Grade 8 College Vocabulary, Week 4

Definition: damaged or worn by repeated blows, attacks, or hard use.

From the reading: "Charlemagne ruled an empire; Alfred ruled a small and battered kingdom."

Synonyms:

beaten, damaged, war-torn

Antonyms:

unscathed, intact, flourishing

Root:Old French batre, "to beat," from Latin battuere, "to strike" (as in battle and battalion).

Definition: a person who writes the account of another person's life.

From the reading: "Yet his biographer Einhard tells us that the emperor tried late in life to learn to write and never mastered it."

Synonyms:

chronicler, life-writer, historian

Antonyms:

(none exact) the subject of a biography

Root:Greek bios (life) + graphein (to write): a writer of lives, as Plutarch was.

Definition: an introduction at the beginning of a book that explains its purpose or how it came to be written.

From the reading: "...Alfred's own preface to his English version of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care laments how few in England could read Latin when he became king."

Synonyms:

foreword, introduction, prologue

Antonyms:

afterword, epilogue, conclusion

Root:Latin praefatio, "a saying beforehand," from prae- (before) + fari (to speak).

Definition: self-control; the holding back of one's power, desires, or feelings.

From the reading: "...the same man, the same restraint, shown in two different moments and two different arts."

Synonyms:

self-control, moderation, forbearance

Antonyms:

excess, indulgence, abandon

Root:Latin restringere, "to draw back tightly," from re- (back) + stringere (to bind, draw tight).

Definition: spreading or working harm slowly and secretly, so that it is not noticed until much damage is done.

Context: In The Screwtape Letters, the senior devil Screwtape prefers insidious temptations: small, gradual steps that lead his "patient" away from God without one sharp turn he might notice.

KJV link: "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). Evil is most insidious when it looks harmless or even good.

Synonyms:

stealthy, subtle, treacherous

Antonyms:

open, obvious, harmless

Root:Latin insidiosus, "cunning, deceitful," from insidiae, "an ambush," from insidere, "to sit in, lie in wait."

Definition: deceitful double-dealing; saying one thing while meaning or doing another.

Context: Screwtape signs his letters as an affectionate uncle while he schemes against his own nephew, Wormwood; his whole correspondence is a study in duplicity.

Synonyms:

deceit, double-dealing, hypocrisy

Antonyms:

honesty, candor, sincerity

Root:Latin duplicitas, "doubleness," from duplex, "twofold": a double face.

Definition: causing great harm or ruin, often in a way that is gradual or hidden.

Context: Screwtape treats the patient's small irritations with his mother as a pernicious weapon, because daily unkindness at home can wear away charity faster than one great sin.

Synonyms:

harmful, destructive, ruinous

Antonyms:

beneficial, wholesome, harmless

Root:Latin perniciosus, from pernicies, "destruction," from per- (completely) + nex, necis (death, violent killing).

Definition: wishing evil or harm to others.

Context: Lewis's narrator is malevolent from the first letter to the last; even his advice to his nephew aims only at the patient's ruin, and at last he threatens Wormwood himself.

Synonyms:

malicious, spiteful, wicked

Antonyms:

benevolent, kindly, well-meaning

Root:Latin male (badly, ill) + volens (wishing), from velle, "to wish." Compare benevolent, "wishing well."

Definition: reasoning that sounds clever but is actually false or misleading, used to deceive.

Context: Nearly every argument Screwtape makes is sophistry, clever on the surface and rotten at the root; the reader learns to turn each one upside down to find the truth.

Synonyms:

fallacy, casuistry, specious reasoning

Antonyms:

sound reasoning, logic, truth

Root:Greek sophistes, "a wise man, a teacher of wisdom," from sophos (wise). Some ancient sophists taught pupils to win arguments rather than find truth, and the word darkened.

Definition: To suggest something bad in an indirect, sly way; to work oneself or an idea gradually into a place or a mind.

Context: Screwtape tells Wormwood not to argue openly with the patient but to insinuate doubts and distractions quietly, so that the young man never notices where they came from.

KJV link: "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices" (2 Corinthians 2:11). Knowing how the enemy insinuates is part of resisting him.

Synonyms:

imply, hint, suggest; (second sense) worm in, infiltrate

Antonyms:

state plainly, declare, assert

Root:Latin insinuare, "to bring in by winding," from in- (into) + sinus (a curve, fold): to wind one's way in.

