Grade 7 College Vocabulary, Week 32

Definition: something that pricks or spurs a person to act; to drive someone on, often by pressure or irritation.

From the reading: "The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd." (the lesson's model, Ecclesiastes 12:11)

KJV link: Wise words work like a farmer's goad. They prick the hearer into motion, and then they hold fast like nails.

Synonyms:

spur, prod, incite

Antonyms:

curb, restrain, deter

Root:Old English gad, "a pointed rod, spear."

Definition: tedious wordiness; using far more words than are needed.

From the reading: "At some risk of prolixity, enough of the surrounding events has in general been given to make the situation comprehensible..." (Yonge's Preface)

KJV link: "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise" (Proverbs 10:19).

Synonyms:

wordiness, verbosity, long-windedness

Antonyms:

brevity, concision, terseness

Root:Latin prolixus, "poured forth, stretched out" (pro- "forth" + liquere "to flow").

Definition: Extremely small; careful and exact, down to the smallest detail.

From the reading: "...where they may find minuter particulars than their abridged histories usually afford of the soul-stirring deeds that give life and glory to the record of events..."

Synonyms:

tiny, minuscule; (second sense) detailed, meticulous, exhaustive

Antonyms:

huge, vast; (second sense) rough, general, cursory

Root:Latin minutus, "made small," from minuere, "to lessen."

Definition: able to be understood; clear enough to grasp.

From the reading: "...enough of the surrounding events has in general been given to make the situation comprehensible, even without knowledge of the general history."

Synonyms:

intelligible, clear, understandable

Antonyms:

incomprehensible, obscure, unintelligible

Root:Latin comprehendere, "to seize, grasp" (com- "together" + prehendere "to take hold of").

Definition: to move a person to act; to drive or motivate.

From the reading: "...but he was actuated by mere greediness for gain, and all the perils he so resolutely endured could not make his courage admirable." (on Pizarro)

Synonyms:

motivate, impel, prompt

Antonyms:

deter, discourage, restrain

Root:Latin actuare, "to put into action," from actus, "a doing," from agere, "to do, drive."

Definition: the scum thrown off when metal is melted; by extension, anything worthless mixed in with what is valuable.

From the reading: "For the true metal of a Golden Deed is self-devotion. Selfishness is the dross and alloy that gives the unsound ring to many an act that has been called glorious."

KJV: "Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer" (Proverbs 25:4).

Synonyms:

refuse, waste, slag

Antonyms:

treasure, essence, pure metal

Root:Old English dros, "dregs, sediment."

Definition: savage cruelty; a brutal act.

From the reading: "...and bears us through the details of suffering, bloodshed, and even barbarity--feeling our spirits moved and elevated by contemplating the courage and endurance that they have called forth."

Synonyms:

brutality, savagery, cruelty

Antonyms:

humanity, mercy, gentleness

Root:Greek barbaros, "foreign, not Greek-speaking" (the Greeks thought foreign speech sounded like "bar-bar"), later "rude, savage."

Definition: planned or done together by agreement; jointly arranged. On college tests it usually comes in the phrase "a concerted effort."

From the reading: "Such a spirit was shown by Leaena, the Athenian woman at whose house the overthrow of the tyranny of the Pisistratids was concerted..." (Here the older verb sense means "planned together.")

Synonyms:

joint, united, coordinated

Antonyms:

individual, separate, disorganized

Root:Italian concertare, "to bring into agreement," as musicians playing in concert.

Definition: to calm or lessen a fear, a suspicion, a hunger or a thirst.

From the reading: "...but Roman bloodthirstiness was not yet allayed..." (before the monk Telemachus stopped the games in the Coliseum)

Synonyms:

relieve, soothe, quell

Antonyms:

arouse, inflame, aggravate

Root:Old English alecgan, "to lay down, put aside."

Definition: to make amends for a sin or wrong; to pay the penalty that sets it right.

From the reading: "This notion that the death of a ruler would expiate a country's guilt was one of the strange presages abroad in the heathen world of that which alone takes away the sin of all mankind."

KJV link: Yonge is pointing to Christ: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

Synonyms:

atone for, redeem, make amends for

Antonyms:

compound (a wrong), aggravate, ignore

Root:Latin expiare, "to make full atonement" (ex- "completely" + piare "to appease, purify," from pius).

