Grade 11 College Vocabulary, Week 1

Definition: Occurring or coming into existence after a person's death.

From the reading: "Edwards's chief public work and his chief reputation in his lifetime was as a preacher; the fame of his theological treatises is largely, indeed, posthumous." (Early American Voices: Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God)

Synonyms:

after death, postmortem

Antonyms:

early, middle

Root:Latin postumus, last born, later linked by folk etymology with post, after + humus, earth (burial): occurring after death.

Definition: To regain something lost; to reimburse.

Context (original sentence): The merchant hoped to recoup his losses with the next voyage.

Synonyms:

recover, regain, make good

Antonyms:

lose

Root:French recouper, to retrench.

Definition: To divide and share out according to a plan.

From the reading: "The question of primary importance concerned the apportioning of the sittings according to social rank." (Early American Voices: Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God)

Synonyms:

allocate, distribute, allot

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old French apportionner, Late Latin apportionare, from Latin ad + portio. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The condition or quality of being adequate or sufficient; an adequate amount.

From the reading: "We have the greater occasion to take notice of God's all-sufficiency, when all our sufficiency is thus every way of him." (Early American Voices: Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God)

KJV link: "In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him." (Job 20:22)

Synonyms:

enough, adequacy

Antonyms:

insufficiency, inadequacy

Root:Latin sufficientia: compare French suffisance. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A communication intended to urge or persuade the recipients to take some action; the act of exhorting; an earnest attempt at persuasion.

From the reading: "I would improve this doctrine in a twofold exhortation. 1." (Early American Voices: Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God)

KJV link: "And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people." (Luke 3:18)

Synonyms:

incitement

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin exhortatio: compare French exhortation. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A proposition that follows from one already proved; a natural consequence or result.

From the reading: "His doctrine of supernatural light appears, in fact, as a necessary corollary of his conception of the relation of man and God in the work of redemption expressed in his sermon on Man's Dependence." (Early American Voices: Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God)

Synonyms:

consequence, aftermath

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin corollarium gift, corollary, from corolla. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Occupied with or fond of the pleasures of good company.

From the reading: "It is a most refreshing, convivial, beautiful object to behold." (Moby-Dick)

Synonyms:

good-time, sociable

Antonyms:

unsociable

Root:From Latin convivium a feast; con- + vivere to live. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling).

From the reading: "He falls down and writhes as though eaten by worms." (Christmas Bells)

Synonyms:

twist, squirm, wriggle

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English writhan, to twist: to twist the body about.

Definition: having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization or perception.

From the reading: "But of the worm’s metamorphosis we are palpably cognizant." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

aware, cognisant, alert

Antonyms:

unaware

Root:. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Consisting of elements that are not of the same kind.

From the reading: "Although, by a seemingly careless arrangement of his heterogeneous garb, he had endeavoured to conceal or abate the peculiarity, it was sufficiently evident to Hester Prynne that one of this man’s shoulders rose higher than the other." (The Scarlet Letter)

Synonyms:

diverse, disparate, assorted

Antonyms:

homogeneous, uniform

Root:Greek kin: compare French hétérogène. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Narrow-minded and ungenerous; lacking breadth of learning or culture.

From the reading: "Nay, indeed almost all these ideas are definitely illiberal, as it is the purpose of this chapter to show." (Orthodoxy)

Synonyms:

narrow-minded, intolerant, ungenerous

Antonyms:

broad-minded, generous

Root:Latin illiberalis, mean, ungenerous.

Definition: Make worse; exasperate or irritate.

From the reading: "He said nothing, however, and his conduct greatly astonished me; yet I thought it prudent not to exacerbate the growing moodiness of his temper by any comment." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

worsen, aggravate, exasperate

Antonyms:

better

Root:Latin exacerbatus, past participle of exacerbare; ex out (intens.) + acerbare. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To make a dish by combining ingredients; to invent a story or plan.

From the reading: "An oarsman sprains his wrist: the carpenter concocts a soothing lotion." (Moby-Dick)

Synonyms:

devise, invent, fabricate

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin concoctus, past participle of concoquere to cook together, to digest, mature; con- + coquere to cook. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Indicating mild or amused puzzlement.

From the reading: "His smile showed the strong teeth of which his wife was so proud, and as he saw me his lively, quizzical eyes told me that he knew all about me." (My Antonia)

Synonyms:

puzzled, questioning, curious

Antonyms:

unplayful, unperplexed

Root:English quiz, an odd person or a puzzle (origin uncertain) + -ical: puzzled or teasing.

Definition: Harmful to living things.

From the reading: "Or might it suffice him that every wholesome growth should be converted into something deleterious and malignant at his touch?" (The Scarlet Letter)

Synonyms:

hurtful, injurious, harmful

Antonyms:

harmless

Root:Late Latin deleterius noxious, Greek delere to destroy. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Admitting of no doubt or misunderstanding; having only one meaning or interpretation and leading to only one conclusion; clearly defined or formulated.

From the reading: "Both father and son spoke quick and loud, now looking at the object of their mutual admiration, and now regarding each other with the most unequivocal pleasure." (The Last of the Mohicans)

Synonyms:

univocal, unambiguous, straightforward

Antonyms:

equivocal, implicit

Root:un-, not + Latin aequivocus, of equal voice or double meaning (aequus, equal + vox, voice): having one plain meaning.

Definition: Deserving to be admitted.

From the reading: "The scalp was the only admissible trophy of victory." (The Last of the Mohicans)

Synonyms:

admittable, admittible, allowable

Antonyms:

inadmissible

Root:French admissible, Late Latin admissibilis. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Instinctively or temperamentally seeking and enjoying the company of others; (of animals) tending to form a group with others of the same species.

From the reading: "Even now I am certain that those seas are not, and perhaps never can be, in the present constitution of things, a place for his habitual gregarious resort." (Moby-Dick)

Synonyms:

social, clustered

Antonyms:

ungregarious, unsocial

Root:Latin gregarius, from grex, gregis, herd; compare Greek jar to approach. Cf. Congregate, Egregious. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Extremely pleasant in a gentle way; pleasing to the ear.

From the reading: "Very good in its way Is the Verzenay, Or the Sillery soft and creamy; But Catawba wine Has a taste more divine, More dulcet, delicious, and dreamy." (Christmas Bells)

Synonyms:

pleasant, honeyed, mellifluous

Antonyms:

unpleasant, unmelodious

Root:Old French doucet, dim. of dous sweet, French doux, Latin dulcis; akin to Greek Doucet. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To come together and form one mass or whole.

From the reading: "There will be a point—there will be a degree of rarity, at which, if the atoms are sufficiently numerous, the interspaces must vanish, and the mass absolutely coalesce." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

merge, unite, combine

Antonyms:

separate, divide

Root:Latin coalescere, coalitium; co- + alescere to grow up, incho. from alere to nourish. (Webster, 1913)