Grade 10 College Vocabulary, Week 19

Definition: Occupying much space; (of writing) very long or numerous.

From the reading: "Be it flood or blood the path that's trod, All the same it leads home to God: Be it furnace-fire voluminous, One like God's Son will walk with us." (In the Bleak Mid-Winter)

Synonyms:

capacious, ample, copious

Antonyms:

small, scanty

Root:Latin voluminosus: compare French volumineux. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Make powerless and unable to function; cause to be paralyzed and immobile.

From the reading: "Nobody was able to stir or speak for a while, so paralyzing was the universal astonishment, so unbelievable the fact that the stake was actually standing there unoccupied and its prey gone." (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc)

Synonyms:

paralyse

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French paralyser. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To stress, single out as important; put stress on; utter with an accent.

From the reading: "The sense of something tiny and flying was accentuated as they swept up long white curves of road in the dead but open daylight of evening." (The Innocence of Father Brown)

Synonyms:

stress, emphasize, emphasise

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Late Latin accentuatus, past participle of accentuare, from Latin accentus: compare French accentuer. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Capable of making mistakes or being wrong.

From the reading: "Macey’s official respect should restrain him from subjecting the parson’s performance to that criticism with which minds of extraordinary acuteness must necessarily contemplate the doings of their fallible fellow-men." (Silas Marner)

Synonyms:

imperfect, error-prone, weak

Antonyms:

infallible

Root:Late Latin fallibilis, from Latin fallere to deceive: compare French faillible. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Disturb the composure of.

From the reading: "And unless it were in the loss of the farm, or the death of the King, or of Betty Muxworthy, there was nothing that could so unsettle our minds as the loss of the Doones of Bagworthy." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

disturb, unnerve, upset

Antonyms:

reassure

Root:1st pref. un- + settle. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: In deplorable condition.

From the reading: "All seemed to be sorely dilapidated: the windows of the house were secured by crazy shutters; the stables were open and empty; there was no hay in the hay-loft, no corn in the corn-box." (The Black Arrow)

Synonyms:

bedraggled, broken-down, derelict

Antonyms:

undamaged

Root:Latin dilapidare, to scatter like stones, from dis-, apart + lapis, stone: fallen apart like a ruined stone building.

Definition: Complete; utter (used of something bad, as an arrant fool).

From the reading: "Marry, sir, our watch tonight, excepting your worship’s presence, ha’ ta’en a couple of as arrant knaves as any in Messina." (Much Ado About Nothing)

Synonyms:

complete, utter, downright

Antonyms:

mitigated

Root:a variant of errant, wandering (Latin errare, to wander), first in "arrant thief," a roving outlaw: thorough, downright.

Definition: With extreme care or delicacy.

From the reading: "And that is the time to spear him nicely, holding the fork very gingerly, and allowing for the bent of it, which comes to pass, I know not how, at the tickle of air and water." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

cautious

Antonyms:

incautious

Root:Prov. English ginger brittle, tender; compare dial. Sw. gingla, gängla, to go gently, totter, akin to English gang. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Make psychologically or physically used (to something).

From the reading: "The two lieutenants were charged to drill them constantly at their exercises so as to accustom them to the weight and handle of their arms." (In Freedom's Cause)

Synonyms:

habituate

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old French acostumer, acustumer, French accoutumer; à (Latin ad) + Old French costume, French coutume, custom. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Unfriendly and unwelcoming toward strangers; harsh and difficult to live in.

From the reading: "Incensed at this preparation on the hermit’s part for making good his inhospitable purpose, the knight struck the door so furiously with his foot, that posts as well as staples shook with violence." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

bare, barren, bleak

Antonyms:

hospitable

Root:Pref. in- not + hospitable: compare Latin inhospitalis. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To begin to grow and put out shoots after a period of dormancy; to come into existence and develop.

From the reading: "We profited by the last few days to sow the wheat and other remaining European grains, that the rain might germinate them." (The Swiss Family Robinson)

Synonyms:

sprout, bud, develop

Antonyms:

wither

Root:Latin germinatus, past participle of germinare to sprout, from germen. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Beyond calculation or measure; impossible to measure.

From the reading: "I might be driven into the wide Atlantic and feel all the tortures of starvation or be swallowed up in the immeasurable waters that roared and buffeted around me." (Frankenstein)

Synonyms:

unmeasurable, immensurable, unmeasured

Antonyms:

measurable, calculable

Root:Pref. im- not + measurable: compare French measurable. Cf. Immensurable, Unmeasurable. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To cause lasting annoyance or resentment.

From the reading: "Rumors bred unjust suspicious and injustice rankles sore." (Oedipus the King and Antigone)

Synonyms:

fester, gall, irk

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:From Rank, a. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Recklessly wasteful; unrestrained by convention or morality.

From the reading: "The rest of Prince John’s retinue consisted of the favourite leaders of his mercenary troops, some marauding barons and profligate attendants upon the court, with several Knights Templars and Knights of St John." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

extravagant, prodigal, spendthrift

Antonyms:

thrifty, moral

Root:Latin profligatus, past participle of profligare to strike or dash to the ground, to destroy; pro before + a word akin to fligere to strike. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Capable of being reached only with great difficulty or not at all; not capable of being obtained.

From the reading: "All round were high and turreted walls, with at the corner a bare square-faced keep, gaunt and windowless, rearing up from a lofty mound, which made it almost inaccessible to an assailant." (The White Company)

Synonyms:

unaccessible, outback, remote

Antonyms:

accessible, available

Root:Latin inaccessibilis: compare French inaccessible. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Not physically or mentally strong, especially through age or illness.

From the reading: "Infirm and blind and old, With gray, uncovered head, Beneath the very arch Of my triumphal march, I stand and beg my bread!" (Poems of Longfellow)

Synonyms:

feeble, frail, weak

Antonyms:

strong, robust

Root:Latin infirmus, weak.

Definition: To move or swing back and forth at a regular speed; to waver between opinions.

From the reading: "From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove buttons." (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, selected)

Synonyms:

hover, vibrate, vacillate

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin oscillare, to swing, from oscillum, a small mask hung to swing in the wind: to swing to and fro.

Definition: Deserving praise, though not outstanding.

From the reading: "He conceives an idea more creditable to his head than to his heart." (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, selected)

Synonyms:

praiseworthy, worthy, respectable

Antonyms:

discreditable

Root:Latin credere, to believe or trust + -able: worthy of belief and so of praise.

Definition: To argue or explain at excessive length; to attack with harsh criticism.

From the reading: "The latter, however, was not a man to be quelled by words, for he caught up his ell-measure sword-sheath and belabored the cursing clerk with it." (The White Company)

Synonyms:

overdo, harp on; berate

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:be-, thoroughly + labor (Latin labor, toil): to work over thoroughly, to beat, then to overdo.

Definition: To entertain with talk; to supply generously with food or drink.

From the reading: "I remarked that the little green monkeys ate them greedily, so I had no more fear, and allowed my children to regale themselves." (The Swiss Family Robinson)

Synonyms:

entertain, feast, treat

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Late Latin regale, pl. regalia, from Latin regalis: compare French régale. (Webster, 1913)