College Vocabulary · Grade 12 · Week 6
20 words for the week · pairs with Composition lesson 2.2.
Reading: the Composition lesson 2.2, "Drafting: Steady Work, Section by Section," and this week's literature book, The Divine Comedy (Dante, Longfellow tr.), the section for Week 6 (public-domain text, Project Gutenberg).
Theme of the week: God told the prophet to write plainly so that the reader could run with it; a draft aims first at plain, complete statement of what you have to say. "And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." (Habakkuk 2:2).
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: Having committed a fault or sin; offending.
Context (original sentence): The peccant clerk confessed and returned every penny he had taken.
Root:Latin peccare, to sin.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Harmful or dangerous to morals or public order; (literally) tending to cause infectious disease.
From the reading: "It makes a peculiar atmosphere, This odor of earthly passions and crimes, Such as I like to breathe, at times, And such as often brings me here In the hottest and most pestilential season." (Poems of Longfellow)
Root:Latin pestilentia, plague (pestis).
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Unconventional and slightly disreputable, especially in an attractive way.
Context (original sentence): The raffish young sailor told stories that made the parson frown.
Root:from riffraff.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Unqualified; absolute; (of a meeting) attended by all members.
From the reading: "We praise His Will which made us what He would, His Will which fashioned us and called us good, His Will our plenary beatitude." (Poems of Christina Rossetti)
Root:Late Latin plenarius, from plenus, full.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To express one's opinions in a pompous and dogmatic way.
Context (original sentence): The guest pontificated about farming to a table of farmers.
Root:Latin pontifex, high priest (literally, bridge-maker).
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A monarch or ruler, especially an autocratic one.
From the reading: "And the Guide said to me: “He wakes no more This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; When shall approach the hostile Potentate," (The Divine Comedy)
Root:Latin potentatus, power.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To quibble about petty points; to practice law in a petty or underhanded way.
From the reading: "“You are an idiot yourself, pettifogging lawyer, base man!" (Crime and Punishment)
Root:from pettifogger, petty + Dutch focker, cheat.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To devote effort to making oneself look attractive; to congratulate oneself.
Context (original sentence): He preened before the mirror for half an hour before the dance.
Root:Middle English preinen, to prick (with a bird's beak).
Part of speech: adjective (also a verb)
Definition: Attractive or appealing in appearance or manner.
From the reading: "Simply as a descriptive touch, or with the idea of prepossessing me in favour of Mr." (Crime and Punishment)
Root:pre- + possess, to take possession of beforehand (the mind).
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Using or containing too many words; tediously lengthy.
From the reading: "Had I not been thus prolix, you might either have misunderstood me altogether, or, with the rabble, have fancied me mad." (The Works of Edgar Allan Poe)
Root:Latin prolixus, extended.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A point of high land that juts out into the sea or a lake.
From the reading: "The city of Misenum gave name to the promontory which it crowned, a few miles southwest of Naples." (Ben-Hur)
Root:Latin promunturium, headland.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Giving or indicating a good chance of success; favorable.
From the reading: "Receive the grateful off’rings which we pay, And smile propitious on thy solemn day!”" (The Aeneid)
Root:Latin propitius, favorable.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To convert or attempt to convert someone from one belief to another; to advocate zealously.
Context (original sentence): The traveling salesman proselytized for his new plow at every county fair.
Root:Greek proselytos, a newcomer, convert.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Food, especially animal fodder; provisions.
From the reading: "The horses had by this time finished the small store of provender, and fully breathed from their fatigues." (The Black Arrow)
Root:Old French provendre, from Latin praebenda, things to be supplied.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Playful, especially in a mischievous way.
From the reading: "He exists, so to speak, on a plan of numerous concentric circles, the most apparent of which is the small inmost circle, a personal puckish scepticism which can be easily aped if not imitated." (Pensées)
Root:from Puck, the mischievous sprite in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To cry querulously or weakly; to whimper.
Context (original sentence): The sick puppy puled all night by the stove.
Root:perhaps imitative; compare French piauler, to chirp.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: An expert in a particular subject who is frequently called on to give opinions.
Context (original sentence): Every weather pundit predicted rain, and the day was perfectly clear.
Root:Sanskrit pandita, a learned man.
Part of speech: adjective (also a noun)
Definition: (Of a victory) won at such a great cost to the victor that it is tantamount to defeat.
Context (original sentence): The general won a pyrrhic victory that left half his army dead.
Root:from Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who defeated Rome at heavy cost (279 B.C.).
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A soft boggy area of land that gives way underfoot; an awkward, complex, or hazardous situation.
From the reading: "The king with his party retired until they reached a morass, through which flowed a running stream, while beyond a narrow passage led through a deep quagmire." (In Freedom's Cause)
Root:quag, a bog + mire.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To reject as invalid, especially by legal procedure; to suppress.
Context (original sentence): The higher court quashed the conviction for lack of evidence.
Root:Old French quasser, to annul (Latin cassus, void).
Part A. Words in context (2 points each). Choose the meaning of the word as used in the sentence.
1. "The king with his party retired until they reached a morass, through which flowed a running stream, while beyond a narrow passage led through a deep quagmire." Here quagmire most nearly means
A) Giving or indicating a good chance of success B) An expert in a particular subject who is frequently called on to give opinions C) A soft boggy area of land that gives way underfoot D) To express one's opinions in a pompous and dogmatic way
2. "The guest pontificated about farming to a table of farmers." Here pontificate most nearly means
A) To express one's opinions in a pompous and dogmatic way B) To devote effort to making oneself look attractive C) Food, especially animal fodder D) Won at such a great cost to the victor that it is tantamount to defeat
3. "He preened before the mirror for half an hour before the dance." Here preen most nearly means
A) Harmful or dangerous to morals or public order B) To cry querulously or weakly C) To devote effort to making oneself look attractive D) Giving or indicating a good chance of success
4. "He exists, so to speak, on a plan of numerous concentric circles, the most apparent of which is the small inmost circle, a personal puckish scepticism which can be easily aped if not imitated." Here puckish most nearly means
A) To convert or attempt to convert someone from one belief to another B) To reject as invalid, especially by legal procedure C) Attractive or appealing in appearance or manner D) Playful, especially in a mischievous way
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: provender, pundit, pettifog, propitious, quash, potentate, proselytize, raffish, plenary, peccant
5. "Receive the grateful off’rings which we pay, And smile ______ on thy solemn day!"
6. The traveling salesman ______ for his new plow at every county fair.
7. "You are an idiot yourself, ______ lawyer, base man!"
8. Every weather ______ predicted rain, and the day was perfectly clear.
9. The higher court ______ the conviction for lack of evidence.
10. "The horses had by this time finished the small store of ______, and fully breathed from their fatigues."
11. "We praise His Will which made us what He would, His Will which fashioned us and called us good, His Will our ______ beatitude."
12. "And the Guide said to me: “He wakes no more This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; When shall approach the hostile ______,"
Part C. Synonyms and antonyms (1 point each).
13. Synonym of prepossessing: (pule / pundit / attractive)
14. Antonym of pestilential: (pule / wholesome / pettifog)
15. Synonym of pyrrhic: (potentate / preen / costly)
16. Antonym of prolix: (provender / raffish / concise)
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: raffish, peccant, pule.
1. C 2. A 3. C 4. D
5. propitious 6. proselytized 7. pettifogging 8. pundit 9. quashed 10. provender 11. plenary 12. Potentate (distractors: raffish, peccant)
13. attractive 14. wholesome 15. costly 16. concise
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.)