through the ballot.
  3. Is there any veracity in the platitude* that __________ men are jocose?*
  4. To be candid,* there is little to be __________ about in the “good old days.”
  5. They captured the __________, and he was incarcerated* for a mandatory* period.

Definitions Match the new words with their definitions.

  1. a. dress, clothing
  2. b. scold, use abusive language
  3. c. longing, pensive,* wishful
  4. d. robber, bandit
  5. e. fleshy, obese,* excessively fat
  1. wistful __________
  2. raiment __________
  3. brigand __________
  4. corpulent __________
  5. rail (v.) __________

Answer Key
to flog a dead horse—to continue to make an issue of something that is over
He thought he could keep the pot boiling* about his opponent’s winking at* crime, but he was flogging a dead horse.

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