Grade 10 College Vocabulary, Week 17

Definition: Powerful.

From the reading: "XLV So fiersly, when these knights had breathed once, They gan to fight returne, increasing more Their puissant force, and cruell rage attonce." (The Faerie Queene, Book I)

Synonyms:

powerful

Antonyms:

powerless

Root:French, originally, a present participle formed from Latin posse to be able: compare Latin potens powerful. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy.

From the reading: "That Calvinism was at that time the popular and aristocratic form of Protestantism is evident from references in the Faerie Queene." (The Faerie Queene, Book I)

Synonyms:

noble, patrician, highborn

Antonyms:

lowborn

Root:Greek aristokratia, from aristos, best + kratos, power: rule by the best, and so the nobility.

Definition: Unrepentant and incapable of being reformed; tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield.

From the reading: "Truth finds a temporary home among Ignorant and Rude Folk (Satyrs) and in return imparts divine truth to their unregenerate minds." (The Faerie Queene, Book I)

Synonyms:

stubborn, obstinate, hardheaded

Antonyms:

docile, regenerate, corrigible

Root:un-, not + Latin regenerare, to bring forth again (re-, again + generare, to beget): not born again; unreformed.

Definition: A nominal leader without real power; a carved figure at the prow of a ship.

Context (original sentence): The old king was only a figurehead; his ministers ruled.

Synonyms:

puppet, front man

Antonyms:

power behind the throne

Root:figure + head.

Definition: A basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated.

From the reading: "THOUGH TRUE AS TOUCH, though true as if tested on the touchstone (by which true gold was distinguished from counterfeit). 18." (The Faerie Queene, Book I)

Synonyms:

standard, criterion, measure

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:touch + stone: a black stone on which gold and silver were rubbed to test their purity, hence any test or standard.

Definition: The state or an instance of being imperfect.

From the reading: "The feudal system with its many imperfections had become a memory, and had been idealized by the people." (The Faerie Queene, Book I)

Synonyms:

imperfectness

Antonyms:

perfection

Root:Latin imperfectio: compare French imperfection. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A crafty and involved plot to achieve your (usually sinister) ends.

From the reading: "The English nation, following the Reformed church, overthrows the Catholic faith, but is deceived by the machinations of Spanish diplomacy." (The Faerie Queene, Book I)

Synonyms:

intrigue

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin machinatio: compare French machination. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To get or bring back; to rescue from a bad state.

From the reading: "Moreover, your efforts have retrieved that disastrous field, and have driven the English across the Border."" (In Freedom's Cause)

Synonyms:

recover, regain, fetch

Antonyms:

lose

Root:Old French retroever, to find again.

Definition: Having a secret or hidden meaning.

From the reading: "Monks engaged in scientific investigation, such as Friar Roger Bacon, were popularly supposed to use cabalistic books, and to make compacts with the Devil by means of necromancy, or the black art, as in st. xxxvii." (The Faerie Queene, Book I)

Synonyms:

cryptic, mysterious, esoteric

Antonyms:

plain

Root:Medieval Latin cabbala, from Hebrew qabbalah, received tradition: of secret or mystical lore.

Definition: Given or giving freely.

From the reading: "The auncient Dame 95 Him goodly greeted in her modest guise, And entertaynd them both, as best became, With all the court'sies that she could devise, Ne wanted ought, to shew her bounteous or wise." (The Faerie Queene, Book I)

Synonyms:

bountiful, generous, liberal

Antonyms:

stingy

Root:Old English bountevous, from bounte bounty. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Cleverly amusing in tone.

From the reading: "Jaggers is.” “Yah!” cried Wemmick, suddenly hitting out at the turnkey in a facetious way, “you’re dumb as one of your own keys when you have to do with my principal, you know you are." (Great Expectations)

Synonyms:

bantering, tongue-in-cheek, humorous

Antonyms:

humorless

Root:Cf. French facétieux. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Make worse; exasperate or irritate.

From the reading: "Must I say more to aggravate thy rage?" (Oedipus the King and Antigone)

Synonyms:

worsen, exacerbate, exasperate

Antonyms:

better

Root:Latin aggravatus, past participle of aggravare. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Not showing due care or attention; failing in what duty requires.

From the reading: "For there grew there the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus that makes all men forgetful of their past and neglectful of their future." (The Children's Homer)

Synonyms:

inattentive, negligent, derelict

Antonyms:

diligent

Root:Latin neglegere, to disregard (nec-, not + legere, to pick up) + -ful: given to not picking up one's duties.

Definition: To make a formal judgment or decision about a disputed matter.

From the reading: "But now the laws to which himself appealed, These and none others shall adjudicate." (Oedipus the King and Antigone)

Synonyms:

judge, try, decide

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin adjudicatus, past participle of adjudicare. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Stubborn or unmanageable; resistant to authority or control.

From the reading: "Some of these were settled by the men-at-arms with brief ceremony; the shafts of their battle-axes, and pummels of their swords, being readily employed as arguments to convince the more refractory." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

stubborn, intractable, unresponsive

Antonyms:

tractable, responsive, obedient

Root:Latin refractorius, from refringere: compare French refractaire. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To mention a number of things one by one.

From the reading: "It is not, perhaps, necessary to enumerate so many reasons why the author of the Scottish Novels, as they were then exclusively termed, should be desirous to make an experiment on a subject purely English." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

recite, itemize, itemise

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin enumerare, from e-, out + numerare, to count (numerus, number): to count out one by one.

Definition: Of or characteristic of a child; displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity.

From the reading: "A puerile tear dimmed my eye while I looked—a tear of disappointment and impatience; ashamed of it, I wiped it away." (Jane Eyre)

Synonyms:

adolescent, jejune, juvenile

Antonyms:

mature

Root:Latin puerilis, from puer a child, a boy: compare French puéril. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Totally unlikely.

From the reading: "Some weeks before this period I had procured a sledge and dogs and thus traversed the snows with inconceivable speed." (Frankenstein)

Synonyms:

impossible, unimaginable, unthinkable

Antonyms:

thinkable

Root:Pref. in- not + conceivable: compare French inconcevable. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Become worse or disintegrate; grow worse.

From the reading: "And when you accuse me of corrupting and deteriorating the youth, do you allege that I corrupt them intentionally or unintentionally?" (The Last Days of Socrates: Apology)

Synonyms:

worsen, decline, degenerate

Antonyms:

improve

Root:Latin deteriorare, from deterior, worse: to make or grow worse.

Definition: Involving or being or having the nature of a crime.

From the reading: "They were mostly of a felonious character; comprising the pen with which a celebrated forgery had been committed, a distinguished razor or two, some locks of hair, and several manuscript confessions written under condemnation,—upon which Mr." (Great Expectations)

Synonyms:

criminal, illegal

Antonyms:

legal

Root:Old French felon, a wicked person (Medieval Latin fello, origin uncertain) + -ous: of the nature of a serious crime.