Grade 10 College Vocabulary, Week 26

Definition: The action of declaring something untrue; refusal of a request; self-denial.

From the reading: "The stone hut was made a soft nest for her, lined with downy patience: and also in the world that lay beyond the stone hut she knew nothing of frowns and denials." (Silas Marner)

Synonyms:

disaffirmation

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The quality of being quick and light in movement or thought.

From the reading: "Though he hasn’t that grand way o’ waving his hand as the Squire has.” “Talk o’ nimbleness, look at Mrs." (Silas Marner)

Synonyms:

agility, legerity, lightness

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English numol, quick to take, from niman, to take + -ness: quickness.

Definition: A state of peace and quiet.

From the reading: "After the great excitement the weaver had undergone from the events of the afternoon, he had felt a longing for this quietude, and had even begged Mrs." (Silas Marner)

Synonyms:

tranquillity, tranquility, quietness

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin quietudo: compare French quiétude. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A very small or inadequate amount of money.

From the reading: "She procured plain work; she plaited straw and by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to support life." (Frankenstein)

Synonyms:

trifle, mite, scrap

Antonyms:

fortune

Root:Old French pitance, a pious gift.

Definition: Not capable of being carried out or put into practice.

From the reading: "Fritz thought we could build a mill ourselves on the river; but this bold scheme was, at present, impracticable." (The Swiss Family Robinson)

Synonyms:

infeasible, unfeasible, unworkable

Antonyms:

possible

Root:in-, not + Medieval Latin practicare, to do (Greek praktikos, fit for action) + -able: not able to be done.

Definition: Of a fluid, to change to a solid or semisolid state; to clot.

From the reading: "It is collected in vessels, care being taken to agitate them, that the liquid may not coagulate." (The Swiss Family Robinson)

Synonyms:

clot, congeal, thicken

Antonyms:

liquefy

Root:Latin coagulatus, past participle of coagulare to coagulate, from coagulum means of coagulation, from cogere, coactum, to drive together, coagulate. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Filled with bewilderment.

From the reading: "There was no doubt that this bold move on the part of the enemy had been wholly unexpected, as far as he was concerned: and the daring impudence of it completely nonplussed him for the moment." (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Synonyms:

nonplused, puzzled, perplexed

Antonyms:

unperplexed

Root:Latin non plus, no more: brought to a point where one can say nothing more; perplexed.

Definition: To intimidate with stern or abusive words.

From the reading: "Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, for ever condemned?" (Jane Eyre)

Synonyms:

bully, intimidate, cow

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:brow + beat: to beat down with stern looks or words.

Definition: Impossible or difficult to perceive by the mind or senses.

From the reading: "In one of these was a small and almost imperceptible chink through which the eye could just penetrate." (Frankenstein)

Synonyms:

unperceivable, incognizable, incognoscible

Antonyms:

perceptible

Root:Pref. im- not + perceptible: compare French imperceptible. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Marked by or causing boisterous merriment or convulsive laughter; uncontrollably noisy.

From the reading: "He burst into an uproarious fit of laughter, which was soon echoed by those who happened to be in his debt." (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Synonyms:

rackety, rip-roaring, noisy

Antonyms:

quiet, humorless

Root:uproar (Dutch oproer, a stirring up: op, up + roeren, to stir) + -ious: full of tumult or loud laughter.

Definition: To describe or regard as worthy of disgrace or great disapproval.

From the reading: "Even William the Conqueror, hated as he was by them, continued to draw a considerable army of Anglo-Saxons to his standard, by threatening to stigmatize those who staid at home, as nidering." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

stigmatise, brand, denounce

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek stigma, a mark made by a pointed instrument, a brand + -ize: to brand with disgrace.

Definition: Habitually complaining.

From the reading: "Jaggers was querulous and angry with me for having “let it slip through my fingers,” and said we must memorialise by and by, and try at all events for some of it." (Great Expectations)

Synonyms:

fretful, whiney, whiny

Antonyms:

uncomplaining

Root:Latin querulus and querulosus, from queri to complain. Cf. Cry, v., Quarrel a brawl, Quarrelous. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Destroy completely, as if down to the roots; pull up by or as if by the roots.

From the reading: "They were commanded to extirpate magic and heresy." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

uproot, eradicate, exterminate

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin extirpatus, exstirpatus, past participle of extirpare, exstirpare; ex out + strips stock, stem, root. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: So thin as to transmit light.

From the reading: "It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March, with a pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind had tilted her, and flying wrack of the most diaphanous and lawny texture." (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

Synonyms:

filmy, gauzy, gauze-like

Antonyms:

thick

Root:Greek diaphane. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Unaffected by strong emotion or prejudice.

From the reading: "Still,” he added, with a dispassionate charity, “he has his faults; which of us hasn’t?" (The Innocence of Father Brown)

Synonyms:

cold-eyed, impartial

Antonyms:

partial

Root:dis-, without + passion (Latin passio, suffering, from pati, to suffer) + -ate: free from strong feeling.

Definition: Free of deceit.

From the reading: "This guileless confectioner was not by any means sober, and had a black eye in the green stage of recovery, which was painted over." (Great Expectations)

Synonyms:

innocent, artless, sincere

Antonyms:

crafty, devious

Root:guile (Old French guile, deceit, of Germanic origin) + -less, without: without deceit.

Definition: To express vehement protest; to thunder against.

From the reading: "Though it was now dark, I knew he was awake; because I heard him fulminating strange anathemas at finding himself lying in a pool of water." (Jane Eyre)

Synonyms:

rail

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Cf. P. fulminate. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Lacking refined worldly knowledge or tastes; simple and natural.

From the reading: "By bringing this constantly before their unsophisticated understanding, I might hope they would draw from it the necessary virtues of resignation and contentment." (The Swiss Family Robinson)

Synonyms:

unworldly, naive, naif

Antonyms:

sophisticated, complex, cosmopolitan

Root:un-, not + Medieval Latin sophisticare, to adulterate, from Greek sophistes, a clever teacher: not made artificial; simple.

Definition: Kind and friendly toward a younger person, like an uncle.

From the reading: "Wilfred Bohun stood rooted to the spot long enough to see the idiot go out into the sunshine, and even to see his dissolute brother hail him with a sort of avuncular jocularity." (The Innocence of Father Brown)

Synonyms:

(none exact)

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin avunculus uncle. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Encouragement of the progress or growth or acceptance of something; the advancement of some enterprise.

From the reading: "And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;" (Philippians 1:25)

Synonyms:

promotion, advancement, forwarding

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:further (Old English furthor, more forward) + -ance: the act of helping forward.