Grade 8 College Vocabulary, Week 1

Definition: Like an omen; warning of something great or dreadful to come; marvelous or beyond belief (Plutarch's sense); pompously solemn, trying too hard to seem important (a test favorite).

From the reading: "All beyond this is portentous and fabulous, inhabited by poets and mythologers, and there is nothing true or certain."

Synonyms:

ominous, foreboding; (sense 3) pompous, self-important

Antonyms:

auspicious, encouraging; (sense 3) modest, unpretentious

Root:Latin portentum, "an omen, a sign," from portendere, "to foretell" (por- "forward" + tendere "to stretch").

Definition: Belonging to fable or legend; mythical, not historical (the older sense, often tested); astonishing, almost too great to believe.

From the reading: "All beyond this is portentous and fabulous..." Plutarch means that the oldest tales of Theseus belong to fable, not to sure history.

KJV link: Peter draws the same line between fable and fact: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter 1:16).

Synonyms:

legendary, mythical, fictitious; (sense 2) astounding, incredible

Antonyms:

historical, factual, verified; (sense 2) ordinary, commonplace

Root:Latin fabulosus, "celebrated in story," from fabula, "a tale, a story."

Definition: A swamp or bog; a confusing or difficult situation that is hard to get free of (the common test sense).

From the reading: Plutarch says the old map-makers wrote legends on the blank edges of their maps, such as "In this direction lie waterless deserts full of wild beasts" and "Unexplored morasses."

Synonyms:

marsh, bog, quagmire; (sense 2) tangle, muddle, mess

Antonyms:

firm ground; (sense 2) clarity, order

Root:Dutch moeras, from Old French maresc, "marsh."

Definition: The distant past, especially the age of the ancient Greeks and Romans; great age; (plural, antiquities) objects from ancient times.

From the reading: "...let us beg the indulgence of our readers, who will kindly make allowance for tales of antiquity."

KJV: "Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days?" (Isaiah 23:7).

Synonyms:

ancient times, the distant past, oldness

Antonyms:

modernity, the present day, newness

Root:Latin antiquitas, from antiquus, "old, former," from ante, "before."

Definition: Patience or leniency toward a fault or a request; giving in to a desire, or a pleasure one allows oneself.

From the reading: "...wherever it obstinately defies probability, and cannot be explained by natural agency, let us beg the indulgence of our readers..."

Synonyms:

leniency, forbearance, tolerance; (sense 2) gratification

Antonyms:

strictness, severity; (sense 2) self-denial, restraint

Root:Latin indulgentia, "kindness, leniency," from indulgere, "to be kind to, to yield to."

Definition: To resist or challenge openly and boldly; to be beyond explanation or belief (a story defies belief).

From the reading: "...wherever it obstinately defies probability..."

KJV: "And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together" (1 Samuel 17:10).

Synonyms:

resist, challenge, confront; (sense 2) baffle, elude

Antonyms:

obey, submit, yield

Root:Old French desfier, "to renounce one's faith to, to challenge," from Latin dis- (away) + fidus (faithful).

Definition: too ready to believe things; easily fooled.

Context: A credulous reader takes every old legend as fact. Plutarch, by contrast, warns his readers where the record turns to fable.

KJV: "The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going" (Proverbs 14:15).

Synonyms:

gullible, naive, unsuspecting

Antonyms:

skeptical, wary, discerning

Root:Latin credulus, from credere, "to believe." (Compare creed and credible.)

Definition: of doubtful truth or origin; widely told but probably not true.

Context: The tale of young George Washington and the cherry tree is apocryphal. It first appeared in a biography written after his death, and no record from his own lifetime tells it.

Synonyms:

legendary, unverified, dubious

Antonyms:

authentic, verified, documented

Root:Greek apokryphos, "hidden," from apo- (away) + kryptein (to hide). The word was first used of writings whose source was hidden or uncertain.

Definition: fearless and bold, especially in facing danger.

Context: In Jungle Pilot, Nate Saint flies a small single-engine plane over the Ecuadorian rain forest, where a forced landing could mean days of hacking through the jungle to safety. He was an intrepid flier, yet his courage rested on God, not on himself.

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, dauntless, valiant

Antonyms:

timid, cowardly, fainthearted

Root:Latin intrepidus, from in- (not) + trepidus (alarmed, trembling). (Compare trepidation.)

Definition: cleverness in inventing things or solving problems.

Context: Nate Saint's ingenuity produced the bucket drop. By flying in a tight circle, he could lower a bucket on a long line until it hung nearly still over one spot, so that supplies could be passed to people far below.

Synonyms:

inventiveness, resourcefulness, cleverness

Antonyms:

dullness, ineptitude, unimaginativeness

Root:Latin ingenium, "inborn talent, natural cleverness" (in- + gignere, "to beget"). (Compare engine and genius.)

Definition: extremely careful and exact about details.

