Grade 10 College Vocabulary, Week 32

Definition: The commercial activity of buying and bringing in goods from a foreign country; commodities (goods or services) bought from a foreign country.

From the reading: "But De Whichehalse, our great magistrate, certified that there was no proof of unlawful importation; neither good cause to suspect it, at a time of Christian charity." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

importing, import

Antonyms:

export

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

Definition: Speech or writing that uses too many words; wordiness.

From the reading: "It was a quaint document, wrapped up in the tangled heraldic verbiage of the time." (Men of Iron)

Synonyms:

verbalism, wording, diction

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French verbiage, from Old French verbe a word. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The act of ceding.

From the reading: "For excusations, cessions, modesty itself well governed, are but arts of ostentation." (Essays)

Synonyms:

ceding

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin cessio, from cedere to give way: compare French Cession. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Radically distinctive and without equal.

From the reading: "He showed unparalleled malignity and selfishness in evil; he destroyed my friends; he devoted to destruction beings who possessed exquisite sensations, happiness, and wisdom; nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance may end." (Frankenstein)

Synonyms:

alone, unique, unequaled

Antonyms:

comparable

Root:un-, not + Greek parallelos, beside one another (para, beside + allelon, each other) + -ed: without an equal beside it.

Definition: To roll about in mud or water; to indulge in an unrestrained way.

From the reading: "The horse had broken through the crust of moss and sedge and marishweed, and could do nothing but wallow and sink, with the black water spirting over him." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

roll, flounder; luxuriate

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English wealwian, to roll.

Definition: Lacking orderly continuity; taken apart at the joints.

From the reading: "The maidenly bosom bared to this, the pretty almost-child’s head thus distracted, the delicate foot mincing in this slough of blood and dirt, were types of the disjointed time." (A Tale of Two Cities)

Synonyms:

confused, disconnected, disordered

Antonyms:

coherent, united, uninjured

Root:Old French desjoindre, from Latin dis-, apart + jungere, to join: separated at the joints.

Definition: A thing believed to be real but existing only in the imagination.

Context (original sentence): The ghost was a figment of the boy's fevered mind.

Synonyms:

invention, fabrication, fancy

Antonyms:

reality

Root:Latin figmentum, a creation.

Definition: Of a dull grayish-green or blue color; covered with a powdery bloom like that on grapes.

From the reading: "The tenderness of their green appeared under the glaucous mantle; while that grey suffusion, which is the blush of green life, spread its damask chastity." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

blue-gray, gray-green

Antonyms:

clear

Root:Greek glaukos, bluish-green or gray: of a dull blue-green color.

Definition: Not bound by shackles and chains.

From the reading: "She is what we call in England a tomboy, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of traditions." (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, selected)

Synonyms:

unchained, unshackled, untied

Antonyms:

bound

Root:un-, not + fetter (Old English feter, a chain for the feet, akin to fot, foot) + -ed: free from chains.

Definition: A behavioral attribute that is distinctive and peculiar to an individual; a deliberate pretense or exaggerated display.

From the reading: "For the Elizabethan age, Chapman supplied what was then necessary, and the mannerisms that were then deemed of the essence of poetry, namely, daring and luxurious conceits." (The Odyssey)

Synonyms:

idiosyncrasy, foible, affectation

Antonyms:

(none exact)

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

Definition: A public act of denouncing.

From the reading: "In those days one denunciation was sufficient: Marguerite’s few thoughtless words anent the Marquis de St." (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Synonyms:

denouncement

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin denuntiatio, -ciatio. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The termination or destruction of union.

From the reading: "I need not say that we were strangers to any species of disunion or dispute." (Frankenstein)

Synonyms:

separation

Antonyms:

union

Root:Pref. dis- + union: compare French désunion. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Superiority in power or influence; a superiority in numbers or amount.

From the reading: "Among the birds it really seemed as if the little yellow fellows were in the preponderance." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

prevalence

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin praeponderare, to outweigh, from prae-, before + ponderare, to weigh (pondus, weight): greater weight.

Definition: Of lower rank; a junior officer.

From the reading: "Accordingly, they have a subaltern court paid to them by persons of the best rank; and sometimes by the force of dexterity and impudence, arrive, through several gradations, to be successors to their lord." (Gulliver's Travels, Parts I-II)

Synonyms:

junior-grade, lower-ranking, lowly

Antonyms:

senior

Root:French subalterne, Late Latin subalternus, from Latin sub under + alter the one, the other of two. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: An unexpected and inexplicable change in something (in a situation or a person's behavior, etc.).

From the reading: "Always dressed in the very latest vagary of fashion, Marguerite alone among the ladies that night had discarded the cross-over fichu and broad-lapelled over-dress, which had been in fashion for the last two or three years." (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Synonyms:

whim, caprice, quirk

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin vagari to stroll about. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A comic verse of irregular measure.

From the reading: "It contained some lines of very rugged doggerel, hardly even rhyming, written in a gross character, and most uncouthly spelt." (The Black Arrow)

Synonyms:

jingle

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English dogerel. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Abusing vocally; expressing contempt or ridicule.

From the reading: "Seeing the peril past, all the bystanders burst into derisive laughter." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

gibelike, jeering, mocking

Antonyms:

respectful

Root:Latin deridere, to laugh down (de-, down + ridere, to laugh): mocking.

Definition: Knowledge of an event before it occurs.

From the reading: "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:" (Acts 2:23)

Synonyms:

precognition

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:fore-, beforehand + knowledge: knowing beforehand.

Definition: Of a vivid red to reddish-orange color.

From the reading: "That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion." (Jeremiah 22:14)

Synonyms:

scarlet, cinnabar, red

Antonyms:

achromatic

Root:French vermillon. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things; a duplicate copy.

From the reading: "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:" (Deuteronomy 4:15)

Synonyms:

likeness, alikeness, counterpart

Antonyms:

unlikeness, dissimilitude

Root:French similitude, Latin similitudo, from similis similar. (Webster, 1913)