Grade 6 College Vocabulary, Week 17

Definition: words that appeal to the senses and make pictures in the reader's mind; (also) pictures or images taken as a group.

From the reading: "Imagery is made from exact nouns and verbs more than from adjectives."

Synonyms:

word-pictures, description, figurative language

Antonyms:

abstraction, vagueness

Root:Latin imago, "likeness, picture." The same root gives us image and imagine.

Definition: bright blue, like a clear sky.

From the reading: "Ring’d with the azure world, he stands."

Synonyms:

sky-blue, cerulean, sapphire

Antonyms:

(no exact opposite) gray, overcast, murky

Root:Old French azur, from Persian lazhward, the blue stone lapis lazuli.

Definition: To stay or dwell in a place; to remain; to put up with or accept (the common test sense: "abide by the rules," "I cannot abide rudeness").

From the reading: "She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place."

KJV: That verse is Job 39:28, and the lesson prints it as its Scripture. Pyle uses the word too: "Let matters abide as they were a little longer."

Synonyms:

remain, dwell, stay; (second sense) tolerate, bear, endure

Antonyms:

depart, leave; (second sense) reject, resist

Root:Old English abidan, "to wait, remain."

Definition: to fall or drop straight down very fast.

Context: In Tennyson's last line the eagle plummets from his mountain walls like a thunderbolt and falls on his prey far below.

KJV link: In the KJV the noun means a builder's weight on a line, used to check that a wall stands straight: "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet" (Isaiah 28:17). God measures men the way a builder measures a wall.

Synonyms:

plunge, dive, tumble

Antonyms:

soar, rise, ascend

Root:Old French plommet, "a small ball of lead," from Latin plumbum, "lead." A lead weight drops straight down.

Definition: hard to control or discipline; disorderly.

From the reading: "The lads under his charge were a rude, rough, unruly set, quick, like their elders, to quarrel"

KJV: "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:8).

Synonyms:

disorderly, rowdy, wild

Antonyms:

orderly, obedient, disciplined

Root:un- (not) + ruly, an old word for "obedient to rule," from rule (Latin regula, "straightedge").

Definition: noisy, rough, and full of energy.

From the reading: "...the lads in the squires' quarters were still wrestling and sparring and romping boisterously..."

Synonyms:

rowdy, rambunctious, loud

Antonyms:

quiet, calm, subdued

Root:Middle English boistous, "rough, coarse." Its origin is uncertain.

Definition: a rough, noisy fight or quarrel; to fight in this way.

From the reading: "It was with this special admonition against brawling that Myles was dismissed..."

Synonyms:

fight, scuffle, fray, melee

Antonyms:

peace, truce, harmony

Root:Middle English brawlen, "to quarrel noisily."

Definition: refusing to change one's mind or give way. Sometimes this is a fault, and sometimes it is steady courage.

From the reading: "...he only shook his stubborn head..."

KJV: Israel was warned not to be like their fathers, "a stubborn and rebellious generation" (Psalm 78:8).

Synonyms:

obstinate, headstrong, unyielding

Antonyms:

yielding, docile, flexible

Root:Middle English stoborne, probably from stub (a tree stump). Something stubborn is as hard to move as a stump.

Definition: anger at something that seems unfair or unworthy.

From the reading: "Then, with a sort of indignation, why should Myles, who had only come among them a month, take such service more to heart than they who had endured it for years?"

Synonyms:

resentment, outrage, displeasure

Antonyms:

contentment, approval, calm

Root:Latin indignatio, from indignus, "unworthy" (in- "not" + dignus "worthy").

Definition: a lasting feeling of ill will toward someone over a past wrong.

From the reading: "...had played a trick with it one night upon a watchman against whom they bore a grudge."

KJV: "Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door" (James 5:9).

Synonyms:

resentment, spite, rancor

Antonyms:

goodwill, forgiveness, friendliness

Root:Old French grouchier, "to murmur, complain." Grouch comes from the same word.

Definition: the painful feeling of being made to look foolish or brought low, especially in front of others.

From the reading: "...a face white as death, and convulsed with rage, mortification, and bitter humiliation."

