Grade 7 College Vocabulary, Week 15

Definition: knowing everything; in writing, able to tell anything about any character, place or time.

From the reading: "An omniscient narrator can tell anything about any character, place or time in the story."

KJV link: The word is not in the KJV, but the truth is: "Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off" (Psalm 139:2). Dickens's narrator only borrows, in a small way, a view that belongs to God alone.

Synonyms:

all-knowing, all-seeing

Antonyms:

ignorant, limited, uninformed

Root:Latin omnis, "all," + sciens, "knowing." Related words: science, conscience.

Definition: having all power; unlimited in strength or authority.

KJV: "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" (Revelation 19:6).

Context: When the wind tore the Thunder-oak from its roots, Winfried bowed his head before the omnipotent God. The "mighty" Thor could not even guard his own tree.

Synonyms:

almighty, all-powerful, supreme

Antonyms:

powerless, impotent, feeble

Root:Latin omnis, "all," + potens, "able, powerful." Pair it with omniscient: all-knowing and all-powerful.

Definition: (adjective) fixed with steady attention on a goal; determined; (noun) a purpose or aim.

From the reading: "...no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose..."

Synonyms:

fixed, focused, set on, resolved

Antonyms:

distracted, indifferent, aimless

Root:Latin intentus, "stretched toward," from intendere (in- "toward" + tendere "to stretch"). An intent person is stretched toward one thing.

Definition: to beg earnestly or desperately.

From the reading: "No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle..."

KJV link: When the elder son refused to come to the feast, "therefore came his father out, and intreated him" (Luke 15:28). To intreat (entreat) is to implore.

Synonyms:

beg, beseech, plead

Antonyms:

demand, command, refuse

Root:Latin implorare, "to call upon with tears" (in- + plorare, "to weep aloud").

Definition: something of little value or importance; a very small amount of money.

From the reading: "No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle..."

Synonyms:

bagatelle, pittance, triviality

Antonyms:

fortune, treasure; (verb sense) respect, take seriously

Root:Old French trufle, "mockery, a thing of no account." (Adjective: trifling, "small, unimportant.")

Definition: not taking sides; showing no strong opinion or feeling either way.

From the reading: "The narrator is not neutral; he tells us plainly that covetousness is sin."

KJV link: Christ allows no neutral ground: "He that is not with me is against me" (Matthew 12:30).

Synonyms:

impartial, uncommitted, detached

Antonyms:

partisan, biased, committed

Root:Latin neuter, "neither one nor the other" (ne- "not" + uter "either").

Definition: a moral fault or wicked habit; the opposite of a virtue.

From the reading: "Keep your comments fair; you are describing a vice, not mocking a real person."

Context: Scrooge's ruling vice is covetousness, and the whole of A Christmas Carol shows that even a hardened old sinner can turn from it.

Synonyms:

sin, failing, wickedness

Antonyms:

virtue, excellence, goodness

Root:Latin vitium, "fault, defect." (Not the same word as the carpenter's vise.)

Definition: extremely unwilling to spend money or give anything away; stingy.

Context: Parsimonious Scrooge kept his clerk's fire so small that it looked like a single coal, and he grudged him even a day off at Christmas.

KJV link: "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty" (Proverbs 11:24). The parsimonious man withholds, and is poorer for it.

Synonyms:

stingy, miserly, tight-fisted

Antonyms:

generous, munificent, lavish

Root:Latin parsimonia, "frugality," from parcere, "to spare." Tests use it for thrift carried too far.

Definition: pale, lacking color; (figuratively) dull and lifeless.

From the reading: "...pallid hill-sides blooming with mystic roses where the glow of the setting sun still lingered upon them..."

Synonyms:

pale, wan, ashen, colorless

Antonyms:

ruddy, rosy, vivid

Root:Latin pallidus, "pale," from pallere, "to be pale." Related word: pallor.

Definition: to spread something over a wide area so it is thin or scattered.

From the reading: "...a gentle, eager, conscious stillness, diffused through the air like perfume..."

