Grade 12 College Vocabulary, Week 9

Definition: Ingratiating and wheedling in a way that is perceived as insincere or excessive.

Context (original sentence): The smarmy waiter flattered every diner in hope of a larger tip.

Synonyms:

unctuous, oily, obsequious

Antonyms:

sincere, forthright

Root:from dialect smarm, to smear (with hair oil).

Definition: A slight superficial knowledge of a language or subject; a small amount.

From the reading: "Those between the two, who have departed from natural ignorance and not been able to reach the other, have some smattering of this vain knowledge, and pretend to be wise." (Pensées)

Synonyms:

modicum, sprinkling, scraping

Antonyms:

mastery, abundance

Root:Middle English smateren, to dabble.

Definition: To smile in an irritatingly smug, conceited, or silly way.

From the reading: "Once there was the fleeting little ghost of a smirk." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

simper, sneer, leer

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English smearcian, to smile.

Definition: To cry and sniffle; to complain in a whining or tearful way.

From the reading: "Because she leaves you to snivel, and never wipes your nose: she has not even taught you to know the shepherd from the sheep." (The Republic)

Synonyms:

whimper, whine, blubber

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English snyflan, to run at the nose.

Definition: Saturated with liquid, especially water; soaked through.

From the reading: "Gratus, the procurator, left thus without a party, saw the fires which, in the fifteen years, had sunk into sodden smoke begin to glow with returning life." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

soaked, drenched, waterlogged

Antonyms:

dry, parched

Root:Middle English, past participle of seethe, to boil.

Definition: A thing given or done as a concession of no great value to appease someone.

From the reading: "Know that the vessel which the serpent broke Was, and is not; but let him who is guilty Think that God’s vengeance does not fear a sop." (The Divine Comedy)

Synonyms:

concession, bribe, pacifier

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English sopp, bread dipped in liquid.

Definition: A large number of similar things coming in quick succession; a sudden flood.

From the reading: "The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent, And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring Stared at the spate." (Idylls of the King)

Synonyms:

series, flood, rush

Antonyms:

trickle

Root:Middle English (northern), a flood, origin uncertain.

Definition: Bad temper; spite.

From the reading: "Then, though the tempests roar, Seas thunder on the shore, Thou in thy stronghold blest And undisturbed shalt rest; Live all thy days serene, And mock the heavens' spleen." (The Consolation of Philosophy)

Synonyms:

spite, malice, ill temper

Antonyms:

good humor

Root:Greek splen, the spleen, once thought the seat of ill temper.

Definition: (Especially of an old person) active; lively.

From the reading: "Don’t think I feel spry enough for dat ar, no way!” and Sam gave a hoarse chuckle." (Uncle Tom's Cabin)

Synonyms:

sprightly, nimble, agile

Antonyms:

doddering, infirm

Root:perhaps Scandinavian, compare Swedish sprygg, lively.

Definition: Froth or foam, especially that found on waves.

From the reading: "Huge Cacus for his crimes was slain; On Libya's sands Antæus hurled; The shoulders that upheld the world The great boar's dribbled spume did stain." (The Consolation of Philosophy)

Synonyms:

foam, froth, surf

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin spuma, foam.

Definition: A period or state of inactivity or equilibrium.

Context (original sentence): The village had remained in stasis for a century, unchanged by the railroad or the war.

Synonyms:

stagnation, inertia, equilibrium

Antonyms:

change, flux

Root:Greek stasis, a standing.

Definition: A fixed regular sum paid as a salary or allowance.

Context (original sentence): The curate lived on a small stipend and the produce of his garden.

Synonyms:

allowance, salary, wage

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin stipendium (stips, coin + pendere, to pay).

Definition: Dull and uninspired; (of food) heavy and filling.

Context (original sentence): The stodgy textbook had not one picture in four hundred pages.

Synonyms:

dull, tedious, staid

Antonyms:

lively, exciting

Root:from stodge, to stuff, of uncertain origin.

Definition: To mark with striations, thin parallel lines or grooves.

Context (original sentence): Glaciers striated the granite of the valley floor.

Synonyms:

streak, groove, stripe

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin striare, to groove (stria, a furrow).

Definition: To make someone unable to think or feel properly; to astonish.

From the reading: "The little Tirzah, in her home attire, stupefied with fear, went passively with her keepers." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

stun, daze, astound

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin stupefacere, to make senseless.

Definition: Relating to the river Styx; very dark.

From the reading: "If neither piety, nor Heav’n’s command, Can gain his passage to the Stygian strand, This fatal present shall prevail at least.”" (The Aeneid)

Synonyms:

pitch-black, infernal, gloomy

Antonyms:

bright, radiant

Root:Greek Stygios, of the Styx, the river of the underworld.

Definition: To bribe or otherwise induce someone to commit an unlawful act such as perjury.

From the reading: "The next, in place and punishment, are they Who prodigally throw their souls away; Fools, who, repining at their wretched state, And loathing anxious life, suborn’d their fate." (The Aeneid)

Synonyms:

bribe, corrupt, induce

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin subornare, to equip secretly (sub- + ornare, to furnish).

Definition: To include or absorb something in something else.

Context (original sentence): The village school was subsumed into the new county academy.

Synonyms:

absorb, include, incorporate

Antonyms:

exclude

Root:Latin sub-, under + sumere, to take.

Definition: A person making a humble plea to someone in power or authority.

From the reading: "My guardian threw his supplicant off with supreme indifference, and left him dancing on the pavement as if it were red hot." (Great Expectations)

Synonyms:

petitioner, suppliant, applicant

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin supplicare, to kneel down, beg.

Definition: (Of a person) slender and elegant.

Context (original sentence): The svelte greyhound outran every dog at the fair.

Synonyms:

slender, slim, lithe

Antonyms:

stout, portly

Root:Italian svelto, stretched out, slender.