Grade 7 College Vocabulary, Week 31

Definition: something that must be done or had; the condition of being unavoidable.

From the reading: "...would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety..." (Franklin, on why writing verse would have built up his stock of words).

Synonyms:

need, requirement, compulsion

Antonyms:

option, luxury, choice

Root:Latin necessitas, from necesse, "unavoidable" (ne- "not" + cedere "to yield"): a thing that will not give way.

Definition: to correct the errors in a piece of writing, especially by careful comparison.

Context: Jerome emended the old Latin Gospels by comparing them against the Greek, much as Franklin compared his rebuilt papers with the Spectator and corrected his faults.

Synonyms:

correct, revise, rectify

Antonyms:

corrupt, garble, spoil

Root:Latin emendare, e- "out" + menda "fault": to take the faults out. Do not confuse with amend, which means to change or improve in general (a law, a life, one's ways).

Definition: to make purer or more exact by removing flaws; to improve by small, careful changes.

Context: Franklin's second and third tries refined his style until his sentences stood near the master's.

KJV: "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10). God refines His people as a smith refines metal, and the writer's draft goes through a smaller furnace.

Synonyms:

purify, polish, perfect

Antonyms:

coarsen, corrupt, roughen

Root:re- "again" + fine, from Old French fin, "pure, finished": to make fine again and again.

Definition: demanding great care, skill or effort; hard to satisfy.

Context: Franklin was an exacting judge of his own pages. He did not stop when a draft was done, but held it next to the original until he could see where it fell short.

Synonyms:

demanding, rigorous, strict

Antonyms:

lax, easygoing, careless

Root:Latin exigere, "to drive out, demand, weigh exactly" (ex- "out" + agere "to drive").

Definition: using more words than needed; repeating what has already been said.

Context: In the lesson's sonnet line "The autumn leaves fall down upon the ground," the words down and upon the ground are redundant, because each one says what the other already said.

Synonyms:

repetitive, superfluous, wordy

Antonyms:

concise, necessary, economical

Root:Latin redundare, "to overflow," from re- "back, again" + unda "wave": words that spill over the edge.

Definition: lacking order or plan; arranged by chance.

Context: Franklin jumbled his hints into a haphazard heap on purpose, then trained his sense of arrangement by putting them back in the best order.

Synonyms:

random, disorganized, slapdash

Antonyms:

orderly, methodical, deliberate

Root:Middle English hap, "chance, luck" (as in happen) + hazard, "a game of dice": as if left to a throw of the dice.

Definition: (of a word or phrase) well chosen and exactly suited to its purpose; apt and pleasing.

Context: The lesson's revision, "The maples spend their gold along the lane," is felicitous. The single verb spend gives the reader both a picture and a meaning.

Synonyms:

apt, fitting, well-chosen

Antonyms:

clumsy, awkward, inappropriate

Root:Latin felix, felicis, "fruitful, happy, lucky": the happy word that falls in the right place.

Definition: (in writing) an unneeded change in tense, voice or mood inside a passage; (generally) a change in position, direction or tone. Test questions often ask where a passage "shifts" its focus or tone.

From the reading: "The tense shifts from past to present and the voice from active to passive."

Synonyms:

change, switch, turn

Antonyms:

constancy, steadiness, continuity

Root:Old English sciftan, "to arrange, divide."

Definition: existing as a natural, permanent part of something; built in.

From the reading: "The true cause of such enjoyment is perhaps an inherent consciousness that there is nothing so noble as forgetfulness of self."

Synonyms:

innate, intrinsic, essential

Antonyms:

external, acquired, extrinsic

Root:Latin inhaerere, "to stick in" (in- + haerere "to cling"): something that clings from the inside.

Definition: great courage and nobility, especially in danger or in giving oneself for others.

From the reading: "...in the trust that example may inspire the spirit of heroism and self-devotion." (Yonge's reason for collecting her stories: good examples are meant to be imitated, like Franklin's Spectator.)

Synonyms:

valor, gallantry, bravery

Antonyms:

cowardice, timidity, faintheartedness

Root:Greek heros, "hero, warrior, protector."

Definition: not influenced by personal gain; unselfish and impartial. (Careful: disinterested does not mean "bored." That is uninterested. Tests check this difference.)