Context: There was no repair shop in the jungle, so Nate Saint was meticulous in checking his aircraft and planning each flight. A loose fitting or an empty fuel tank could cost a life.

KJV link: Christ commends the builder who "sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost" before he builds a tower (Luke 14:28).

Synonyms:

painstaking, scrupulous, thorough

Antonyms:

careless, sloppy, slapdash

Root:Latin meticulosus, "fearful, timid," from metus, "fear": so careful that one seems afraid of making a mistake.

Definition: holding firmly to something; persistent and not easily turned aside.

Context: When an idea did not work the first time, Nate Saint was tenacious. He tested it, changed it, and tried again until it was ready for the field.

KJV link: "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)" (Hebrews 10:23).

Synonyms:

persistent, steadfast, dogged

Antonyms:

yielding, irresolute, wavering

Root:Latin tenax, tenacis, "holding fast," from tenere, "to hold." (Compare tenant and tenure.)

Definition: full of eager, earnest devotion to a cause or goal.

Context: Nate Saint and the missionaries who worked with him were zealous to bring the gospel to a tribe that had never heard it and that outsiders greatly feared.

KJV: Christ gave himself to "purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). Zeal must be guided by truth: "they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" (Romans 10:2).

Synonyms:

ardent, fervent, devoted

Antonyms:

apathetic, indifferent, halfhearted

Root:Greek zelos, "eagerness, ardor, rivalry."

Definition: great trouble, suffering or distress; a hard trial.

Context: In January 1956 Nate Saint and four fellow missionaries were killed on a river beach in Ecuador by the very people they had come to reach. Jungle Pilot tells of this tribulation plainly. In the years that followed, many of that tribe came to Christ.

KJV: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8:35). "...knowing that tribulation worketh patience" (Romans 5:3).

Synonyms:

affliction, suffering, hardship

Antonyms:

comfort, ease, blessing

Root:Latin tribulatio, from tribulare, "to press, to afflict," from tribulum, a heavy threshing sledge that crushed the grain from the husk.

Definition: (noun) a person's face or facial expression; (verb) to permit, approve or tolerate. Tests often check the verb: "I will not countenance cheating."

From the reading: "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." (This is the lesson's verse for the year.)

Synonyms:

(noun) face, expression, visage; (verb) tolerate, allow, sanction

Antonyms:

(verb) forbid, prohibit, condemn

Root:Old French contenance, "bearing, demeanor," from Latin continentia, from continere, "to hold together": how a person holds himself.

Definition: to try to equal or surpass someone, especially by following his good example.

From the reading: "...many American Founders read Plutarch as young men." They read his Lives in order to emulate the virtues of the great men in them.

KJV: Paul hoped his work among the Gentiles might "provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them" (Romans 11:14). In the KJV, emulation can also mean jealous rivalry, as in Galatians 5:20. The good sense strives to equal; the bad sense envies.

Synonyms:

imitate, follow, rival

Antonyms:

disregard, neglect, scorn

Root:Latin aemulari, "to rival, to strive to equal," from aemulus, "rivaling."

Definition: (adj.) side by side and alike in direction or pattern; closely similar; (noun) a person or thing that closely matches another; (verb) to be like or to match.

From the reading: "...so I, in my writings on Parallel Lives, go through that period of time where history rests on the firm basis of facts..."

Context: Plutarch's lives are parallel because each Greek life is set beside a Roman life that followed a similar course.

Synonyms:

corresponding, matching, comparable

Antonyms:

divergent, dissimilar, unlike

Root:Greek parallelos, "beside one another," from para- (beside) + allelon (each other).

Definition: to place two things side by side, especially in order to compare or contrast them.

From the reading: "We see a thing better beside something else. A single tree on a hill looks tall until an oak stands next to it."

Context: Plutarch juxtaposes Theseus, founder of Athens, with Romulus, founder of Rome.

Synonyms:

set side by side, place together, compare

Antonyms:

separate, isolate, set apart

Root:French juxtaposer, from Latin juxta, "near, beside," + French poser, "to place."

Definition: a great difference or inequality between things.

Context: Cincinnatus held power for about sixteen days, but Washington held his command for eight years. That disparity makes Washington's laying down of power all the more remarkable.

Synonyms:

difference, inequality, gap

Antonyms:

likeness, equality, parity

Root:Latin disparitas, from dispar, "unequal" (dis- "apart" + par "equal").

Definition: alike in some ways, so that the two can be fairly compared.

From the reading: "Plutarch chooses men who are alike in their station or their work: two founders of cities, two lawgivers, two orators."

Context: The lives of two founders are analogous, and that likeness is what makes a comparison of them fair.

Synonyms:

comparable, similar, corresponding

Antonyms:

unlike, dissimilar, unrelated

Root:Greek analogos, "proportionate," from ana (according to) + logos (ratio, reason).