College Vocabulary · Grade 12 · Week 25
20 words for the week · pairs with Composition lesson 7.1.
Reading: the Composition lesson 7.1, "Great Commencement Addresses: Solzhenitsyn at Harvard (1978)," and this week's literature book, Orthodoxy (Chesterton), the section for Week 25 (public-domain text, Project Gutenberg).
Theme of the week: Solzhenitsyn’s charge to rise above the fashions of the age echoes Paul’s; a true commencement speech calls hearers to be transformed, not merely congratulated. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2).
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: noun
Definition: A written statement confirmed by oath, for use as evidence in court.
From the reading: "Subsequently, however, he submitted to Monsieur G——, affidavits, accounting satisfactorily for every hour of the day in question." (The Works of Edgar Allan Poe)
Root:Medieval Latin affidavit, he has stated on oath.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A fixed sum of money paid to someone each year, typically for the rest of their life.
From the reading: "Fairfax, the housekeeper, away to her friends at a distance; but he did it handsomely, for he settled an annuity on her for life: and she deserved it—she was a very good woman." (Jane Eyre)
Root:Latin annuus, yearly.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To reduce or pay off a debt with regular payments over time.
Context (original sentence): The town amortized the cost of the new bridge over thirty years.
Root:Old French amortir, to deaden (de- + mort, death).
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A long-term security yielding a fixed rate of interest, issued by a company and secured against assets.
Context (original sentence): The railway raised money by selling debentures to investors.
Root:Latin debentur, are owed.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Involving trust, especially with regard to the relationship between a trustee and a beneficiary.
Context (original sentence): A guardian has a fiduciary duty to protect the orphan's inheritance.
Root:Latin fiducia, trust.
Part of speech: noun (also a verb)
Definition: A legal agreement, especially one binding an apprentice to a master.
Context (original sentence): The boy signed an indenture binding him to the printer for seven years.
Root:Anglo-Norman endenture, from the indented edges of the copies.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A temporary prohibition of an activity; a legal delay in paying debts.
Context (original sentence): The bank declared a moratorium on foreclosures during the famine.
Root:Latin morari, to delay.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The essence or most serious part of a complaint or accusation.
Context (original sentence): The gravamen of the charge was that the treasurer had stolen church funds.
Root:Latin gravamen, burden.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The theory or philosophy of law.
From the reading: "Three degrees of latitude reverse all jurisprudence; a meridian decides the truth." (Pensées)
Root:Latin juris prudentia, knowledge of law.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The use of clever but unsound reasoning, especially in relation to moral questions; sophistry.
From the reading: "Meanwhile it would seem, as regards the moral question, that his analysis was complete; his casuistry had become keen as a razor, and he could not find rational objections in himself." (Crime and Punishment)
Root:Latin casus, case.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A benefit to which one is entitled because of one's job or position; a perk.
From the reading: "Because the Lord Warden is busily employed at times in fobbing his perquisites; which are his chiefly by virtue of that same fobbing of them." (Moby-Dick)
Root:Medieval Latin perquisitum, acquisition.
Part of speech: verb (also a adjective)
Definition: To collect or form into a mass or group.
Context (original sentence): Small farms agglomerated into vast estates over the century.
Root:Latin agglomerare, to add to, from glomus, ball.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: An accessory or other item associated with a particular activity or style of living; a minor right attached to property.
From the reading: "The appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony." (Hamlet)
Root:Old French apertenance, from Latin appertinere, to belong to.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Additional items of dress or equipment carried for a particular activity.
From the reading: "Each bore his rifle, and all the other accouterments of war, though the paint was uniformly peaceful." (The Last of the Mohicans)
Root:French accoutrement, from accoutrer, to clothe.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: An appointment to meet someone; the allocation of something.
From the reading: "For a moment, then, the awkwardness of her position struck Marguerite; alone at this hour, in a place where she was well known, and having made an assignation with a young cavalier equally well known, and who arrives in disguise!" (The Scarlet Pimpernel)
Root:Latin assignare, to mark out.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The action of saying farewell; a farewell speech.
Context (original sentence): His valediction to the graduating class urged them to honor their parents.
Root:Latin vale, farewell + dicere, to say.
Part of speech: noun (also a adjective)
Definition: A period of paid leave granted to a teacher for study or travel.
Context (original sentence): The professor spent his sabbatical studying manuscripts in Rome.
Root:Greek sabbatikos, of the sabbath.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others.
Context (original sentence): Athens and Sparta fought for hegemony over Greece.
Root:Greek hegemonia, leadership.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A small group of people having control of a country or organization.
From the reading: "Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about." (Orthodoxy)
Root:Greek oligoi, few + arkhein, to rule.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god.
Context (original sentence): Calvin's Geneva is sometimes described as a theocracy.
Root:Greek theos, god + kratia, rule.
Part A. Words in context (2 points each). Choose the meaning of the word as used in the sentence.
1. "Meanwhile it would seem, as regards the moral question, that his analysis was complete; his casuistry had become keen as a razor, and he could not find rational objections in himself." Here casuistry most nearly means
A) To collect or form into a mass or group B) A system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god C) The use of clever but unsound reasoning, especially in relation to moral questions D) A benefit to which one is entitled because of one's job or position
2. "Each bore his rifle, and all the other accouterments of war, though the paint was uniformly peaceful." Here accouterments most nearly means
A) A fixed sum of money paid to someone each year, typically for the rest of their life B) Additional items of dress or equipment carried for a particular activity C) A temporary prohibition of an activity D) Leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others
3. "Three degrees of latitude reverse all jurisprudence; a meridian decides the truth." Here jurisprudence most nearly means
A) The theory or philosophy of law B) A written statement confirmed by oath, for use as evidence in court C) The action of saying farewell D) To collect or form into a mass or group
4. "The professor spent his sabbatical studying manuscripts in Rome." Here sabbatical most nearly means
A) A fixed sum of money paid to someone each year, typically for the rest of their life B) The essence or most serious part of a complaint or accusation C) A period of paid leave granted to a teacher for study or travel D) An appointment to meet someone
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: agglomerate, indenture, debenture, gravamen, theocracy, assignation, moratorium, amortize, fiduciary, annuity
5. The railway raised money by selling ______ to investors.
6. A guardian has a ______ duty to protect the orphan's inheritance.
7. Small farms ______ into vast estates over the century.
8. The ______ of the charge was that the treasurer had stolen church funds.
9. The bank declared a ______ on foreclosures during the famine.
10. "Fairfax, the housekeeper, away to her friends at a distance; but he did it handsomely, for he settled an ______ on her for life: and she deserved it—she was a very good woman."
11. The boy signed an ______ binding him to the printer for seven years.
12. Calvin's Geneva is sometimes described as a ______.
Part C. Synonyms and antonyms (1 point each).
13. Synonym of affidavit: (amortize / indenture / sworn statement)
14. Antonym of oligarchy: (agglomerate / democracy / fiduciary)
15. Synonym of valediction: (farewell / hegemony / accouterments)
16. Antonym of hegemony: (debenture / subordination / casuistry)
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: amortize, assignation, perquisite.
1. C 2. B 3. A 4. C
5. debentures 6. fiduciary 7. agglomerated 8. gravamen 9. moratorium 10. annuity 11. indenture 12. theocracy (distractors: amortize, assignation)
13. sworn statement 14. democracy 15. farewell 16. subordination
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.)