College Vocabulary · Grade 11 · Week 22
20 words for the week · pairs with Composition lesson 6.2.
Reading: the Composition lesson 6.2, "Steelmanning: Stating the Other Side at Its Strongest," and this week's literature book, Walden, selected (Thoreau) and Self-Reliance (Emerson), the section for Week 22 (public-domain text, Project Gutenberg).
Theme of the week: Every case looks strong until the other side is heard; the steelman lets your neighbor search your argument before the judges do. "He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him." (Proverbs 18:17).
Rhythm: 4 words a day, Monday to Friday. Each day: read the entry aloud, copy the quoted sentence into the writing notebook, and write one sentence of your own. Friday: learn the last 4 words, then take the quiz.
Sources: ★ = quoted exactly from this week's reading (the lesson or the literature book) · ✝ = KJV (1769 text), quoted exactly · ◆ = quoted exactly from another work on the approved booklists (public-domain text) · ✎ = original example sentence
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The quality of being open to bribery; willingness to be corrupted by money.
Context (original sentence): The venality of the customs officers let smugglers pass the harbor freely.
Root:Latin venalis, for sale (venum, sale).
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words, as in "a host of golden daffodils."
Context (original sentence): Tennyson used assonance to slow his lines, as in "the long day wanes."
Root:Latin assonare, to respond to (ad- + sonare, to sound).
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Unable to be resisted or avoided; inescapable.
Context (original sentence): In Greek tragedy the hero moves toward an ineluctable doom.
Root:Latin ineluctabilis (in-, not + eluctari, to struggle out).
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Having little or no money; poor.
Context (original sentence): The impecunious student lived on bread, cheese, and borrowed books.
Root:Latin in-, not + pecunia, money.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Rich in or producing oil; figuratively, exaggeratedly and distastefully complimentary.
Context (original sentence): The oleaginous salesman praised every hat she tried on.
Root:Latin oleaginus, of the olive (olea, olive tree).
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To lower the body briefly by bending one knee to the ground as a sign of reverence; figuratively, to show deference.
Context (original sentence): The knights genuflected before the altar before receiving their swords.
Root:Late Latin genuflectere (genu, knee + flectere, to bend).
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Ineffective or bungling; clumsy.
Context (original sentence): His maladroit attempt to change the subject only drew more attention to his mistake.
Root:French mal, badly + adroit, skillful.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The quality of being pleasing to the ear, especially through harmonious words.
Context (original sentence): Poets prize the euphony of names like "Shenandoah."
Root:Greek euphonia (eu, well + phone, sound).
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To scrape or wear away by friction or erosion.
Context (original sentence): The sand carried by the wind abraded the soft stone of the old church.
Root:Latin abradere, to scrape off (ab- + radere, to scrape).
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To link together in a chain or series.
Context (original sentence): The detective concatenated a dozen small clues into one proof.
Root:Latin concatenare (con-, together + catena, chain).
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Showing interest or concern for another's welfare.
From the reading: "Amrah’s questions, and the voice in which she put them—low, sympathetic, and solicitous—were significant of an endeared relation between the two." (Ben-Hur)
Root:Latin sollicitus, anxious.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Occurring at irregular intervals or only in a few places; scattered.
From the reading: "Eventually, in the year 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.’" (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
Root:Greek sporadikos, scattered (speirein, to sow).
Part of speech: verb (also a noun)
Definition: To prevent or hinder the progress of.
Context (original sentence): Heavy snow stymied the rescuers for two days.
Root:from golf, a ball lying in the line of another; origin uncertain.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A person devoted to luxury and pleasure.
From the reading: "Enough that the mass were of the sybarites of the world, and of the herds in number vaster and in degree lower—devotees of the unmixed sensualism to which the East was almost wholly given." (Ben-Hur)
Root:from Sybaris, a Greek city in Italy famed for luxury.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Only slightly relevant; diverging from the main subject.
Context (original sentence): The speaker's tangential remarks about his dog wasted half the hour.
