Grade 11 College Vocabulary, Week 5

Definition: Identifying word or words by which someone or something is called and classified or distinguished from others.

From the reading: "“Le Renard Subtil does not eat,” he said, using the appellation he had found most flattering to the vanity of the Indian." (The Last of the Mohicans)

Synonyms:

denomination, designation, appellative

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin appellatio, from appellare: compare French appellation. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To expel someone from a property, especially with the support of the law.

Context (original sentence): The cruel landlord evicted the widow in midwinter.

Synonyms:

expel, oust, turn out

Antonyms:

admit, house

Root:Latin evincere, to overcome.

Definition: Expressing or showing a lack of approval; adverse or inauspicious.

From the reading: "But the chances were gradually growing unfavorable to Hawkeye and his band." (The Last of the Mohicans)

Synonyms:

adverse, negative, inauspicious

Antonyms:

favorable

Root:un-, not + favor (Latin favor, goodwill, from favere, to be kind) + -able: not showing goodwill.

Definition: The substance or essence of a speech or text.

From the reading: "Being compelled in this way, I read pretty nigh as follows; not that I give the whole of it, but only the gist and the emphasis,--" (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

essence, substance, core

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Anglo-French gist, it lies.

Definition: Having or showing an extreme greed for wealth.

From the reading: "The man was of powerful frame, and too avaricious to part with his goods without a struggle." (The Last of the Mohicans)

Synonyms:

greedy, covetous, grasping

Antonyms:

generous

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

Definition: Guilty of a misdeed; failing in what duty requires.

From the reading: "Satisfied with her examination, she left him, with a slight expression of pleasure, and proceeded to practise the same trying experiment on her delinquent countryman." (The Last of the Mohicans)

Synonyms:

guilty, negligent, derelict

Antonyms:

innocent, diligent

Root:Latin delinquens, -entis, present participle of delinquere to fail, be wanting in one's duty, do wrong; de- + linquere to leave. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Enthusiastic approval.

From the reading: "His proposal was received with acclamations, and executed with the swiftness of thought." (The Last of the Mohicans)

Synonyms:

acclaim, plaudits, plaudit

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin acclamatio: compare French acclamation. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A melody sung or played above a hymn tune; to talk tediously or at length.

From the reading: "Though rendered less connected by many and general interruptions and outbreakings, a translation of their language would have contained a regular descant, which, in substance, might have proved to possess a train of consecutive ideas." (The Last of the Mohicans)

Synonyms:

countermelody, obbligato; discourse

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old French descant, deschant, French déchant, discant, Late Latin discantus, from Latin dis + cantus singing, melody, from canere to sing. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The trait of being cautious and watchful.

From the reading: "And of a sudden the baying dogs saw Odysseus, and they ran at him yelping, but Odysseus in his wariness sat him down, and let the staff fall from his hand." (The Odyssey)

Synonyms:

chariness

Antonyms:

unwariness

Root:Old English waer, watchful + -ness: watchfulness.

Definition: The state of being very dry; lack of interest or imagination.

From the reading: "I have often been reproached with the aridity of my genius; a deficiency of imagination has been imputed to me as a crime; and the Pyrrhonism of my opinions has at all times rendered me notorious." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

fruitlessness, barrenness, aridness

Antonyms:

fruitfulness

Root:Latin ariditas, from aridus. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The ability to produce abundant offspring or new growth; fertility of mind.

From the reading: "Poe has two of the prime qualities of genius, a faculty of vigorous yet minute analysis, and a wonderful fecundity of imagination." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

fruitfulness, fertility

Antonyms:

infertility, fruitlessness

Root:Latin fecunditas: compare French fécondité. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The belief that all events are fixed in advance and that human beings are powerless to change them.

From the reading: "He was not “a thinking machine”; for that is a brainless phrase of modern fatalism and materialism." (The Innocence of Father Brown)

Synonyms:

resignation, determinism

Antonyms:

(none exact)

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

Definition: A mixture; something mixed in.

From the reading: "They formed a motley and heterogeneous admixture;—some petulant animosity, which was not yet hatred, some esteem, more respect, much fear, with a world of uneasy curiosity." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

alloy, intermixture, mix

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin admiscere, admixtum, to admix; ad + miscere to mix. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A tendency to consider material possessions and comfort more important than spiritual values; the philosophical belief that nothing exists except matter.

From the reading: "He was not “a thinking machine”; for that is a brainless phrase of modern fatalism and materialism." (The Innocence of Father Brown)

Synonyms:

worldliness, acquisitiveness

Antonyms:

spirituality

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

Definition: The act of washing oneself; a ceremonial washing.

From the reading: "At that time in the morning any Christian would have washed his face; but Queequeg, to my amazement, contented himself with restricting his ablutions to his chest, arms, and hands." (Moby-Dick)

Synonyms:

washing, cleansing, purification

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin ablutio, from abluere: compare French ablution. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Idle or playful waste of time; trifling.

From the reading: "Tempt no more the noble schemer; Bear unto some idle dreamer This new toy and fascination, This new dalliance and delight!" (Christmas Bells)

Synonyms:

dawdling, trifling, idling

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:From Dally. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The act of refraining from something, especially from voting or from drink.

From the reading: "They had lost much of their power over their vassals, many of whom had fought under Wallace in spite of the abstention of their lords." (In Freedom's Cause)

Synonyms:

abstinence

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:F. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Making something valid by formally ratifying or confirming it.

From the reading: "The Paladin had the effrontery to pretend that she had engaged herself to him several years before, and now he claimed a ratification of the engagement." (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc)

Synonyms:

confirmation

Antonyms:

(none exact)

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

Definition: Rising in active revolt against established authority; a rebel.

From the reading: "Then came a boyish attempt to join the fortunes of the insurgent Greeks, which ended at St." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

rebellious, mutinous, seditious

Antonyms:

loyal

Root:Latin insurgens, present participle of insurgere to rise up; pref. in- in + surgere to rise. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Having or showing profound knowledge.

From the reading: "Ah, how can I ever hope to requite This honor from one so erudite?" (Christmas Bells)

Synonyms:

learned, scholarly

Antonyms:

unscholarly

Root:Latin eruditus, past participle of erudire to free from rudeness, to polish, instruct; e out + rudis rude: compare French érudit. (Webster, 1913)