Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know (MCQ Test + PDF) Week 5 - Day 2
NEW WORDS
- flagrant [flā´ grənt]
“Gene Savoy’s flagrant name dropping doesn’t seem to bother any of the visitors on board.” Brad Wetzler, “Crazy for Adventure,” New York Times, 6/6/99
- admonish [ad mon´ ish]
“A little drummer boy grinned in me face whin I had admonished him wid the buckle av my belt for riotin’ all over the place.” Rudyard Kipling, “The Courting of Dinah Shadd”
- duress [d res´]
“Under duress she was forced to admit having lied during a 1994 deposition in her breach of contract law suit.” Associated Press report, Newsday, 6/24/99
- culprit [kul´ prit]
“We pointed out the tender age and physical slightness of the little culprit.” Thomas Mann, “Mario and the Magician”
- inexorable [in ek´ sər ə bəl]
“Note that it is all in one long sentence, developing inexorably like the slow decay of our lives.” Clifton Fadiman, “They Have Their Exits and Their Entrances”
TODAY’S IDIOM
to take down a peg—to take the conceit out of a braggart (ship’s colors used to be raised or lowered by pegs— the higher the colors, the greater the honor)
The alumni thought they had a great basketball team, but our varsity took them down a peg.
