Grade 7 College Vocabulary, Week 24

Definition: to declare someone or something unfit or not allowed to take part, usually for breaking a rule.

From the reading: "Going over or under the word limit, which can disqualify an otherwise good essay."

Synonyms:

bar, exclude, rule out

Antonyms:

qualify, admit, accept

Root:dis- (not) + qualify, from Latin qualis, "of what kind," + facere, "to make": to make someone not of the right kind.

Definition: the state of being allowed or qualified to take part in or receive something.

From the reading: "...confirm eligibility for home-educated students with that Post..."

Synonyms:

qualification, fitness, suitability

Antonyms:

ineligibility, disqualification

Root:Latin eligere, "to pick out, choose" (e- "out" + legere "to choose"). The eligible are those who may be chosen.

Definition: the quality of being one's own work and not copied; (also) freshness of thought.

From the reading: "...its rules on originality and outside help..."

KJV link: The lesson applies Paul's rule to contest writing: "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour" (Ephesians 4:25). An essay that pretends to be your own when it is not is a kind of lie.

Synonyms:

authenticity, freshness, inventiveness

Antonyms:

imitation, plagiarism, unoriginality

Root:Latin origo, "beginning, source," from oriri, "to rise." Original work rises from its own source.

Definition: a person who enters a contest, race or competition.

From the reading: "The question or subject a contest asks every entrant to write about."

Synonyms:

contestant, competitor, candidate

Antonyms:

spectator, judge, onlooker

Root:French entrant, "entering," from Latin intrare, "to go in."

Definition: A person who has served in the armed forces; anyone with long experience in a field.

From the reading: "The veteran continued looking up the hill in silence." (the old soldier Bennet Hatch, in Chapter I)

Context: The lesson defines a veteran as "A person who has served in the armed forces of the United States." The Patriot’s Pen theme asks what a veteran taught you.

KJV link: "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:3).

Synonyms:

old soldier, ex-serviceman; (sense 2) old hand, expert

Antonyms:

recruit, novice, beginner

Root:Latin veteranus, "old, experienced," from vetus, "old."

Definition: (noun) a body of soldiers stationed in a fort or town to defend it; (verb) to station troops in a place to guard it.

From the reading: "...to garrison the Moat House, but to escort the priest across the wood."

Synonyms:

(noun) troops, guard, force; (verb) occupy, defend, man

Antonyms:

(verb) abandon, evacuate, desert

Root:Old French garison, "defense, protection," from garir, "to defend," from a Germanic word meaning "to guard."

Definition: to give someone a duty or a valuable thing to care for, trusting him to be faithful with it.

From the reading: "That he should have entrusted such a post to one he knew not is a marvel."

KJV: "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust" (1 Timothy 6:20).

Context: The model essay ends by calling America "a trust handed from one generation to the next." Each generation is entrusted with it.

Synonyms:

commit, consign, hand over

Antonyms:

withhold, keep back, distrust

Root:en- (to put into) + trust, from Old Norse traust, "confidence, firmness."

Definition: A duty one is bound to perform; in older usage, a written promise to pay a debt.

From the reading: "...I be now absolved from any gratitude or obligation..." (Dick, when he learns that his guardian, Sir Daniel, means to kill him)

From the reading (sense 2): "...write me swiftly an obligation for twenty pound."

KJV: "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another" (Romans 13:8). Love is the one debt that is never fully paid.

Synonyms:

duty, responsibility, debt

Antonyms:

choice, option, exemption

Root:Latin obligare, "to bind," from ob- (to, toward) + ligare (to tie). An obligation ties you to a duty, as a ligament ties bone to bone.

Definition: a manner or bearing that is serious, calm and worthy of respect; (also) the worth that deserves respect.

From the reading: "His visor was raised, and showed a countenance of great command and dignity, answerable to the richness of his attire and arms."

Also: "...two monks, who now, with a sort of humble dignity, entered the kitchen of the farm..." (Dignity and humility can go together.)

Synonyms:

nobility, stateliness, honor

Antonyms:

indignity, disgrace, foolishness

Root:Latin dignitas, "worthiness," from dignus, "worthy."

Definition: (verb) to bring shame on someone or to treat him without respect; (noun) loss of honor; disgrace.

From the reading: "I saw one man valiantly contending against many," replied Dick, "and I had thought myself dishonoured not to bear him aid."

KJV: "I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me" (John 8:49).

