Grade 11 College Vocabulary, Week 29

Definition: A sudden strong feeling of excitement or fear; a thrill.

Context (original sentence): A frisson of fear ran through the crowd as the bridge creaked.

Synonyms:

thrill, shiver, tingle

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French frisson, shiver.

Definition: To catch sight of.

From the reading: "Here are trees, and bright green grass, and orchards full of contentment, and a man may scarce espy the brook, although he hears it everywhere." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

glimpse, spot, discern

Antonyms:

overlook, miss

Root:Old French espier, to watch.

Definition: To cause someone to be no longer close or affectionate; to alienate.

From the reading: "Seek another wife, Better than I, and fairer; and let not Thy rash and headlong moods estrange her from thee." (Poems of Longfellow)

Synonyms:

alienate, divide, separate

Antonyms:

reconcile, unite

Root:Old French estranger, from Latin extraneus, foreign.

Definition: A mild or indirect word substituted for one considered too harsh or blunt.

From the reading: "Then beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity,—I mean the true simplicity of a rightly and nobly ordered mind and character, not that other simplicity which is only an euphemism for folly?" (The Republic)

Synonyms:

understatement, softening

Antonyms:

dysphemism

Root:Greek euphemismos (eu, well + pheme, speech).

Definition: To restrict within limits; to draw a line around.

From the reading: "If the laws had made it as feeble and as circumscribed as it is in the Union, its influence would very soon become still more preponderant." (Democracy in America)

Synonyms:

restrict, limit, confine

Antonyms:

expand, free

Root:Latin circumscribere, to draw a line around.

Definition: Critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of Scripture.

Context (original sentence): The pastor's exegesis of the parable showed each detail pointing to Christ.

Synonyms:

interpretation, explication, commentary

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek exegesis, explanation (ex-, out + hegeisthai, to lead).

Definition: To erase or remove completely.

From the reading: "We must also expunge the verse, which tells us how Pluto feared," (The Republic)

Synonyms:

erase, delete, obliterate

Antonyms:

insert, add

Root:Latin expungere, to mark for deletion by dots (ex- + pungere, to prick).

Definition: Complacent foolishness; smug silliness.

From the reading: "This conviction was strengthened by his vanity and conceit, a conceit to the point of fatuity." (Crime and Punishment)

Synonyms:

foolishness, inanity, silliness

Antonyms:

wisdom, sense

Root:Latin fatuus, foolish.

Definition: To try to win favor by flattery and servile behavior.

From the reading: "Why should I fawn? what have I worse to fear?" (The Aeneid)

Synonyms:

grovel, flatter, toady

Antonyms:

defy, scorn

Root:Old English fagnian, to rejoice or flatter.

Definition: Giving an impression of strange, otherworldly unreality; whimsical.

Context (original sentence): The fey child seemed to talk with the birds as if they were neighbors.

Synonyms:

otherworldly, ethereal, whimsical

Antonyms:

down-to-earth

Root:Old English faege, fated to die.

Definition: A formal authorization or proposition; an arbitrary order.

From the reading: "God’s lofty fiat would be violated, If Lethe should be passed, and if such viands Should tasted be, withouten any scot" (The Divine Comedy)

Synonyms:

decree, edict, command

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin fiat, "let it be done."

Definition: To pilfer or steal something, especially of small value, in a casual way.

From the reading: "SECOND POET (filching a cake): What hast rhymed of late, Ragueneau?" (Cyrano de Bergerac)

Synonyms:

pilfer, pinch, steal

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Middle English filchen, origin uncertain.

Definition: To obtain something by devious or dishonest methods.

Context (original sentence): He finagled two tickets to the sold-out concert.

Synonyms:

wangle, maneuver, scheme

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:perhaps English dialect fainaigue, to cheat.

Definition: Excessively particular; fussy.

Context (original sentence): The finical tailor refused to sew a single seam until the light was perfect.

Synonyms:

fussy, fastidious, finicky

Antonyms:

easygoing

Root:from fine + -ical.

Definition: A person who is passionate about a cause and stirs others to action; literally, a piece of burning wood.

Context (original sentence): The young preacher was a firebrand whose sermons filled the meeting house.

Synonyms:

agitator, zealot, rabble-rouser

Antonyms:

peacemaker

Root:Middle English fire + brand, a burning piece of wood.

Definition: To wave or swing wildly; to thresh.

From the reading: "There is silence: the dead leaves Fall and rustle and are still; Beats no flail upon the sheaves Comes no murmur from the mill." (Poems of Longfellow)

Synonyms:

thrash, wave, swing

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin flagellum, a whip.

Definition: To obtain a great deal of money from someone by overcharging or swindling.

Context (original sentence): The innkeeper fleeced travelers who did not know local prices.

Synonyms:

swindle, cheat, rook

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English fleos, a sheep's coat (to shear).

Definition: To move swiftly and lightly.

From the reading: "The spirits of the departed seemed to flit around and to cast a shadow, which was felt but not seen, around the head of the mourner." (Frankenstein)

Synonyms:

dart, flutter, dash

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old Norse flytja, to carry.

Definition: Wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on the sea; people or things rejected as worthless.

Context (original sentence): After the storm, flotsam from the lost schooner washed up along the beach.

Synonyms:

wreckage, debris, jetsam

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Anglo-French floteson, from floter, to float.

Definition: To struggle or stagger clumsily; to be in serious difficulty.

Context (original sentence): Without notes, the speaker floundered for several painful minutes.

Synonyms:

struggle, falter, stumble

Antonyms:

thrive, succeed

Root:perhaps a blend of founder and blunder.