Definition: a shockingly cruel or wicked act.

From the reading: "The Moors themselves were horrorstruck at the atrocity of their ally, and as the siege was hopeless they gave it up..." (from "Guzman el Bueno")

Synonyms:

outrage, enormity, barbarity

Antonyms:

kindness, mercy, benefaction

Root:Latin atrox, "fierce, cruel," from ater, "black."

Definition: the act of making something bad better; improvement.

From the reading: "No one else so gained the love of the conquered, had such wide and comprehensive views for the amelioration of the world..." (on Alexander of Macedon)

Synonyms:

improvement, betterment, relief

Antonyms:

worsening, deterioration, decline

Root:Latin melior, "better" (ad- "toward" + melior): bringing toward the better.

Definition: the act of giving up something one has a right to, often for a higher good.

From the reading: "Yet there have been thirsty lips that have made a still more trying renunciation." (Sir Philip Sidney, wounded at Zutphen, gives his water to a dying soldier.)

KJV link: "...whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple..." (Matthew 10:42).

Synonyms:

surrender, relinquishment, self-denial

Antonyms:

retention, indulgence, grasping

Root:Latin renuntiare, "to announce a refusal" (re- "back" + nuntiare "to announce").

Definition: deserving praise or reward.

From the reading: "...it would be a sad pity to suffer so many people to die through hunger, if it could be prevented; and to hinder it would be meritorious in the eyes of our Saviour." (Eustache de St. Pierre at Calais, offering himself first of the six)

Synonyms:

praiseworthy, commendable, laudable

Antonyms:

blameworthy, unworthy, disgraceful

Root:Latin meritum, "a thing deserved," from merere, "to earn."

Definition: a person who abandons his faith, cause or principles.

From the reading: "...the coward and apostate, who, for fear of death, hath denied his God." (These are the words Natalia dreads to hear about her husband Adrian. He did not fail; he stood firm to the end.)

Synonyms:

defector, deserter, turncoat

Antonyms:

loyalist, adherent, faithful believer

Root:Greek apostates, "one who stands away" (apo- "away" + stenai "to stand").

Definition: a meeting between enemies to discuss terms; to talk with an opponent, especially under a truce.

From the reading: "The Governor, therefore, went to the battlements and made signs that he wished to hold a parley..." (from "The Keys of Calais")

Synonyms:

negotiation, conference, talks

Antonyms:

combat, hostilities, refusal

Root:French parler, "to speak."

Definition: to make clear by explaining; to throw light on.

Context: In the oral examination, the student must elucidate each piece in the portfolio: its form, its heads and the master it imitates.

KJV link: "...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15).

Synonyms:

clarify, explain, illuminate

Antonyms:

obscure, confuse, muddle

Root:Latin elucidare, "to make light" (e- "out" + lucidus "bright," from lux "light").

Definition: spoken or done without a script; given with little or no preparation of the exact words.

Context: Speaking from a key-word card is not memorized word for word, but neither is it extemporaneous. The order and key words are fixed beforehand.

Synonyms:

impromptu, unrehearsed, offhand

Antonyms:

rehearsed, memorized, scripted

Root:Latin ex tempore, "out of the time," that is, on the spur of the moment.

Definition: a device such as a rhyme, pattern or key word that helps the memory.

Context: The six heads of the encomium (prologue, origin, upbringing, deeds, comparison, epilogue) serve as a mnemonic for the whole speech.

Synonyms:

memory aid, reminder, cue

Antonyms:

(none exact) distraction

Root:Greek mnemonikos, "of memory," from mneme, "memory." Mnemosyne was the Greeks' name for Memory, mother of the Muses.

Definition: a collection that gathers much information or many pieces into one; a concise but complete summary.

Context: Yonge meant her book to be a compendium of noble deeds, a "treasury for young people." In the same way, a portfolio is a compendium of a year's best writing.

Synonyms:

collection, digest, compilation

Antonyms:

fragment, scrap, single piece

Root:Latin compendium, "a saving, a shortening" (com- "together" + pendere "to weigh").