Grade 12 College Vocabulary, Week 27

Definition: To increase the power, status, or wealth of; to make something appear greater than it is.

Context (original sentence): The duke used every marriage in his family to aggrandize his house.

Synonyms:

enlarge, exalt, magnify

Antonyms:

diminish, belittle

Root:French agrandir, from Latin grandis, great.

Definition: Cheerful and full of energy.

Context (original sentence): The ebullient captain greeted every sailor by name.

Synonyms:

exuberant, buoyant, effervescent

Antonyms:

morose, subdued

Root:Latin ebullire, to boil over.

Definition: Expressing feelings of gratitude, pleasure, or approval in an unrestrained or heartfelt manner.

Context (original sentence): The widow was effusive in her thanks to the doctor.

Synonyms:

gushing, lavish, demonstrative

Antonyms:

reserved, restrained

Root:Latin effundere, to pour out.

Definition: Sluggish and apathetic; drowsy.

From the reading: "It made us all lethargic before we had gone far, and when we had left the Half-way House behind, we habitually dozed and shivered and were silent." (Great Expectations)

Synonyms:

sluggish, listless, torpid

Antonyms:

energetic, lively

Root:Greek lethargos, forgetful.

Definition: Destructive to life; deadly; morally harmful.

From the reading: "No one has so well earned the privilege of abolishing this pestilent limb of Satan.”" (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc)

Synonyms:

deadly, noxious, pernicious

Antonyms:

wholesome, healthful

Root:Latin pestis, plague.

Definition: A sign or warning that something momentous or calamitous is likely to happen.

From the reading: "Yet, mad with zeal, and blinded with our fate, We haul along the horse in solemn state; Then place the dire portent within the tow’r." (The Aeneid)

Synonyms:

omen, sign, harbinger

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin portendere, to foretell.

Definition: Understood or implied without being stated.

From the reading: "In tacit acknowledgment of the effect, the Roman spoke as an older man to a younger, not as a master to a slave." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

implicit, unspoken, implied

Antonyms:

explicit, stated

Root:Latin tacitus, silent.

Definition: Inclined to agree with others or obey rules, especially to an excessive degree.

From the reading: "It is only because our connection happens to be very transitory, and comes at a peculiarly mournful season, that I consent thus to render it so patient and compliant on my part.”" (Jane Eyre)

Synonyms:

obedient, submissive, docile

Antonyms:

defiant, unruly

Root:from comply, Italian complire, to fulfill.

Definition: Not telling the truth; lying.

From the reading: "Nor I be made the figure of a seal To privileges venal and mendacious, Whereat I often redden and flash with fire." (The Divine Comedy)

Synonyms:

lying, untruthful, deceitful

Antonyms:

truthful, honest

Root:Latin mendax, lying.

Definition: To call together an assembly or meeting.

From the reading: "Duarte convoked the States-general of the kingdom, to consider whether Ceuta should be yielded to purchase his brother's freedom." (A Book of Golden Deeds)

Synonyms:

summon, assemble, convene

Antonyms:

dismiss, dissolve

Root:Latin convocare, to call together.

Definition: A sculpture or model of a person.

From the reading: "Two objects fixed his attention—the eagle of the legion first—a gilded effigy perched on a tall shaft, with wings outspread until they met above its head." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

likeness, statue, image

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin effigies, from effingere, to fashion.

Definition: Regularly found among particular people or in a certain area; native to a region.

Context (original sentence): Malaria was endemic in the low-lying swamps.

Synonyms:

native, indigenous, prevalent

Antonyms:

foreign, exotic

Root:Greek endemos, native.

Definition: Intricate and refined delicacy; skill in handling a situation.

From the reading: "To be brief upon a vile topic, none of the low finesse was omitted, so customary upon similar occasions that it is a just matter for wonder how any are still found so besotted as to fall its victim." (The Works of Edgar Allan Poe)

Synonyms:

skill, delicacy, tact

Antonyms:

clumsiness

Root:French finesse, fineness.

Definition: Relating to or resulting from motion.

Context (original sentence): A rolling boulder has great kinetic energy.

Synonyms:

moving, motive, dynamic

Antonyms:

static

Root:Greek kinein, to move.

Definition: Incongruously varied in appearance or character; disparate.

From the reading: "Turning from the Pharisee, we are attracted by some parties who, as subjects of study, opportunely separate themselves from the motley crowd." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

assorted, varied, heterogeneous

Antonyms:

uniform, homogeneous

Root:Middle English motlei, perhaps from mot, speck.

Definition: Pretentious or juvenile; conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed.

Context (original sentence): His sophomoric essay quoted three philosophers he had never read.

Synonyms:

juvenile, immature, puerile

Antonyms:

mature, wise

Root:from sophomore, Greek sophos, wise + moros, foolish.

Definition: Conforming to accepted standards of good taste; proper.

From the reading: "Neither in halls, nor yet in bowers, Born would he not be Neither in castles, nor yet in towers That seemly were to see." (The Wakefield Second Shepherds' Play)

Synonyms:

proper, decorous, fitting

Antonyms:

unseemly, improper

Root:Old Norse soemiligr, from soemr, fitting.

Definition: Clothing.

From the reading: "He put on his raiment, bound his sandals on his feet, hung his sharp sword across his shoulder, and took in his hand a spear of bronze." (The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy)

Synonyms:

clothing, attire, garb

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old French areement, array.

Definition: A heading on a document; a direction in a liturgical book; a set of rules or a category.

From the reading: "I asked her once what was the great attraction of that volume, and she said, “the Rubric.”" (Jane Eyre)

Synonyms:

heading, instruction, category

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin rubrica, red earth, red heading.

Definition: Using or expressing dry, especially mocking, humor; twisted.

Context (original sentence): He gave a wry smile when his horse finished last.

Synonyms:

dry, ironic, sardonic

Antonyms:

earnest

Root:Old English wrigian, to turn.