Grade 11 College Vocabulary, Week 30

Definition: To impose an unwelcome or unnecessary person or thing on someone.

Context (original sentence): The salesman tried to foist a broken clock on the old widow.

Synonyms:

impose, palm off, saddle

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Dutch vuisten, to take in the hand (to palm a false die).

Definition: A noisy disturbance or quarrel.

From the reading: "On another occasion he again had a fracas with the English in Ayr, and after killing many was taken prisoner." (In Freedom's Cause)

Synonyms:

brawl, scuffle, row

Antonyms:

peace

Root:French fracas, from Italian fracassare, to make an uproar.

Definition: Fast and energetic in a wild and uncontrolled way.

Context (original sentence): The kitchen was a scene of frenetic activity an hour before the wedding feast.

Synonyms:

frantic, frenzied, hectic

Antonyms:

calm, placid

Root:Greek phrenitis, delirium (phren, mind).

Definition: Difficult to deal with; contrary and willful.

From the reading: ""A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person."" (Psalms 101:4)

Synonyms:

perverse, contrary, obstinate

Antonyms:

docile, tractable

Root:Middle English fro, away + -ward, turned away.

Definition: To restore something to freshness or good condition; to polish.

From the reading: "Inferior ministers, for Mars, repair His broken axletrees and blunted war, And send him forth again with furbish’d arms, To wake the lazy war with trumpets’ loud alarms." (The Aeneid)

Synonyms:

renovate, polish, refurbish

Antonyms:

neglect

Root:Old French fourbir, to polish.

Definition: Smelling stale, damp, or stuffy; old-fashioned in attitude.

Context (original sentence): The fusty attic smelled of old trunks and mice.

Synonyms:

musty, stale; old-fashioned

Antonyms:

fresh, modern

Root:Old French fust, a wine cask.

Definition: A person who annoys or criticizes others to provoke them into action.

From the reading: "I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you." (The Apology of Socrates)

Synonyms:

provocateur, critic, nuisance

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:gad, a goad + fly.

Definition: Causing annoyance or resentment; exasperating.

From the reading: "From that moment my state of mind changed; the fetters dissolved and dropped from every faculty, leaving nothing of bondage but its galling soreness—which time only can heal." (Jane Eyre)

Synonyms:

irritating, vexing, humiliating

Antonyms:

pleasing

Root:Old English gealla, a sore on a horse.

Definition: The complete range or scope of something.

Context (original sentence): Her face ran the gamut of emotion from fear to delight in a single minute.

Synonyms:

range, spectrum, scope

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Medieval Latin gamma ut, the lowest note of the musical scale.

Definition: To stare openly and stupidly.

From the reading: "No taime to stand here like girt gawks." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

gape, stare, goggle

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:perhaps from obsolete gaw, to gape.

Definition: A small ornament or piece of jewelry of little value.

From the reading: "Then she gave to me the trinket, for the sake of safety; and I stowed it in my breast." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

bauble, knickknack, gewgaw

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French trinquet foremast, also, a certain sail, trinquette a triangular sail, or Spanish trinquete triangular. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Morbidly interested in death or disaster.

Context (original sentence): The reporter had a ghoulish eagerness to photograph the wreck.

Synonyms:

macabre, morbid, gruesome

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Arabic ghul, a desert demon.

Definition: To cover thinly with gold; to give a falsely attractive appearance to.

From the reading: "Such an one will I offer to thee, and gild her horns with gold.”" (The Odyssey)

Synonyms:

gold-plate, embellish, adorn

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English gyldan, from gold.

Definition: Showy but flimsy or poorly made.

Context (original sentence): The gimcrack furniture fell apart within a year.

Synonyms:

shoddy, flimsy, tawdry

Antonyms:

sturdy, well-made

Root:Middle English gibecrake, an ornament.

Definition: The measurement around the middle of something, especially a person's waist or a tree.

From the reading: "To tighten up his girth, he thinks, to climb a tree, I think; I saw him climb nine trees in a single night.”" (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc)

Synonyms:

circumference, bulk, breadth

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old Norse gjorth, a belt or girdle.

Definition: Twilight; dusk.

From the reading: "At the very moment he was most inclined to yield to the allurement, a hand very fair even in the moonless gloaming was laid softly upon his shoulder." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

dusk, twilight, nightfall

Antonyms:

dawn

Root:Old English glomung, twilight.

Definition: To have an angry or sullen look on one's face; to scowl.

From the reading: "He sat for a while glowering at Myles and gnawing his mustaches, and for the time no one dared to break the grim silence." (Men of Iron)

Synonyms:

scowl, glare, frown

Antonyms:

smile, beam

Root:perhaps Scandinavian, compare Norwegian glora, to stare.

Definition: An excessively abundant supply of something.

From the reading: "If you in pity grant this one request, My death shall glut the hatred of his breast.”" (The Aeneid)

Synonyms:

surplus, excess, surfeit

Antonyms:

shortage, scarcity

Root:Old French gloutir, to swallow.

Definition: A person who enjoys eating, often to excess.

From the reading: "If only I had been a glutton now, a club gourmand, but you see I can eat this.”" (Crime and Punishment)

Synonyms:

glutton, gourmet, epicure

Antonyms:

ascetic

Root:French gourmand, a glutton.

Definition: To complain pettily; to grumble.

Context (original sentence): The soldiers groused about the rations but marched on cheerfully.

Synonyms:

grumble, complain, gripe

Antonyms:

praise

Root:origin unknown, 19th-century army slang.