Grade 11 College Vocabulary, Week 15

Definition: Wrongdoing, especially by a public official who abuses the trust of an office.

Context (original sentence): The auditors uncovered years of malfeasance by the treasurer, who had quietly paid himself from the church building fund.

Synonyms:

misconduct, wrongdoing, corruption

Antonyms:

integrity, probity

Root:French malfaisance, from malfaisant injurious, doing ill; mal ill, evil + faisant doing, present participle of faire to do. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A harsh, jarring mixture of sounds.

Context (original sentence): When the orchestra tuned all at once, the hall filled with a cacophony that made the youngest listeners cover their ears.

Synonyms:

discord, din, dissonance

Antonyms:

harmony, euphony

Root:Greek Cacophonie. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To criticize unfairly so as to belittle a person's worth or reputation.

Context (original sentence): It is easy to denigrate an opponent's motives; it is harder to answer his argument.

Synonyms:

disparage, belittle, defame

Antonyms:

praise, extol

Root:Latin denigrare; de- + nigrare to blacken, niger black. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A person indifferent or hostile to art, beauty, and learning.

Context (original sentence): Only a philistine could walk through the cathedral and talk the whole time about the price of the stone.

Synonyms:

boor, lowbrow

Antonyms:

aesthete, connoisseur

Root:Latin Philistinus, Heb. Phlishthi, pl. Phlishthim. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The highest or most developed point; the climax.

Context (original sentence): Many historians regard the reign of Elizabeth as the apogee of English drama.

Synonyms:

peak, zenith, pinnacle

Antonyms:

nadir, low point

Root:Greek apogée. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: An overflowing abundance or supply.

Context (original sentence): The harvest table was a cornucopia of squash, apples, bread, and honey.

Synonyms:

abundance, profusion, wealth

Antonyms:

scarcity, dearth

Root:Latin cornu copiae horn of plenty. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Stern, gloomy, and unsmiling in manner.

Context (original sentence): The dour ferryman said nothing for the entire crossing except the price.

Synonyms:

stern, sullen, glum

Antonyms:

cheerful, genial

Root:Cf. French dur, Latin durus. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Enormous; of immense size or amount.

Context (original sentence): Moving the library to the new building was a gargantuan task that took the whole summer.

Synonyms:

colossal, immense, massive

Antonyms:

tiny, minuscule

Root:From Gargantua, an allegorical hero of Rabelais. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To throw away or discard something no longer wanted, originally cargo thrown overboard to lighten a ship.

Context (original sentence): In the third draft she jettisoned two whole chapters that had slowed the story.

Synonyms:

discard, abandon, scrap

Antonyms:

keep, retain

Root:. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The release of strong, pent-up emotion, especially through art or tragedy.

Context (original sentence): Aristotle taught that tragedy brings the audience a catharsis of pity and fear.

Synonyms:

release, purging, cleansing

Antonyms:

repression

Root:NL., from Greek Cathartic. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Lacking social grace; awkward and tactless.

Context (original sentence): His gauche remark about the bride's age silenced the table.

Synonyms:

awkward, tactless, clumsy

Antonyms:

graceful, tactful

Root:F. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A thin surface film, such as the green on old bronze, or any appearance acquired with age.

Context (original sentence): The bronze statue had taken on a soft green patina after a century of rain.

Synonyms:

sheen, film, gloss

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Italian, from Latin patina a dish, a pan, a kind of cake. Cf. Paten. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Departing from what is normal, usual, or right.

Context (original sentence): The doctor was puzzled by one aberrant test result among dozens of normal ones.

Synonyms:

abnormal, deviant, irregular

Antonyms:

normal, typical

Root:Latin aberrans, -rantis, p.pr. of aberrare. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: In agreement or harmony; corresponding.

Context (original sentence): A man's actions should be congruent with the creed he professes.

Synonyms:

consistent, compatible, harmonious

Antonyms:

incongruous, inconsistent

Root:Latin congruens, p.pr. of congruere: compare French congruent. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To increase rapidly in number; to multiply.

Context (original sentence): Rumors proliferated in the village long before any official word arrived.

Synonyms:

multiply, mushroom, spread

Antonyms:

dwindle, diminish

Root:Latin proles offspring + ferre to bear. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Sharp and severe in manner or criticism; also, causing body tissue to contract.

Context (original sentence): The critic's astringent review spared neither the actors nor the director.

Synonyms:

caustic, harsh, biting

Antonyms:

mild, gentle

Root:Latin astringens, present participle of astringere: compare French astringent. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Highly fertile; producing abundantly, whether crops, offspring, or ideas.

Context (original sentence): The fecund river valley fed the whole province.

Synonyms:

fertile, fruitful, prolific

Antonyms:

barren, sterile

Root:Latin fecundus, from the root of fetus: compare French fécond. see Fetus. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To raise trivial or petty objections.

From the reading: "When Gilbert told them what had come to pass, How beyond question, cavil, or surmise, Good Brother Timothy had been their ass, You should have seen the wonder in their eyes; You should have heard them cry, "Alas! alas!" (Poems of Longfellow)

Synonyms:

quibble, carp, nitpick

Antonyms:

accept, approve

Root:Latin cavillari to practice jesting, to censure, from cavilla bantering jests, sophistry: compare Old French caviller. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A small, exclusive group of people with shared interests.

From the reading: "Sanballat looked for Ben-Hur, and turned again to Drusus and his coterie." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

clique, circle, set

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French, prob. from Old French coterie servile tenure, from colier cotter; of German origin. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A small, relatively unimportant fault or sin.

From the reading: "You have too good a right to a free pardon, to render you very scrupulous about peccadilloes.”" (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

misdemeanor, lapse, slip

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Spanish pecadillo, dim. of pecado a sin, from Latin peccatum. (Webster, 1913)