The recording made the teacher sound callous. (callous: insensitive, unfeeling, hard-hearted) His apparently contemptuous laugh followed a child's inarticulate account of losing her way. (contemptuous: disdainful, scornful, derisive; inarticulate: tongue-tied, speechless, unexpressive) Social clubs rushed to denounce him. (denounce: condemn, criticize, censure) One commentator managed to castigate an entire profession over the sound of a single chair scraping the floor. (castigate: chastise, berate, lambaste)
A former pupil obtained the original tape. Only the whole exchange, she thought, could exonerate her teacher. (exonerate: absolve, exculpate, clear) The missing interlude mattered. (interlude: interval, intermission, break) A puppy had wriggled under the desk and made the child laugh first. The cut was a blatant misrepresentation. (blatant: glaring, flagrant, conspicuous; misrepresentation: distortion, falsification, falsehood) Nobody needed to belabor the point once the station played the whole minute. (belabor: overstress, overemphasize, dwell on)
The broadcaster's contrition had one tangible result. (contrition: remorse, penitence, repentance) He surrendered his usual opening monologue so the pupil could speak. She used it to ask the adults who had joined the castigation to spend that much time listening to a child. (castigation: censure, rebuke, condemnation)