Synonyms:

shame, disgrace, discredit

Antonyms:

honor, esteem, credit

Root:dis- (opposite of) + Latin honos, honoris, "honor, public esteem."

Definition: not faithful to one's country, cause, friends or promises.

From the reading: "...though I fear it be disloyal to my party, I will take the challenge openly and fully..." (Dick to Sir Daniel, near the end of the book)

KJV link: "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?" (Proverbs 20:6).

Synonyms:

unfaithful, faithless, treacherous

Antonyms:

loyal, faithful, devoted

Root:dis- (not) + loyal, from Old French loial, from Latin legalis, "lawful" (lex, "law"). A loyal man keeps the law of his promises.

Definition: mild and merciful in punishing or judging; not strict.

From the reading: "I knew your father, who was a man of honour, and this inclineth me to be the more lenient..." (Earl Risingham to Dick)

KJV link: "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful" (Luke 6:36).

Synonyms:

merciful, forgiving, mild

Antonyms:

harsh, strict, severe

Root:Latin lenire, "to soften, soothe," from lenis, "soft, gentle."

Definition: refusal to obey those in authority; defiance of orders.

From the reading: "...men who have just disgraced themselves by cowardice, as if to wipe out the memory of their fault, will sometimes run straight into the opposite extreme of insubordination."

Synonyms:

disobedience, defiance, rebellion

Antonyms:

obedience, submission, discipline

Root:in- (not) + Latin sub- (under) + ordinare (to put in order): refusing to take one's place under command.

Definition: To win out or prove stronger; to be widespread or common.

From the reading: "Meanwhile the utmost uproar and confusion had continued to prevail throughout the town..." (sense 2)

KJV: "...upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). (sense 1)

Synonyms:

triumph, win; (sense 2) predominate, abound

Antonyms:

fail, lose, yield

Root:Latin praevalere, "to be stronger," from prae- (before, beyond) + valere (to be strong).

Definition: having no effect; useless, however hard one tries.

From the reading: "Dick was seized with unavailing penitence and pity..." (when he learns that the sailor Tom has died after Dick took the skipper's ship)

Synonyms:

futile, vain, fruitless

Antonyms:

effective, successful, fruitful

Root:un- (not) + avail, from Old French a- + valoir, "to be worth," from Latin valere, "to be strong." Something unavailing has no strength to help.

Definition: very bad; deserving strong disapproval or sorrow.

From the reading: "...he was yet young to the more deplorable necessities of war..."

Synonyms:

wretched, lamentable, shameful

Antonyms:

admirable, praiseworthy, commendable

Root:Latin deplorare, "to weep bitterly," from de- (thoroughly) + plorare (to cry out, weep).

Definition: to cancel or take back a promise, law, offer or permission.

From the reading: "One thing alone he feared--that the vindictive leader might revoke the offer of the lances."

KJV link: The honorable man of Psalm 15 does not revoke his word even when it costs him: "He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not" (Psalm 15:4).

Synonyms:

cancel, withdraw, rescind

Antonyms:

confirm, uphold, grant

Root:Latin revocare, "to call back," from re- (back) + vocare (to call).

Definition: what is handed down from those who came before: property, customs, faith or liberties.

KJV: "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage" (Psalm 16:6). "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD" (Psalm 127:3).

Context: In the model essay, a ninety-four-year-old Navy veteran hands his young neighbor a heritage of promise, price and duty.

Synonyms:

inheritance, legacy, birthright

Antonyms:

(none exact) loss, forfeiture

Root:Old French heritage, from heriter, "to inherit," from Latin heres, "heir."

Definition: the act of remembering, especially of honoring the dead or past events; (also) something kept to call a person to mind.

KJV: "...the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance" (Psalm 112:6).

Context: Memorial Day is a day of remembrance. In the model essay, the old sailor keeps a lost friend's last letter in his Bible as a remembrance.

Synonyms:

memory, commemoration, recollection

Antonyms:

forgetfulness, oblivion, neglect

Root:Old French remembrer, from Latin rememorari, "to call to mind again" (re- "again" + memor "mindful").

Definition: to repay or return something, whether kindness for kindness or punishment for a wrong.

KJV: "Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise?" (Deuteronomy 32:6).

Context: A contest essay cannot fully requite a veteran's service, but it can render the honor that is due (Romans 13:7).

Synonyms:

repay, reciprocate, recompense

Antonyms:

neglect, ignore, default

Root:re- (back) + quite, an old form of quit, "to pay, discharge a debt." (The unrequited kindness is one that was never repaid.)