College Vocabulary · Grade 11 · Week 24
20 words for the week · pairs with Composition lesson 6.4.
Reading: the Composition lesson 6.4, "The Institute for Faith & Culture Essay: Citizens of Two Cities," and this week's literature book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain), the section for Week 24 (public-domain text, Project Gutenberg).
Theme of the week: God told His exiled people to serve the good of a pagan city; biblical citizenship is love for the earthly city ordered beneath loyalty to the heavenly one. "And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." (Jeremiah 29:7).
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: adjective
Definition: Tending or aiming to exhort; urging to some course of conduct.
Context (original sentence): The coach's hortatory speech at halftime sent the team back onto the field determined to win.
Root:Latin hortari, to exhort.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A bitter verbal attack or denunciation.
From the reading: "And it seemeth his favor was so great, as Antonius, in a letter which is recited verbatim in one of Cicero's Philippics, calleth him venefica, witch; as if he had enchanted Caesar." (Essays of Bacon)
Root:Greek Philippikos, from Demosthenes' speeches against Philip of Macedon.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Serving no practical purpose; pointless or superfluous.
Context (original sentence): The editor cut every otiose adjective from the draft.
Root:Latin otiosus, at leisure (otium, leisure).
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Icy; extremely cold.
Context (original sentence): The swimmers gasped as they plunged into the gelid waters of the mountain lake.
Root:Latin gelidus, icy (gelu, frost).
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Becoming active or popular again; reviving.
Context (original sentence): The renascent interest in Latin filled the evening classes.
Root:Latin renasci, to be born again.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To transform, especially in a surprising or magical manner.
Context (original sentence): In the fairy tale a witch transmogrifies the prince into a frog.
Root:of uncertain origin, a playful English coinage of the 17th century.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A long journey, especially on foot or in foreign lands.
Context (original sentence): His peregrinations took him from Lisbon to Jerusalem over seven years.
Root:Latin peregrinari, to travel abroad (per- + ager, field).
Part of speech: noun
Definition: An expression of praise or approval (usually in the plural).
From the reading: "Ah! vainest of all things Is the gratitude of kings; The plaudits of the crowd Are but the clatter of feet At midnight in the street, Hollow and restless and loud." (Poems of Longfellow)
Root:Latin plaudite, "applaud!", said at the end of a Roman play.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To cause great and continual trouble to; to plague.
From the reading: "Nor is the history of fanatics half so striking in respect to the measureless self-deception of the fanatic himself, as his measureless power of deceiving and bedevilling so many others." (Moby-Dick)
Root:English be- + devil.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A huge or monstrous creature or thing (from the beast described in Job 40).
From the reading: "It found out who those fiends were, and named them in the verdict: Belial, Satan, and Behemoth." (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc)
Root:Hebrew behemoth, plural of behemah, beast (Job 40:15).
Part of speech: noun
Definition: One who leads or indicates trends; originally, the lead sheep wearing a bell.
Context (original sentence): That county has long been a bellwether whose vote predicts the state's.
Root:Middle English belle, bell + wether, a castrated ram.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Excessively fond of drinking alcohol.
Context (original sentence): The bibulous innkeeper drank more of his own ale than he sold.
Root:Latin bibulus, fond of drink (bibere, to drink).
Part of speech: verb (also a adjective)
Definition: To divide into two branches or forks.
Context (original sentence): The road bifurcates at the old oak, one way to the mill and one to the church.
Root:Latin bifurcus, two-pronged (bi- + furca, fork).
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To remove material considered improper from a text, often weakening it.
Context (original sentence): The publisher bowdlerized the sailor's journal until it was too bland to read.
Root:from Thomas Bowdler, who published an expurgated Shakespeare in 1818.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Great technical skill and brilliance shown in a performance.
Context (original sentence): The violinist played the final passage with dazzling bravura.
Root:Italian bravura, boldness, skill.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A trite and unoriginal idea or remark, intended to soothe (originally, a sedative).
Context (original sentence): "Time heals all wounds" was the only bromide he could offer the grieving widow.
Root:from bromine compounds once used as sedatives; Greek bromos, stench.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A noisy and overexcited reaction or response to something.
Context (original sentence): The brouhaha over the new church organ lasted the whole winter.
Root:French brouhaha, of imitative origin.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A cause of obsessive fear, irritation, or loathing.
From the reading: "Elijah! thought I, and we walked away, both commenting, after each other’s fashion, upon this ragged old sailor; and agreed that he was nothing but a humbug, trying to be a bugbear." (Moby-Dick)
Root:English bug, a goblin + bear.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Self-assertive or proud to an irritating degree.
Context (original sentence): The bumptious new clerk corrected the manager's spelling in front of the customers.
Root:from bump, on the pattern of fractious.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Excessively complicated and detailed, often deviously so.
Context (original sentence): The byzantine rules of the old guild required twelve signatures for any purchase.
Root:from Byzantium, the eastern Roman empire known for intricate court politics.
Part A. Words in context (2 points each). Choose the meaning of the word as used in the sentence.
1. "The renascent interest in Latin filled the evening classes." Here renascent most nearly means
A) Becoming active or popular again B) One who leads or indicates trends C) To remove material considered improper from a text, often weakening it D) Excessively fond of drinking alcohol
2. "His peregrinations took him from Lisbon to Jerusalem over seven years." Here peregrination most nearly means
A) A long journey, especially on foot or in foreign lands B) An expression of praise or approval C) Serving no practical purpose D) Great technical skill and brilliance shown in a performance
3. ""Time heals all wounds" was the only bromide he could offer the grieving widow." Here bromide most nearly means
A) Icy B) A trite and unoriginal idea or remark, intended to soothe C) Becoming active or popular again D) A long journey, especially on foot or in foreign lands
4. "The violinist played the final passage with dazzling bravura." Here bravura most nearly means
A) To transform, especially in a surprising or magical manner B) A huge or monstrous creature or thing C) Self-assertive or proud to an irritating degree D) Great technical skill and brilliance shown in a performance
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: plaudit, gelid, bowdlerize, bedevil, otiose, hortatory, bellwether, bugbear, behemoth, byzantine
5. That county has long been a ______ whose vote predicts the state's.
6. "It found out who those fiends were, and named them in the verdict: Belial, Satan, and ______."
7. The coach's ______ speech at halftime sent the team back onto the field determined to win.
8. The editor cut every ______ adjective from the draft.
9. "Ah! vainest of all things Is the gratitude of kings; The ______ of the crowd Are but the clatter of feet At midnight in the street, Hollow and restless and loud."
10. "Nor is the history of fanatics half so striking in respect to the measureless self-deception of the fanatic himself, as his measureless power of deceiving and ______ so many others."
11. "Elijah! thought I, and we walked away, both commenting, after each other’s fashion, upon this ragged old sailor; and agreed that he was nothing but a humbug, trying to be a ______."
12. The swimmers gasped as they plunged into the ______ waters of the mountain lake.
Part C. Synonyms and antonyms (1 point each).
13. Synonym of bumptious: (conceited / bromide / bedevil)
14. Synonym of transmogrify: (philippic / renascent / transform)
15. Synonym of bifurcate: (bromide / fork / peregrination)
16. Antonym of brouhaha: (calm / behemoth / philippic)
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: bowdlerize, byzantine, bibulous.
1. A 2. A 3. B 4. D
5. bellwether 6. Behemoth 7. hortatory 8. otiose 9. plaudits 10. bedevilling 11. bugbear 12. gelid (distractors: bowdlerize, byzantine)
13. conceited 14. transform 15. fork 16. calm
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.)