From the reading: "...the soldier's attachment to his master was quite as brave and disinterested as that of the Gallic slave..."

KJV link: "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others" (Philippians 2:4).

Synonyms:

unselfish, impartial, unbiased

Antonyms:

self-seeking, partial, biased

Root:dis- "not" + interest, from Latin interesse, "to be between, to matter": having no stake of one's own in the matter.

Definition: Not well known; unclear or hard to understand.

From the reading: "...one habitual crime at least was wiped from the earth by the self-devotion of one humble, obscure, almost nameless man." (The monk Telemachus, whose death ended the gladiator fights.)

KJV link: "And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen" (1 Corinthians 1:28).

Synonyms:

unknown, humble, inconspicuous; (second sense) vague, murky

Antonyms:

famous, renowned, prominent; (second sense) clear, plain

Root:Latin obscurus, "dark, covered over."

Definition: the spreading of disease by contact; (also) the spreading of a harmful influence or feeling.

From the reading: "...thus confine the contagion within their own boundaries..." (The rector Mompesson and the people of Eyam shut themselves in so the plague would not spread to their neighbors.)

KJV link: "Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday" (Psalm 91:6).

Synonyms:

infection, transmission, plague

Antonyms:

immunity, quarantine, health

Root:Latin contagio, from con- "together" + tangere "to touch."

Definition: Extremely severe or harmful, especially of a disease; bitterly hostile or spiteful (tests often use this second sense for speech).

From the reading: "So virulent was the contagion that, ninety-one years after..." the plague at Eyam could still strike men who dug near the graves.

Synonyms:

deadly, malignant, toxic; (second sense) venomous, vicious

Antonyms:

harmless, mild, benign

Root:Latin virulentus, "full of poison," from virus, "poison, slime."

Definition: not discouraged or made afraid by danger or difficulty.

From the reading: "He was active and undaunted..." (Henri de La Rochejaquelein, leading his worn and starving peasants of the Vendée.)

KJV link: "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" (Joshua 1:9).

Synonyms:

fearless, unflinching, bold

Antonyms:

daunted, fearful, disheartened

Root:un- "not" + daunt, from Latin domitare, "to tame": a spirit that will not be tamed.

Definition: an official order issued by a person in authority.

From the reading: "...but forgot both the present edict and that his father had scrupulously asked permission before accepting the challenge." (Young Titus Manlius broke the consuls' command against single combat.)

KJV link: "Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree" (Daniel 6:9), the royal edict that Daniel would not obey when it forbade him to pray.

Synonyms:

decree, command, proclamation

Antonyms:

request, suggestion, petition

Root:Latin edictum, from e- "out" + dicere "to speak": a command spoken out to all.

Definition: sincere sorrow for one's sins, together with the will to turn from them.

From the reading: "Many and many were won back to penitence..." (Vincent de Paul among the galley convicts.)

KJV link: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death" (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Synonyms:

repentance, contrition, remorse

Antonyms:

impenitence, defiance, hardness of heart

Root:Latin paenitentia, from paenitere, "to regret."

Definition: a humble, earnest request, especially a prayer to God.

From the reading: "...in spite of the supplications of Ismene, she was put to death..." (Antigone, who buried her brother.)

KJV: "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6).

Synonyms:

entreaty, petition, plea

Antonyms:

demand, command, refusal

Root:Latin supplicare, "to kneel, beg humbly," from sub- "under" + plicare "to bend": to bend down before another.

Definition: to surrender, especially on agreed terms; to give in to pressure or argument.

From the reading: "They forced their Khan to take refuge in a tower, and made signs as if to capitulate." (The defenders of Kazan, besieged by Ivan the Terrible.)

Synonyms:

surrender, yield, submit

Antonyms:

resist, hold out, defy

Root:Medieval Latin capitulare, "to draw up under headings," from capitulum, "chapter, heading" (caput, "head"). A surrender was set down head by head, like the heads of an encomium.

Definition: to be a clear, typical example of; to show by example.

From the reading: "Never was the old saying, that a dutiful child had dutiful children, better exemplified than in the More family."

KJV link: "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12).

Synonyms:

illustrate, embody, typify

Antonyms:

contradict, misrepresent

Root:Latin exemplum, "sample, pattern" + -ficare, "to make": to make into a pattern for others.