Fiske WordPower: The Most Effective System for Building a Vocabulary That Gets Results Fast

402 Pages·2018·7.64 MB·English

by  Edward Fiske, Jane Mallison, Margery Mandell

F IS K E
WORD
POWER
2nd
Edition
THE MOST EFFECTIVE SYSTEM
FOR BUILDING A VOCABULARY
THAT GETS RESULTS FAST
EDWARD B. FISKE
FORMER EDUCATION EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES
JANE MALLISON AND MARGERY MANDELL
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Copyright © 2006, 2018 by Edward Fiske
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Fiske, Edward B., author. | Mallison, Jane, author. | Mandell, Margery,
author.
Title: Fiske Wordpower : the most effective system for building a vocabulary
that gets results fast / Edward B. Fiske, Jane Mallison and Margery Mandell.
Other titles: Fiske word power
Description: Second edition. | Naperville, Illinois : Sourcebooks, [2018]
Identifiers: LCCN 2018007724 | ISBN 9781492650744 (Trade paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Vocabulary. | Vocabulary--Problems, exercises, etc.
Classification: LCC PE1449 .F553 2018 | DDC 428.1--dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018007724
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
VP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Acknowledgments .............................................................................................vii
Introduction ........................................................................................................1
Make a Match ..........................................................................................12
1 Short Words ..........................................................................................15
2 Even Shorter Words ..............................................................................18
3 Down from Mount Olympus ................................................................21
Make a Match #1.....................................................................................24
4 Give and Take ........................................................................................25
5 The Menagerie .......................................................................................28
6 Talking about Talking ...........................................................................30
Make a Match #2.....................................................................................33
7 What’s In? Who’s Out? .........................................................................34
8 Something’s Coming .............................................................................37
9 The Art of Losing ..................................................................................40
Make a Match #3.....................................................................................42
Practice, Practice, Practice #1 ...................................................................43
10 What’s Cookin’? ....................................................................................45
11 Fortune’s Fool ........................................................................................48
12 Stubborn as a Mule ................................................................................51
Make a Match #4.....................................................................................53
13 Miss Manners .........................................................................................54
14 Be Bloody, Bold, and Resolute ..............................................................57
15 Oddballs .................................................................................................60
Make a Match #5.....................................................................................63
16 Work Ethic ............................................................................................64
17 Words for the Ages ................................................................................67
18 True Believers ........................................................................................70
Make a Match #6.....................................................................................72
Practice, Practice, Practice #2 ...................................................................73
19 Enemies, Adversaries, and Antagonists .................................................75
20 Comrades, Cohorts, and Companions ..................................................78
21 Sounds Like, Smells Like ......................................................................81
Make a Match #7.....................................................................................83
22 Them Thar’s Fightin’ Words ...............................................................84
23 I’m Against That—Or Am I Next to It? ...............................................87
24 Splendor in the Grass ............................................................................90
Make a Match #8.....................................................................................92
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25 Farrago ...................................................................................................93
26 I Beg of You ...........................................................................................96
27 Me, Myself, and I ...................................................................................99
Make a Match #9...................................................................................102
Practice, Practice, Practice #3 .................................................................102
28 I Just Don’t Understand You ..............................................................104
29 What a Relief .......................................................................................107
30 Bad Guys ..............................................................................................110
Make a Match #10 ................................................................................112
31 Not-Quite-Naughty Words ................................................................113
32 “The Stream I Go A-Fishing In” ........................................................116
33 Confound It! ........................................................................................119
Make a Match #11 ................................................................................122
34 Earth, Air, Fire, Water ........................................................................123
35 Lighten Up! .........................................................................................126
36 Don’t Yell at Me! .................................................................................129
Make a Match #12 ................................................................................132
Practice, Practice, Practice #4 .................................................................132
37 Speech Therapy ...................................................................................134
38 How Deep Is the Ocean, How High Is the Sky? .................................137
39 Sycophants Galore ...............................................................................140
Make a Match #13 ................................................................................142
40 Down with Everybody .........................................................................143
41 Oh, What a Tangled Web ..................................................................146
42 The Words of War ..............................................................................149
Make a Match #14 ................................................................................151
43 Bored and Lazy ....................................................................................152
44 See What I Mean? ...............................................................................155
45 In Sickness and Health ........................................................................158
Make a Match #15 ................................................................................160
Practice, Practice, Practice #5 .................................................................161
46 Mad as a Hatter....................................................................................163
47 Play It Again, Sam ...............................................................................166
48 What a Mess! .......................................................................................169
Make a Match #16 ................................................................................171
49 Keep It Clean .......................................................................................172
50 How Divine! .........................................................................................175
51 Godliness Redux ..................................................................................178
Make a Match #17 ................................................................................181
52 Hodgepodge .........................................................................................182
53 Too Much ............................................................................................185
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54 Not Enough .........................................................................................188
Make a Match #18 ................................................................................191
Practice, Practice, Practice #6 .................................................................191