Definition: believing that people act only from selfish motives; distrustful of goodness and sincerity.

Context: Screwtape is cynical about love, friendship, and every virtue; because he believes all creatures act from appetite, he cannot understand why God truly loves men.

Synonyms:

distrustful, scornful, skeptical

Antonyms:

trusting, idealistic, hopeful

Root:Greek kynikos, "doglike," the name given to a school of philosophers who scorned ordinary customs.

Definition: to make up reasonable-sounding excuses for something one did or wants to do, hiding the true motive.

Context: One of Screwtape's favorite tricks is to help the patient rationalize his pride and his small neglects, so that each one seems sensible, even admirable, at the time.

Synonyms:

excuse, justify, explain away

Antonyms:

confess, admit, own up

Root:Latin rationalis, "of reason," from ratio (reckoning, reason): dressing up a wish in the clothes of reason.

Definition: clever tricks or schemes meant to trap or deceive.

KJV: "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11).

Context: The Screwtape Letters shows the wiles of the devil from the inside, so that readers may recognize them in their own lives.

Synonyms:

tricks, ruses, stratagems

Antonyms:

honesty, openness, candor

Root:Old English wigle, "sorcery, trick," related to Old Norse vél, "craft." The same family gives guile.

Definition: an opponent or enemy in a contest or conflict.

KJV: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

Context: Screwtape and Wormwood treat the patient as a prize to be won; they think of God as their great adversary, whom they call the Enemy.

Synonyms:

opponent, foe, antagonist

Antonyms:

ally, friend, supporter

Root:Latin adversarius, "one turned against," from ad- (toward) + vertere (to turn). Satan in Hebrew means "adversary."

Definition: Serious, clear-headed, and self-controlled; not drunk. Tests usually check the first sense: a sober judgment or a sober warning.

KJV: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

Context: Lewis's book is funny, yet its lesson is sober: temptation is real, and a soul is worth guarding.

Synonyms:

serious, solemn, clear-headed

Antonyms:

frivolous, flippant, giddy

Root:Latin sobrius, from se- (without) + ebrius (drunk).

Definition: to pretend; to put on a false show of a feeling, condition, or character.

KJV: "And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words..." (Luke 20:20).

Context: Screwtape feigns warm concern for Wormwood, but his kindness is only a mask for appetite.

Synonyms:

pretend, fake, simulate

Antonyms:

reveal, show sincerely, be genuine

Root:Old French feindre, from Latin fingere, "to shape, invent" (as in fiction and figment).

Definition: the main claim a writer states and then sets out to prove; in a comparison, the sentence that names the pair and gives the judgment.

From the reading: "Alfred and Charlemagne were both warrior kings who loved learning; yet Alfred, the smaller king, did the greater work with his own hands."

Synonyms:

claim, proposition, contention

Antonyms:

(none exact) aimlessness, digression

Root:Greek thesis, "a placing, a setting down," from tithenai, "to put, place": the claim one sets down.

Definition: (noun) a striking difference between two things set side by side; (verb) to compare two things in order to show their differences.

From the reading: "Alfred, by contrast, learned Latin as a grown man and turned books into English himself, so that his people could read them."

Synonyms:

difference, distinction; (verb) differentiate, distinguish

Antonyms:

likeness, similarity; (verb) liken, equate

Root:Latin contra- (against) + stare (to stand): to stand one thing against another.

Definition: A passage from one state, stage, or subject to another; in writing, a word or phrase that links ideas and shows how they relate.

Context: In a comparison essay, transitions such as likewise, whereas, and on the other hand tell the reader whether you are joining two persons or dividing them.

Synonyms:

shift, passage, bridge

Antonyms:

standstill, stasis, break

Root:Latin transitio, "a going across," from trans- (across) + ire (to go).

Definition: To praise formally; to entrust to someone's care.

From the reading: "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves..." (2 Corinthians 10:12).

Context: Plutarch commends each man where he deserves it, but he never lets a writer commend himself by the comparison.

Synonyms:

praise, applaud, laud; (second sense) entrust, commit

Antonyms:

criticize, condemn, censure

Root:Latin commendare, "to entrust, recommend," from com- (intensive) + mandare (to put into one's hands, command).