Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know (MCQ Test + PDF) Week 8 - Day 4
NEW WORDS
- excruciating [ek skrü´ shē ā ting]
“An almost excruciating agitation results when a leaf falls into still water.” Jack London, “To Build a Fire”
- respite [res´ pit]
“The plan enabled the oiler and the correspondent to set respite together.” Stephen Crane, “The Open Boat”
- reverberating [ri vėr´ bə rāt´ ing]
“When that putt plunked into the hole yesterday, the 40,000 people exploded in a roar that reverberated through more than a century of U.S. Open history.” Dave Anderson, “Longest Final Putt,” New York Times, 6/21/99
- fretful [fret´ fəl]
“When Mike Nichols directed ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ Warner Bros. was fretful, worrying about the Legion of Decency.” Liz Smith, “Century’s Choice,” New York Post, 6/23/99
- succumb [sə kum´]
“This young gentleman was of an excellent family but had been reduced to such poverty that the energy of his character succumbed beneath it.” Edgar Allan Poe, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”
TODAY’S IDIOM
a red herring—something that diverts attention from the main issue (a red herring drawn across a fox’s path destroys the scent)
We felt that the introduction of his war record was a red herring to keep us from inquiring into his graft.
