Grade 12 College Vocabulary, Week 32

Definition: A member of a sect; a zealous follower of a particular party or school of thought.

From the reading: "How long have you been a sectary astronomical?" (King Lear)

Synonyms:

sectarian, partisan, adherent

Antonyms:

independent, nonpartisan

Root:Latin secta, "a following, school," from sequi, "to follow."

Definition: Superfluity; an overflowing excess beyond what is needed.

From the reading: "Take physic, pomp; Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, That thou mayst shake the superflux to them And show the heavens more just." (King Lear)

Synonyms:

surplus, excess, superabundance

Antonyms:

want, scarcity, deficiency

Root:Latin super- "over" + fluere "to flow."

Definition: Wasteful or frivolous living; the scattering or squandering of energy, money or attention.

From the reading: "It was Christmas week: we took to no settled employment, but spent it in a sort of merry domestic dissipation." (Jane Eyre)

Synonyms:

squandering, frivolity, debauchery

Antonyms:

thrift, sobriety, concentration

Root:Latin dissipare, "to scatter," from dis- "apart" + supare "to throw."

Definition: A person obsessed with one idea or purpose to the point of madness.

From the reading: "Such a crew, so officered, seemed specially picked and packed by some infernal fatality to help him to his monomaniac revenge." (Moby-Dick)

Synonyms:

obsessive, fanatic, zealot

Antonyms:

(none exact) dabbler

Root:Greek monos, "single," + mania, "madness."

Definition: Faith or loyalty when pledged in a solemn agreement or undertaking.

From the reading: "Swithold footed thrice the old; He met the nightmare, and her nine-fold; Bid her alight and her troth plight, And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee!" (King Lear)

Synonyms:

faith, fidelity, pledge

Antonyms:

betrayal

Root:Old English treowth, truth.

Definition: To congratulate; to consider oneself fortunate.

From the reading: "And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?" (The Republic)

Synonyms:

congratulate, compliment, rejoice with

Antonyms:

commiserate, condole

Root:Latin felicitare, "to make happy," from felix, felicis, "happy."

Definition: A soft greasy or viscous substance used as ointment or for lubrication.

From the reading: "Hast thou that unguent of which thou speakest?”" (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

ointment, salve, balm

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin unguere, to anoint.

Definition: A person who has risen suddenly in rank or importance, especially one who behaves arrogantly.

From the reading: "I’ll scatter with a breath the upstart’s might, And bring thee home again and stablish thee, And stablish, having cast him out, myself." (The Oedipus Trilogy)

Synonyms:

parvenu, arriviste, nouveau riche

Antonyms:

aristocrat

Root:up + start.

Definition: Foolish vanity in dress and manners; the behavior of a fop.

From the reading: "The captive Abbot’s features and manners exhibited a whimsical mixture of offended pride, and deranged foppery and bodily terror." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

dandyism, affectation, vanity

Antonyms:

plainness, simplicity, modesty

Root:English fop, originally "a fool," perhaps related to German foppen, "to jeer."

Definition: The killing of a parent or close relative; one who commits it.

From the reading: "But it were impious to trace any farther the picture of the blasphemer and parricide’s deathbed." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

patricide, matricide, kin-slaying

Antonyms:

(none exact) filial piety

Root:Latin parricida, from pater, "father" (or parens, "parent"), + caedere, "to kill."

Definition: The quality of being sound, well-founded or legally binding.

From the reading: "We will ascertain beyond a doubt the validity of the affidavits in regard to his whereabouts on the Sunday." (The Works of Edgar Allan Poe)

Synonyms:

soundness, legitimacy, force

Antonyms:

invalidity, weakness, nullity

Root:Latin validus, "strong," from valere, "to be strong."

Definition: Given or felt by each toward the other; mutual.

From the reading: "The British of the New World have a thousand other reciprocal ties; and they live at a time when the tendency to equality is general amongst mankind." (Democracy in America)

KJV link: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12)

Synonyms:

mutual, shared, corresponding

Antonyms:

one-sided, unilateral

Root:Latin reciprocus, "returning the same way, alternating."

Definition: An area of wooden paneling on the lower part of the walls of a room.

From the reading: "The fire-light on their faces glanced, Their shadows on the wainscot danced, And, though of different lands and speech, Each had his tale to tell, and each Was anxious to be pleased and please." (Poems of Longfellow)

Synonyms:

paneling, dado

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Middle Low German wagenschot, wagon boarding.

Definition: The sky or heaven.

From the reading: "But brief the space from one When to the other; Of my awaiting, say I, and the seeing The welkin grow resplendent more and more." (The Divine Comedy)

Synonyms:

sky, firmament, heavens

Antonyms:

earth

Root:Old English wolcen, cloud.

Definition: Cruelly oppressive; acting like a tyrant.

From the reading: "Thou canst be strong, and yet not tyrannous, Canst righteous be and not intolerant." (Poems of Longfellow)

Synonyms:

despotic, oppressive, domineering

Antonyms:

just, lenient, benevolent

Root:Greek tyrannos, "absolute ruler."

Definition: A distilling apparatus once used in alchemy; something that refines or transforms.

From the reading: "The venerable Isaac is subjected to an alembic, which will distil from him all he holds dear, without any assistance from my requests or thy entreaty." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

still, retort, crucible

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Arabic al-anbiq, the still.

Definition: A person who prepared and sold medicines; a pharmacist.

From the reading: "Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination." (King Lear)

Synonyms:

druggist, chemist, pharmacist

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin apotheca, storehouse.

Definition: A person who lends money at an exorbitant rate of interest.

From the reading: "That the usurer is the greatest Sabbath-breaker, because his plough goeth every Sunday." (Essays of Bacon)

Synonyms:

moneylender, loan shark

Antonyms:

benefactor, almsgiver

Root:Latin usura, "use of money, interest," from uti, "to use."

Definition: A badge or distinguishing mark of military rank, office, or membership.

From the reading: "There was a basement first, broken in the middle by a broad arched passage, called the Porta Pompae, over which, on an elevated tribunal magnificently decorated with insignia and legionary standards, the consul sat in the place of honor." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

badge, emblem, crest

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin insignia, signs.

Definition: A person, especially a man, who behaves without moral principles or a sense of responsibility.

From the reading: "But good my brother, Do not as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; Whilst like a puff’d and reckless libertine Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own rede." (Hamlet)

Synonyms:

rake, roue, profligate

Antonyms:

puritan, ascetic

Root:Latin libertinus, freedman.