Definition: a careful, detailed judgment of a piece of work, weighing its strengths and weaknesses.

From the reading: "own your errors past, / And make each day a critique on the last."

✝ link: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful" (Proverbs 27:6).

Synonyms:

evaluation, assessment, review

Antonyms:

(none exact) blind praise, flattery

Root:French critique, from Greek kritikē (technē), "the art of judging," from krinein, "to judge, separate."

Definition: to make someone feel ashamed and foolish, especially in front of others; to injure a person's dignity.

From the reading: "...speak with truth and candor, be modest when you are unsure, admit your own past errors, and teach in a way that does not humiliate."

✝ link: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1).

Synonyms:

shame, mortify, belittle

Antonyms:

honor, dignify, exalt

Root:Latin humiliare, "to bring low," from humilis, "low, lowly," from humus, "earth." (The same root gives humble.)

Definition: The support or protection given by a patron; a condescending manner that treats others as inferiors.

From the reading: "The prosperous patronage with which he said it, made him look twice as big as he was, and four times as offensive."

Synonyms:

(sense 2) condescension, superiority, disdain

Antonyms:

(sense 2) humility, respect, deference

Root:Latin patronus, "protector, patron," from pater, "father."

Definition: giving a gentle warning or reproof; meant to caution.

From the reading: "With an admonitory gesture to keep them back, he stooped, and looked in through the crevice in the wall."

✝ link: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Colossians 3:16).

Synonyms:

cautionary, warning, monitory

Antonyms:

approving, encouraging, permissive

Root:Latin admonere, "to remind, warn" (ad- "to" + monere "to warn").

Definition: gloomy, sullen and unsociable; bad-tempered in silence.

From the reading: "He had been there often, during a whole year, and had always been the same moody and morose lounger there."

✝ link: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones" (Proverbs 17:22).

Synonyms:

sullen, glum, dour

Antonyms:

cheerful, genial, sunny

Root:Latin morosus, "peevish, hard to please," from mos, moris, "custom, humor."

Definition: easily irritated, especially by small things; fretful and complaining.

From the reading: "...but I am determined to be peevish after my long day’s botheration."

✝ link: "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger" (Proverbs 15:1).

Synonyms:

irritable, fretful, petulant, testy

Antonyms:

good-humored, easygoing, patient

Root:Middle English pevish, origin uncertain; first meant "perverse" or "silly."

Definition: deeply and quietly thoughtful, often with a touch of sadness.

From the reading: "These were among the echoes to which Lucie, sometimes pensive, sometimes amused and laughing, listened in the echoing corner..."

Synonyms:

reflective, contemplative, musing

Antonyms:

thoughtless, carefree, frivolous

Root:French pensif, from Latin pensare, "to weigh, consider."

Definition: a feeling of worry or unease; (verb) to make anxious.

From the reading: "...not without disquiet, but still without continuous and accumulating resistance."

✝ link: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God" (Psalm 43:5).

Synonyms:

unease, anxiety, agitation

Antonyms:

calm, peace, tranquillity

Root:dis- (not) + quiet, from Latin quies, "rest."

Definition: a feeling of doubt or fear about what may happen, or about whether something is right.

From the reading: "...a misgiving arose within him that such dread experiences would revive the old danger."

Synonyms:

qualm, doubt, apprehension

Antonyms:

confidence, assurance, certainty

Root:mis- (wrongly) + give, in the old sense of the heart "giving" or foretelling ill.

Definition: anxious or fearful that something bad will happen.

From the reading: "As I stood aside to let that carriage pass, apprehensive that it might otherwise run me down, a head was put out at the window..."

✝ link: "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6).

Synonyms:

uneasy, fearful, wary

Antonyms:

confident, unconcerned, assured

Root:Latin apprehendere, "to seize, grasp" (ad- + prehendere): the mind seizes on a coming danger.

Definition: about to happen; hanging over, usually as a threat.

From the reading: "...while there was yet time to ward off the impending veil, the cheapest garment she could wear..." (A nobleman rushes to marry off his sister for money before she can enter a convent.)

Synonyms:

imminent, looming, approaching

Antonyms:

remote, distant, past

Root:Latin impendere, "to hang over" (in- "over" + pendere "to hang").

Definition: deep anxiety or mental agitation; a disturbance.

From the reading: "Afraid, in her extreme perturbation, of the loneliness of the deserted rooms..."

Synonyms:

agitation, alarm, turmoil

Antonyms:

composure, calm, equanimity

Root:Latin perturbare, "to throw into confusion" (per- "thoroughly" + turbare "to disturb").

Definition: expressing mild disapproval or protest; also apologetic, seeking to ward off blame.

From the reading: "With a deprecatory grunt, the jackal again complied."

Synonyms:

disapproving, protesting, apologetic

Antonyms:

approving, commendatory, laudatory

Root:Latin deprecari, "to pray against, ward off by prayer" (de- "away" + precari "to pray").

Definition: a curse; the act of loudly denouncing or loathing something.

From the reading: "...shrieks, volleys, execrations, bravery without stint, boom smash and rattle, and the furious sounding of the living sea..."

✝ link: "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be" (James 3:10).

Synonyms:

curse, imprecation, denunciation

Antonyms:

blessing, benediction, praise

Root:Latin exsecrari, "to curse" (ex- "out" + sacer "sacred": to put outside what is holy).

Definition: giving comfort in sorrow or disappointment.

From the reading: "I encouraged Doctor Manette in this idea, because I felt that it might one day be consolatory to her."

✝ link: "Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble" (2 Corinthians 1:4).

Synonyms:

comforting, soothing, consoling

Antonyms:

distressing, upsetting, grievous

Root:Latin consolari, "to comfort" (con- "with" + solari "to soothe").

Definition: absolutely necessary or urgent; (noun) a duty that must be done; (grammar) the mood of command.

From the reading: "...the jackal found it imperative on him to get up, and steep his towels anew."

Synonyms:

essential, vital, urgent, obligatory

Antonyms:

optional, unnecessary, trivial

Root:Latin imperare, "to command."

Definition: widespread in a particular place or time; common.

From the reading: "Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere."

Synonyms:

widespread, pervasive, rife

Antonyms:

rare, uncommon, scarce

Root:Latin praevalere, "to be stronger" (prae- "before" + valere "to be strong").

Definition: extremely pale, thin or gaunt, like a corpse.

From the reading: "...men with bare arms, matted locks, and cadaverous faces, who had emerged into the winter light from cellars..."

Synonyms:

gaunt, haggard, deathly

Antonyms:

robust, ruddy, hale

Root:Latin cadaver, "corpse," from cadere, "to fall."

Definition: a state of near-unconsciousness or dazed numbness, often from shock or exhaustion.

From the reading: "Lucie had, by that time, fallen into a stupor on the floor at his feet, clinging to his hand."

Synonyms:

daze, torpor, trance

Antonyms:

alertness, awareness, wakefulness

Root:Latin stupere, "to be stunned, amazed."

Definition: a large, imposing building; (figurative) a complex system of thought or belief.

From the reading: "...a red-hot wind, driving straight from the infernal regions, seemed to be blowing the edifice away."

✝ link: "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it" (Psalm 127:1).

Synonyms:

structure, building, construction

Antonyms:

(none exact) ruin, rubble

Root:Latin aedificium, from aedes, "dwelling, temple," + facere, "to make." The same root gives edify, "to build up," which is what good criticism should do.