Grade 11 College Vocabulary, Week 13

Definition: Existing only as the product of unchecked imagination; fantastically visionary.

From the reading: "Ainsworth made an extraordinary, but to my fancy, a by no means unreasonable or chimerical proposition, in which he was instantly seconded by Mr." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

chimeric, chimeral, unrealistic

Antonyms:

realistic

Root:Greek chimaira, a she-goat, the fire-breathing monster of myth with a lion's head, goat's body and serpent's tail: wildly fanciful.

Definition: Impossible to recover or recoup or overcome.

From the reading: "But I did not believe my errors to be irretrievable, and after much consideration I resolved to return to the cottage, seek the old man, and by my representations win him to my party." (Frankenstein)

Synonyms:

unretrievable, unrecoverable, irrecoverable

Antonyms:

recoverable

Root:in-, not + retrieve (Old French retrover, to find again: re-, again + trover, to find) + -able: not able to be got back.

Definition: A relationship of mutual understanding or trust and agreement between people.

From the reading: "To queries put to him by any other person than myself he seemed utterly insensible—although I endeavored to place each member of the company in mesmeric rapport with him." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

harmony, sympathy, affinity

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French, from rapporter to bring again or back, to refer; pref. re- re- + apporter to bring, Latin apporter to bring, Latin apportare. Cf. Report. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Liveliness of mind or spirit.

From the reading: "The “Flight of Thomas O’Rourke,” is a jeu d’ esprit not altogether contemptible, and has been translated into German." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

liveliness, life

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:F. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Softly bright or radiant.

From the reading: "Suddenly, in the air before them, not farther up than a low hill-top flared a lambent flame; as they looked at it, the apparition contracted into a focus of dazzling lustre." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

aglow, lucent, luminous

Antonyms:

dull

Root:Latin lambens, -enlis, present participle of lambere to lick; akin to lap. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The essential or characteristic customs and conventions of a community.

From the reading: "It is not often that I have occasion To speak with scholars; and Emollit mores, Nec sinit esse feros, Cicero says." (Christmas Bells)

Synonyms:

customs, conventions, ways

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin mores, plural of mos, custom: the customs of a people.

Definition: A (usually) large and scholarly book.

From the reading: "Books were his passion and delight, And in his upper room at home Stood many a rare and sumptuous tome, In vellum bound, with gold bedight, Great volumes garmented in white, Recalling Florence, Pisa, Rome." (Christmas Bells)

Synonyms:

book

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French tome (compare Italian, Spanish, & Pg. tomo), Latin tomus, from Greek tondere to shear, English tonsure. Cf. Anatomy, Atom, Entomology, Epitome. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A woman who is the head of a family or tribe.

Context (original sentence): The old matriarch ruled her family of forty from her kitchen chair.

Synonyms:

materfamilias, grande dame

Antonyms:

patriarch

Root:Latin mater, mother + Greek arkhes, ruler.

Definition: To burn the surface of something slightly.

From the reading: "With greater ease the bold Rutulian may, With hissing brands, attempt to burn the sea, Than singe my sacred pines." (The Aeneid)

Synonyms:

scorch, sear, char

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English sengan.

Definition: To restrain or keep in check.

From the reading: "Then, checking him fiercely with the curb, reined him back, the hoofs clashing and crashing, over the figure beneath." (Men of Iron)

Synonyms:

control, hold, contain

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French courber to bend, curve, Latincurvare, from curvus bent, curved; compare Greek Curve. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A long narrow trench made in the ground by a plow; a deep wrinkle.

From the reading: "And when he had ploughed a furrow he sowed it, not with seeds that would grow, but with salt." (The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy)

Synonyms:

groove, trench, rut; wrinkle

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English furh.

Definition: An extremely small amount.

From the reading: "I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest iota from your appearance." (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)

Synonyms:

jot, scrap, whit

Antonyms:

abundance

Root:Greek iota, the smallest letter.

Definition: To chain with shackles; to restrict.

From the reading: "Joy, hope and fear Suffer not near, Drive grief away: Shackled and blind And lost is the mind Where these have sway." (The Consolation of Philosophy)

Synonyms:

chain, fetter, manacle

Antonyms:

free, release

Root:Old English sceacul, fetter.

Definition: The relation between causes and effects.

From the reading: "And so with combativeness, with ideality, with causality, with constructiveness,—so, in short, with every organ, whether representing a propensity, a moral sentiment, or a faculty of the pure intellect." (Poe, selected tales and poems)

Synonyms:

cause and effect, causation

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin causalis, from causa, cause + -ity: the relation of cause to effect.

Definition: Relating to or indicating a remainder.

From the reading: "The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement." (Walden, selected)

Synonyms:

residuary

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The act of providing vague advance indications; representing beforehand; a sketchy or imperfect or faint representation.

From the reading: "The spiritual world seemed near; And close above them, full of fear, Its awful adumbration passed, A luminous shadow, vague and vast." (Christmas Bells)

Synonyms:

prefiguration, foreshadowing

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin adumbratio. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Vain and empty boasting.

From the reading: "Among these are persons who bear the term of Iena-dizze- wug, that is, wanderers about the country, braggadocios, or fops." (Christmas Bells)

Synonyms:

bluster, rodomontade, rhodomontade

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:From Braggadocchio, a boastful character in Spenser's "Faërie Queene.". (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Attentive consideration and meditation; a carefully considered thought about something.

From the reading: "Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart." (Daniel 7:28)

Synonyms:

thought, reflection, meditation

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin cogitatio: compare French cogitation. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The quality of being good looking and attractive.

From the reading: "Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength." (Daniel 10:8)

Synonyms:

beauty, loveliness, fairness

Antonyms:

homeliness

Root:. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The state of being unable to bear children or produce fruit; bleakness and lifelessness.

From the reading: "A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." (Psalm 107:34)

Synonyms:

fruitlessness, aridity

Antonyms:

fruitfulness

Root:Old French baraine, barren (origin uncertain) + -ness: lack of fruitfulness.