Synonyms:

shame, disgrace, mortification

Antonyms:

honor, pride, triumph

Root:Latin humiliare, "to bring low," from humilis, "low," from humus, "ground." Humble comes from the same root. To be humbled is good for the soul, but to be humiliated stings.

Definition: (older sense) to come down kindly from a high rank to deal with someone lower; (modern sense, common on tests) to treat others as if they were beneath you.

From the reading: "You may be pleased to bring to mind that you so condescended as to promise to take him into your train..." (the Earl speaks to the Prince, a royal highness.)

KJV: "Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate" (Romans 12:16). Here the word is high praise. Christ Himself came down to the lowly.

Synonyms:

(sense 1) stoop, deign; (sense 2) patronize, talk down to

Antonyms:

(sense 2) respect, honor, defer to

Root:Latin con- (together, with) + descendere (to come down).

Definition: the medieval code of knighthood (courage, honor, loyalty, and protecting the weak); (also) courteous, gallant behavior.

From the reading: "A quaint old book treating of knighthood and chivalry gives a full and detailed account..."

Synonyms:

knighthood, gallantry, honor

Antonyms:

cowardice, rudeness, dishonor

Root:Old French chevalerie, from chevalier, "horseman," from Latin caballus, "horse." A knight was first of all a man on horseback.

Definition: a time of staying awake at night to keep watch or to pray.

From the reading: "These he watched and guarded while the others slept, keeping vigil until sunrise..."

KJV link: In Gethsemane Christ told the sleeping disciples, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation" (Matthew 26:41). The word vigil is not in the verse, but a vigil is exactly this kind of watching.

Synonyms:

watch, wake, lookout

Antonyms:

sleep, neglect, inattention

Root:Latin vigilia, "wakefulness," from vigil, "awake, watchful." Vigilant comes from the same root.

Definition: a painful or difficult experience that tests a person; (in the Middle Ages) a trial in which guilt or innocence was decided by a hard test, such as single combat.

From the reading: "...as though they were riding to a wedding rather than to a grim and dreadful ordeal that meant either victory or death."

Synonyms:

trial, test, tribulation

Antonyms:

ease, comfort, relief

Root:Old English ordal, "judgment." Pyle's "ordeal by battle" keeps the old meaning.

Definition: full of strong, eager feeling; passionate and devoted.

From the reading: "...the King had many rational, perhaps just, grounds for grievance against such an ardent opponent as the blind Lord had shown himself to be."

Synonyms:

passionate, fervent, zealous

Antonyms:

indifferent, apathetic, lukewarm

Root:Latin ardere, "to burn." An ardent heart is a burning heart.

Definition: seeming evil or threatening; suggesting that harm is coming.

From the reading: "...drawing his bushy eyebrows together into a frown stern, if not sinister."

Synonyms:

menacing, ominous, threatening

Antonyms:

harmless, kindly, reassuring

Root:Latin sinister, "on the left hand." The Romans thought omens seen on the left were unlucky.

Definition: Rough and uneven, like rocky ground; strong, tough, and able to endure hardship.

From the reading: "...his soul was of that grim, sterling, rugged sort that looked out calmly from his gray eyes..."

Synonyms:

rough, craggy; (second sense) sturdy, hardy, tough

Antonyms:

smooth, level; (second sense) delicate, frail

Root:Middle English rugged, "shaggy, rough," probably from a Scandinavian word. Tennyson's crag is rugged ground.

Definition: stopping and starting again at intervals; not steady or continuous.

From the reading: "...the thunderous clashing and clamor of blows, now and then beating intermittently, now and then pausing."

Synonyms:

sporadic, periodic, fitful

Antonyms:

continuous, constant, steady

Root:Latin intermittere, "to leave off for a time" (inter- "between" + mittere "to send, let go").

Definition: Sharp, as a blade or a sense (a keen eye); quick to notice or understand; eager.

From the reading: "...his one eye, as bright and as steady as that of a hawk, looking keenly from under the penthouse of its bushy brows..."

Synonyms:

sharp, acute, perceptive; (third sense) eager

Antonyms:

dull, blunt; (third sense) reluctant

Root:Old English cene, "bold, brave." The meaning later became "sharp."