Grade 7 College Vocabulary, Week 12

Definition: decoration or outward show added to make something look finer; in Bassanio's speech, a lovely surface that hides what a thing really is.

From the reading: "The world is still deceiv’d with ornament."

Synonyms:

decoration, adornment, embellishment

Antonyms:

plainness, simplicity, bareness

Root:Latin ornamentum, from ornare, "to adorn." Related to ornate (heavily decorated).

Definition: spoiled, stained or corrupted by something bad, often only slightly but still truly.

From the reading: "In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt"

Context: Gandalf would not take the Ring even to do good with it, because he knew that every good wish would end up tainted by its power.

Synonyms:

contaminated, sullied, polluted

Antonyms:

pure, untainted, unblemished

Root:Old French teint, "dyed, colored," from Latin tingere, "to dye": something stained through.

Definition: courteous, kind and pleasant in manner; (also) showing undeserved favor and mercy, as God does.

From the reading: "being season’d with a gracious voice" (Bassanio warns that a guilty plea can sound innocent when a pleasant voice speaks it).

KJV: "The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself" (Ecclesiastes 10:12).

Synonyms:

courteous, kindly, benevolent

Antonyms:

rude, churlish, ungracious

Root:Latin gratiosus, "full of favor," from gratia, "favor, grace."

Definition: worthy of fear or great respect; formidable. (Bassanio uses the older form redoubted, "feared.")

From the reading: "To render them redoubted" (cowards grow great beards so that men will fear them).

Context: Bassanio's cowards only look redoubtable. A truly redoubtable soldier is feared because of what he has done, not because of how he looks.

Synonyms:

formidable, fearsome, awe-inspiring

Antonyms:

feeble, harmless, unimpressive

Root:Old French redouter, "to fear greatly" (re-, intensive + douter, "to fear, doubt," from Latin dubitare).

Definition: To take for granted without proof; to put on a look or quality, often falsely (the sense Bassanio uses, and one tests like to check).

From the reading: "There is no vice so simple but assumes ... Some mark of virtue on his outward parts."

Synonyms:

(sense 2) put on, affect, feign

Antonyms:

(sense 2) shed, drop, reveal

Root:Latin assumere, "to take up" (ad-, "to" + sumere, "to take"): to take a look or role on oneself.

Definition: A thin layer of fine wood glued over cheaper material; a thin, attractive outward show that hides something different underneath.

KJV link: Christ called the hypocrites "whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). Their righteousness was only a veneer.

Synonyms:

facade, surface, gloss

Antonyms:

core, substance, reality

Root:German Furnier, from French fournir, "to furnish": a layer furnished over plainer wood.

Definition: seeming or claimed to be true on the surface, but not necessarily so; apparent.

Context: At the inn at Bree, the hobbits feared the weather-stained Ranger in the corner. His ostensible menace hid a friend, the opposite of Bassanio's fair faces that hide a fault.

Synonyms:

apparent, outward, professed

Antonyms:

genuine, real, actual

Root:Latin ostendere, "to show" (ob-, "before" + tendere, "to stretch"): what is held out for show.

Definition: making a show of being holier or better than others; self-righteous.

KJV link: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men" (Matthew 6:5).

Synonyms:

self-righteous, holier-than-thou, pharisaical

Antonyms:

humble, sincere, unpretentious

Root:Latin sanctimonia, "holiness," from sanctus, "holy." The word once meant truly holy. Now it means pretending to be.

Definition: eager to get and keep possessions; grasping.

Context: For years Lobelia Sackville-Baggins had cast acquisitive eyes on Bag End, and after Bilbo's party she tried to slip away with small valuables.

Synonyms:

grasping, covetous, greedy

Antonyms:

generous, content, unselfish

Root:Latin acquirere, "to get in addition" (ad-, "to" + quaerere, "to seek").

Definition: To hold someone's whole attention, to captivate; in the older sense, to enslave.

Context: The Ring had so enthralled Bilbo that Gandalf had to press him hard before he would leave it behind for Frodo.

Synonyms:

captivate, enchant, enslave

Antonyms:

bore, repel, free

Root:en-, "into" + thrall, "slave" (Old Norse thræll): to make someone a slave. Both meanings fit the Ring.