55 Send in the Clowns ..............................................................................193
56 Dionysian or Apollonian? ....................................................................196
57 All in the Family ..................................................................................199
Make a Match #19 ................................................................................201
58 Yield…Or Don’t Yield ........................................................................202
59 Let There Be Light .............................................................................205
60 Darkness, My Old Friend ....................................................................208
Make a Match #20 ................................................................................210
61 Do It in Style .......................................................................................211
62 Scary Things ........................................................................................214
63 No End in Sight ...................................................................................217
Make a Match #21 ................................................................................219
Practice, Practice, Practice #7 .................................................................220
64 Om ........................................................................................................222
65 Oy .........................................................................................................225
66 Chalk Talk ...........................................................................................228
Make a Match #22 ................................................................................231
67 Over the Rainbow ................................................................................232
68 How Sweet It Is ...................................................................................234
69 Sourpuss ...............................................................................................237
Make a Match #23 ................................................................................239
70 The Wonderful World of “O” ............................................................240
71 The Play’s the Thing ...........................................................................243
72 Not Fully Defined ...............................................................................246
Make a Match #24 ................................................................................249
Practice, Practice, Practice #8 .................................................................249
73 The Blues…and Other Unpleasant States of Mind ...........................251
74 Get Happy ............................................................................................254
75 Eponyms ...............................................................................................257
Make a Match #25 ................................................................................260
76 Gallimaufry ..........................................................................................261
77 Bright Lights! Loud Music! .................................................................264
78 Crime and Punishment ........................................................................267
Make a Match #26 ................................................................................269
79 Words, for a Change ...........................................................................270
80 High Finance .......................................................................................273
81 What’s My Line? .................................................................................276
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Make a Match #27 ................................................................................278
Practice, Practice, Practice #9 .................................................................278
82 The Body and Beyond .........................................................................280
83 Off and On ...........................................................................................283
84 Who’s the Boss? ...................................................................................286
Make a Match #28 ................................................................................289
85 Man Is a Political Animal ....................................................................290
86 Quarantine Ward .................................................................................293
87 Bottoms Up! .........................................................................................296
Make a Match #29 ................................................................................299
88 Home Furnishings ...............................................................................300
89 Country Yokel or City Slicker? ...........................................................303
90 How Interesting ...................................................................................306
Make a Match #30 ................................................................................309
Practice, Practice, Practice #10 ...............................................................309
91 Carpe Diem ..........................................................................................311
92 Parlez-Vous Anglais? ...........................................................................314
93 Achtung! ...............................................................................................317
Make a Match #31 ................................................................................320
94 Weighty Words ...................................................................................321
95 What’s in a Name? ..............................................................................324
96 Am I Timid? Or Are You Intimidating? .............................................327
Make a Match #32 ................................................................................329
97 Have Mercy! .........................................................................................330
98 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ......................................................333
99 Potpourri ..............................................................................................336
100 Bits and Pieces .....................................................................................339
Make a Match #33 ................................................................................342
Practice, Practice, Practice #11 ...............................................................342
101 On the Road .........................................................................................344
102 In a Manner of Speaking .....................................................................347
103 Together/Apart ....................................................................................350
104 Body and Soul ......................................................................................353
105 We’re Outta Here ................................................................................356
Make a Match #34 ................................................................................359
Practice, Practice, Practice #12 ...............................................................360
Enjoy Your New Vocabulary! ........................................................................362
Postscript ........................................................................................................369
Answer Key .....................................................................................................373
About the Authors ..........................................................................................383
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Acknowledgments
W e both thank Grace Freedson for leading us to this project.
Margery would also like to thank Mark, Jacob, Alix, and
Katie Sugarman for their shared love of language and their
invaluable knowledge of contemporary culture, and Charlie Pope for his
wit and verbal expertise. Jane offers her gratitude to Carole France, a
brilliant teacher, and gives her more-than-thanks to Kenneth Silverman,
magic man with words and without.
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Introduction
O ne’s vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die,” wrote
English novelist Evelyn Waugh. The following pages, we
hope, will be the fertilizer for all those with an interest in
enriching their ability to express themselves eloquently. The fact that
you’re reading this introduction shows that you are already motivated
to improve your vocabulary. So let’s take a look at how this book can
help you.
We chose the one thousand and fifty-one words here from a variety
of sources, including standardized tests such as the SAT, the ACT, and
the GRE; the b est-written newspapers and magazines in the country;
and classic literature. Our goal was to create a collection of over one
thousand words that will be useful for learners who may fall into one (or
more) of these categories:
Short-range
You might be a student preparing for a standardized test such as the
SAT, the ACT, or the GRE. If this describes you, we’re here to help.
If you’re getting ready for the SAT, you may have heard through the
grapevine that the latest revision of the test has eliminated any testing
of vocabulary. Not so! Here’s the fuller truth: the SAT has changed the
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