Synonyms:

spread, scatter, disperse; (adjective) wordy, rambling

Antonyms:

concentrate, gather, focus; (adjective) concise

Root:Latin diffundere, "to pour out in different directions" (dis- "apart" + fundere "to pour").

Definition: impossible to pass through or see into; (also) impossible to understand.

From the reading: "...strange tales of their dwelling among the impenetrable branches of the oldest trees..."

Synonyms:

impassable, dense, unfathomable

Antonyms:

passable, accessible, transparent

Root:Latin in- "not" + penetrabilis, "that can be pierced," from penetrare, "to enter into."

Definition: a maze of winding paths; (figuratively) any confusing tangle.

From the reading: "...the pilgrims toiled bravely onward, following their clue of light through a labyrinth of darkness."

KJV link: "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (John 1:5).

Synonyms:

maze, tangle, warren

Antonyms:

straight path, open way

Root:Greek labyrinthos, the maze built in Crete in the old Greek story of Theseus. A clue (Old English cliwen, "ball of thread") first meant the thread that led Theseus out of it.

Definition: to destroy violently; to lay waste.

From the reading: "...the wolf-hordes have ravaged the folds..."

Synonyms:

devastate, plunder, wreck

Antonyms:

restore, rebuild, protect

Root:French ravager, from ravir, "to seize, carry off" (the same root as ravenous).

Definition: to calm someone's anger by giving in to demands; to satisfy or quiet.

From the reading: "Let the sacrifice go forward; the gods must be appeased." (The heathen council speaks. Winfried shows them that no blood is needed, for Christ has come.)

KJV: "A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife" (Proverbs 15:18).

Synonyms:

pacify, placate, soothe

Antonyms:

provoke, enrage, inflame

Root:Old French apaisier, "to bring to peace," from pais, "peace" (Latin pax).

Definition: to lose a right or possession as the penalty for a wrong or a failure; (noun) the thing so lost.

From the reading: "...seize the stranger whom the gods have led hither as a victim and make his life pay the forfeit of his daring."

KJV: "...all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation..." (Ezra 10:8).

Synonyms:

surrender, lose, give up; (noun) penalty, fine

Antonyms:

keep, retain, gain

Root:Old French forfait, "a crime," from Latin foris facere, "to act outside" (the law).

Definition: entering where one is not invited or welcome.

From the reading: "...to resent the intrusion of the stranger as an insult to their gods, or to welcome him as the rescuer of their darling prince."

Synonyms:

trespass, interruption, invasion

Antonyms:

invitation, welcome, withdrawal

Root:Latin intrudere, "to thrust in" (in- + trudere, "to push").

Definition: deep, full and rich in sound; (of speech) impressive and grand.

From the reading: "The young voice rang out clearly, rolling the sonorous words, without slip or stumbling, to the end of the chapter."

Synonyms:

resonant, booming, rich

Antonyms:

thin, shrill, faint

Root:Latin sonorus, from sonus, "sound." Related words: sonic, sonnet.

Definition: having many small, closely connected parts; complicated and detailed.

From the reading: "...patiently chasing intricate patterns over thick cloth with the slow needle."

Synonyms:

elaborate, complex, detailed

Antonyms:

simple, plain, straightforward

Root:Latin intricare, "to entangle," from tricae, "trifles, tricks, perplexities."

Definition: (usual and test sense) strict, severe, exacting; (older sense, as in van Dyke) sharp and biting, as bitter cold air seems to tighten around a person.

From the reading: "The stars sparkled merrily through the stringent air..."

Context (usual sense): The cloister of Pfalzel kept a stringent rule of silence at meals until the reader began.

Synonyms:

strict, rigorous, severe

Antonyms:

lax, lenient, loose

Root:Latin stringere, "to bind tight, draw together." Related words: strict, constrict.

Definition: dull because it is always the same; lacking variety.

From the reading: "...the multitude of pines and firs, innumerable and monotonous, with straight, stark trunks..."

Synonyms:

repetitive, unvaried, tedious

Antonyms:

varied, lively, changing

Root:Greek monotonos, "of one tone" (monos "single" + tonos "tone").