Grade 12 College Vocabulary, Week 28

Definition: Occupation of a position of dominant power or influence.

From the reading: "His voice dropped into an easy, familiar tone, but without relaxing the ascendancy he had gained." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

dominance, supremacy, predominance

Antonyms:

subordination

Root:Latin ascendere, to climb up.

Definition: Planned beforehand; premeditated, as in malice aforethought.

From the reading: "Men say, practically, Begin where you are and such as you are, without aiming mainly to become of more worth, and with kindness aforethought go about doing good." (Walden)

Synonyms:

premeditated, deliberate, planned

Antonyms:

spontaneous, unplanned

Root:Old English fore + thought.

Definition: Selfless concern for the well-being of others.

From the reading: "To preach egoism is to practise altruism." (Orthodoxy)

Synonyms:

selflessness, benevolence, charity

Antonyms:

selfishness, egoism

Root:French altruisme, from Italian altrui, someone else.

Definition: To cause someone to become hostile.

From the reading: "To offend the East would be a bad beginning with the Parthians; to offend Sheik Ilderim would be to antagonize the Desert, over which lie all Maxentius’s lines of operation." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

provoke, alienate, offend

Antonyms:

conciliate, placate

Root:Greek antagonizesthai, to struggle against.

Definition: A warning or proviso of specific stipulations or limitations.

Context (original sentence): The guide agreed to lead us, with the caveat that we turn back at the first storm.

Synonyms:

warning, proviso, qualification

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin caveat, let him beware.

Definition: To give up power or territory.

From the reading: "Thus, an aristocracy can never become a majority whilst it retains its exclusive privileges, and it cannot cede its privileges without ceasing to be an aristocracy." (Democracy in America)

Synonyms:

surrender, yield, relinquish

Antonyms:

retain, seize

Root:Latin cedere, to yield.

Definition: Something pledged as security for repayment of a loan.

Context (original sentence): The farmer offered his land as collateral for the loan.

Synonyms:

security, guarantee, pledge

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin collateralis, side by side.

Definition: A list of cases for trial; an agenda.

From the reading: "When I had no more ticks to make, I folded all my bills up uniformly, docketed each on the back, and tied the whole into a symmetrical bundle." (Great Expectations)

Synonyms:

calendar, schedule, agenda

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:perhaps from dock, to cut short.

Definition: To involve something as a necessary or inevitable part or consequence.

From the reading: "Jane and Elizabeth attempted to explain to her the nature of an entail." (Pride and Prejudice)

Synonyms:

involve, require, necessitate

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:en- + Old French taille, limitation.

Definition: To contemplate or conceive of as a future possibility.

Context (original sentence): The founders envisaged a college where every student would read the great books.

Synonyms:

foresee, imagine, picture

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French envisager, to look in the face.

Definition: To obtain something by force, threats, or other unfair means.

From the reading: "This horrid species of torture may remind the reader of that to which the Spaniards subjected Guatimozin, in order to extort a discovery of his concealed wealth." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

wring, extract, blackmail

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin extorquere, to twist out.

Definition: Necessary for someone as a duty or responsibility; currently holding office.

Context (original sentence): It is incumbent upon every citizen to obey just laws.

Synonyms:

obligatory, binding, mandatory

Antonyms:

optional

Root:Latin incumbere, to lie upon.

Definition: To intervene on behalf of another.

From the reading: "Three ambassadors, brothers of the noble old family of Fabius, were sent from Rome to intercede for the Clusians." (A Book of Golden Deeds)

Synonyms:

mediate, plead, intervene

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin intercedere, to go between.

Definition: Responsible by law; likely to do or experience something.

Context (original sentence): The owner is liable for any damage his cattle do to the neighbor's crops.

Synonyms:

responsible, accountable; prone

Antonyms:

exempt, immune

Root:Anglo-Norman lier, to bind.

Definition: An open rebellion against the proper authorities, especially by soldiers or sailors against their officers.

From the reading: "Clare was a soldier of the old religious type--the type that saved us during the Mutiny,” continued Brown." (The Innocence of Father Brown)

Synonyms:

revolt, rebellion, insurrection

Antonyms:

obedience

Root:French mutin, rebellious.

Definition: Existing in name only; very small, far below real value.

From the reading: "It was no nominal meal that we were going to make, but a vigorous reality." (Great Expectations)

Synonyms:

titular, token, slight

Antonyms:

real, actual

Root:Latin nomen, name.

Definition: Involving or limited to basic principles; undeveloped.

Context (original sentence): The settlers had only a rudimentary knowledge of farming.

Synonyms:

basic, elementary, primitive

Antonyms:

advanced, sophisticated

Root:Latin rudimentum, first principle.

Definition: Tending to spend much time seated; settled in one place.

From the reading: "He was a seaman, but he was a wanderer, too, while most seamen lead, if one may so express it, a sedentary life." (Heart of Darkness)

Synonyms:

inactive, seated, stationary

Antonyms:

active, nomadic

Root:Latin sedere, to sit.

Definition: To infringe or go beyond the bounds of a moral principle or law.

From the reading: "But extraordinary men have a right to commit any crime and to transgress the law in any way, just because they are extraordinary." (Crime and Punishment)

Synonyms:

disobey, sin, violate

Antonyms:

obey, keep

Root:Latin transgredi, to step across.

Definition: Modeled on or aiming for a perfect state of things, often impractically.

From the reading: "All my modern Utopian friends look at each other rather doubtfully, for their ultimate hope is the dissolution of all special ties." (Orthodoxy)

Synonyms:

idealistic, visionary, impractical

Antonyms:

realistic, practical

Root:from Thomas More's Utopia, Greek ou, not + topos, place.