Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 6 - Day 2

Word List
  • precocious [pri kō´ shəs]
    reaching maturity early
    → “Pediatricians interviewed this week were somewhat divided on the value of TV viewing by precocious children.” Lawrie Miflin, “Tough Rules for TV,” New York Times, 8/4/99
  • perfunctory [pər fungk´ tər ē]
    done without care, superficial
    → “Doc Martindale made a perfunctory examination and told Eli there was nothing to worry about.” MacKinlay Kantor, “The Grave Grass Quivers”
  • chagrin [shə grin´]
    feeling of disappointment, humiliation
    → “He spent great energy and achieved, to our chagrin, no small amount of success in keeping us away from the people who surrounded us.” James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son
  • perverse [pər vers´]
    contrary, persisting in error
    → “There is something contemptible in the prospect of a number of petty states with the appearance only of union, jarring, jealous, and perverse.” Alexander Hamilton, speech, 1782
  • deride [di rīd´]
    to ridicule, scoff* at
    → “He made his living in a vocation so derided it has become a gag phrase: wedding singer.” Joyce Wadler, “Public Lives,” New York Times, 6/15/99

My buddy Verne, a precocious automotive wizard, and I were inspired to do some inventing on our own. We thought it might be feasible* to park a car parallel to a space on the street. Then, by pressing a button, we could raise the four tires off the ground slightly, while dropping two special wheels perpendicular to the curb. It would then be child’s play to roll into the narrowest of parking spaces. We took the idea to Ed Greene who runs the Ford agency in order to elicit* his reaction. After a perfunctory glance at our plans, to our chagrin Ed snorted that our idea was inane,* but we decided that he was just jealous of our brilliance. Tomorrow we are going to start on a computer that will enable us to measure the intelligence of perverse automobile dealers who like to deride the efforts of junior geniuses.

Sample Sentences Use the clues above to help find the proper words.

  1. The children in Shakespeare’s plays are so __________ that they all sound like grandparents.
  2. Edith gave only __________ attention to the new millennium, skipping our New Year’s Eve party.
  3. The Wright brothers didn’t become distraught* when a skeptic would __________ their work.
  4. When I correct my kid brother’s math errors, he is __________ enough to insist that he is right.
  5. To the __________ of many taxpayers, some citizens seem to cheat the government with impunity.*

Definitions Match the new words with their meanings.

  1. a. done without care, superficial
  2. b. reaching maturity early
  3. c. feeling of disappointment, humiliation
  4. d. contrary, persisting in error
  5. e. to ridicule, scoff* at
  1. precocious __________
  2. perfunctory __________
  3. chagrin __________
  4. perverse __________
  5. deride __________

Answer Key
red-letter day—day of happiness, time for rejoicing (holidays are red-letter days on our calendars)
My red-letter day came when I was chosen as senior class president.

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