Root:Latin tangere, to touch.
Part of speech: verb (also a adjective)
Definition: To shorten by cutting off the top or end.
From the reading: "So from the precipice’s base did crags Project, which intersected dikes and moats, Unto the well that truncates and collects them." (The Divine Comedy)
Root:Latin truncare, to cut off.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Offering nothing that is stimulating or challenging; dull and flat.
Context (original sentence): The magazine was full of vapid gossip about people no one admired.
Root:Latin vapidus, flat, flavorless.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To make someone annoyed, frustrated, or worried.
From the reading: "There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day." (Walden)
Root:Latin vexare, to shake or agitate.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Having a thick, sticky consistency between solid and liquid.
Context (original sentence): Cold honey is so viscous that it barely pours.
Root:Late Latin viscosus, sticky (viscum, birdlime).
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To spoil or impair the quality or effectiveness of something.
From the reading: "Now we know only a few laws, and our result is vitiated, not, of course, by any confusion or irregularity in Nature, but by our ignorance of essential elements in the calculation." (Walden)
Root:Latin vitiare, to spoil (vitium, fault).
Part A. Words in context (2 points each). Choose the meaning of the word as used in the sentence.
1. "So from the precipice’s base did crags Project, which intersected dikes and moats, Unto the well that truncates and collects them." Here truncate most nearly means
A) To lower the body briefly by bending one knee to the ground as a sign of reverence B) To link together in a chain or series C) To shorten by cutting off the top or end D) Showing interest or concern for another's welfare
2. "Heavy snow stymied the rescuers for two days." Here stymie most nearly means
A) To prevent or hinder the progress of B) To scrape or wear away by friction or erosion C) To link together in a chain or series D) A person devoted to luxury and pleasure
3. "The venality of the customs officers let smugglers pass the harbor freely." Here venality most nearly means
A) The quality of being open to bribery B) Having a thick, sticky consistency between solid and liquid C) Having little or no money D) Rich in or producing oil
4. "Enough that the mass were of the sybarites of the world, and of the herds in number vaster and in degree lower—devotees of the unmixed sensualism to which the East was almost wholly given." Here sybarite most nearly means
A) A person devoted to luxury and pleasure B) Only slightly relevant C) To scrape or wear away by friction or erosion D) Ineffective or bungling
Part B. Sentence completion (1 point each). Each sentence comes from this week's entries; supply the word in the form used there. Word bank: genuflect, viscous, concatenate, ineluctable, vex, maladroit, vitiate, vapid, euphony, sporadic
5. "There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is capable of settling the much-______ questions of the day."
6. Poets prize the ______ of names like "Shenandoah."
7. The detective ______ a dozen small clues into one proof.
8. The knights ______ before the altar before receiving their swords.
9. "Now we know only a few laws, and our result is ______, not, of course, by any confusion or irregularity in Nature, but by our ignorance of essential elements in the calculation."
10. The magazine was full of ______ gossip about people no one admired.
11. Cold honey is so ______ that it barely pours.
12. In Greek tragedy the hero moves toward an ______ doom.
Part C. Synonyms and antonyms (1 point each).
13. Synonym of impecunious: (abrade / penniless / truncate)
14. Antonym of oleaginous: (assonance / sincere / ineluctable)
15. Synonym of solicitous: (attentive / vex / oleaginous)
16. Synonym of abrade: (sybarite / scrape / vitiate)
Part D. Analytical sentence (6 points). In two or three sentences, make a claim about this week's reading, quote it once, and use at least three of these words correctly: sporadic, maladroit, assonance.
1. C 2. A 3. A 4. A
5. vexed 6. euphony 7. concatenated 8. genuflected 9. vitiated 10. vapid 11. viscous 12. ineluctable (distractors: sporadic, maladroit)
13. penniless 14. sincere 15. attentive 16. scrape
Part D scoring: 2 for a clear claim, 2 for an accurate quotation, 2 for three week words used correctly. (8 + 8 + 4 + 6 = 26.)