Definition: slowly eating away or destroying something, like rust on iron or acid on stone.

Context: Gandalf warns Frodo that the Ring's power is corrosive: it wears away anyone who keeps it, little by little, as it had worn down Gollum.

KJV link: "Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you" (James 5:3).

Synonyms:

caustic, destructive, eroding

Antonyms:

healing, restorative, wholesome

Root:Latin corrodere, "to gnaw to pieces" (cor-, "thoroughly" + rodere, "to gnaw"). Related to rodent.

Definition: wicked and criminal; villainous.

Context: At the Council of Elrond, Gandalf told how Saruman, once the head of his order, had turned to nefarious plans to seize the Ring for himself.

Synonyms:

villainous, wicked, heinous

Antonyms:

virtuous, honorable, upright

Root:Latin nefarius, from nefas, "a crime against divine law" (ne-, "not" + fas, "what is lawful by heaven").

Definition: deserving strong blame; shameful.

Context: A fair invective calls a reprehensible deed by its real name and does not dress it up as something noble.

KJV link: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil" (Isaiah 5:20).

Synonyms:

blameworthy, culpable, disgraceful

Antonyms:

praiseworthy, commendable, admirable

Root:Latin reprehendere, "to hold back, blame" (re-, "back" + prehendere, "to seize").

Definition: to condemn something openly as wrong or worthless.

Context: In Matthew 23, Christ decried the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. He named their deeds again and again, then ended with a lament over Jerusalem.

Synonyms:

denounce, condemn, censure

Antonyms:

praise, extol, applaud

Root:Old French descrier, "to cry down" (des-, "down" + crier, "to cry out").

Definition: a long, bitter, often abusive spoken or written attack.

Context: An invective is not a diatribe. The diatribe piles up insults, while a true invective blames real deeds, grants an honest concession, and warns instead of sneering.

Synonyms:

tirade, harangue, rant

Antonyms:

praise, tribute, encomium

Root:Greek diatribe, "a wearing away (of time), a discourse," from diatribein, "to rub away."

Definition: bitterly harsh and full of hatred, especially in speech or writing.

Context: A vitriolic paragraph may feel strong to write, but readers stop trusting a writer who sounds cruel.

KJV link: "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger" (Proverbs 15:1).

Synonyms:

caustic, venomous, scathing

Antonyms:

gentle, kindly, mild

Root:Latin vitriolum, "oil of vitriol" (sulfuric acid), from vitrum, "glass," because some of its crystals looked like glass. Vitriolic words burn like acid.

Definition: outstandingly bad; shocking.

Context: Benedict Arnold's attempt to sell West Point was an egregious betrayal because his country had trusted and honored him.

Synonyms:

flagrant, glaring, outrageous

Antonyms:

minor, trivial, slight

Root:Latin egregius, "standing out from the flock" (e-, "out of" + grex, gregis, "flock"). It once meant "excellent" and now means "outstandingly bad."

Definition: false or fake, though it may look genuine; (also) based on bad reasoning.

Context: The hobbits of Hobbiton loved to repeat spurious rumors that Bilbo's tunnels were stuffed with treasure. Gossip rarely checks its facts.

Synonyms:

false, counterfeit, bogus

Antonyms:

genuine, authentic, valid

Root:Latin spurius, "false, not genuine."

Definition: a false reason given to hide the real one.

Context: Boromir was brave and loved his city. Even so, at Amon Hen he used Gondor's need as a pretext for trying to take the Ring, a deed he would soon bitterly repent.

KJV link: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer" (Matthew 23:14). The KJV word pretence is a close cousin of pretext.

Synonyms:

excuse, pretense, cover

Antonyms:

real reason, true motive

Root:Latin praetextum, "an outward show," from praetexere, "to weave in front, to disguise" (prae-, "before" + texere, "to weave").

Definition: on the surface only; not deep or thorough; caring only about appearances.

From the reading: "So may the outward shows be least themselves."

Context: A suitor who judged the caskets in a superficial way chose the gold one. Bassanio looked past the shine and chose the lead.

KJV link: "for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

Synonyms:

shallow, surface-level, cursory

Antonyms:

deep, thorough, profound

Root:Latin superficies, "surface" (super, "above" + facies, "face").