Grade 8 College Vocabulary, Week 6

Definition: to long for and aim at something high, such as an honor, an office or an achievement.

From the reading: "There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to, ... and their ruin, ... More pangs and fears than wars or women have"

KJV link: Wolsey aspired to princes' favor. Paul aspired to a higher prize: "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). The word aspire is not in the verse.

Synonyms:

aim, strive, yearn

Antonyms:

settle, give up, abandon

Root:Latin aspirare, "to breathe upon," from ad- (toward) + spirare (to breathe): to pant after something.

Definition: splendid show and ceremony, especially the outward display of rank and power; (also) empty, showy self-importance.

From the reading: "Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye!"

KJV: "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave" (Isaiah 14:11). The next verse is the one Wolsey echoes: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (Isaiah 14:12).

Synonyms:

splendor, pageantry, grandeur

Antonyms:

plainness, simplicity, humility

Root:Greek pompē, "a solemn procession," through Latin pompa.

Definition: Cruel or destructive without cause or reason (the usual test sense: "wanton destruction"); in older English, playful, unruly and careless.

From the reading: "Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,"

Context: Wolsey compares his rise to careless boys floating on air-filled bladders. They are carried "far beyond my depth" before they know their danger.

Synonyms:

reckless, gratuitous, heedless; (sense 2) frolicsome, unruly

Antonyms:

restrained, deliberate, justified

Root:Middle English wan- (lacking) + towen (trained, brought up): "undisciplined."

Definition: deeply unhappy or miserable; (also) of very poor quality, or contemptible.

From the reading: "O, how wretched ... Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours!"

KJV: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24). Paul answers right away: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:25).

Synonyms:

miserable, woeful, pitiable

Antonyms:

happy, blessed, content

Root:Old English wrecca, "an exile, an outcast." A wretch was first a man driven from home.

Definition: lasting a very short time; fleeting.

From the reading: "This is the state of man: today he puts forth ... The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,"

Context: In Wolsey's image, man's greatness blooms and dies within three days. It is as ephemeral as a blossom.

KJV: "For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14). Set against it, "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever" (Isaiah 40:8).

Synonyms:

fleeting, transient, short-lived

Antonyms:

lasting, enduring, permanent

Root:Greek ephēmeros, "lasting a day," from epi- (on) + hēmera (day).

Definition: a showy display meant to impress others or draw attention.

From the reading: "Maintain a mourning ostentation;"

Context: The Friar tells Leonato to put on an open show of mourning, so that everyone will believe the slandered Hero has died.

Synonyms:

showiness, display, flamboyance

Antonyms:

modesty, restraint, plainness

Root:Latin ostentare, "to display," from ostendere, "to show" (ob- "before" + tendere "to stretch").

Definition: The possibility or likelihood of something happening in the future; a wide view, or the outlook a person has.

From the reading: "Into the eye and prospect of his soul,"

Context: The Friar hopes Hero's memory will come into Claudio's mind's view more lovely than before. For Wolsey, the prospect is only a "rude stream that must for ever hide me."

Synonyms:

outlook, likelihood, expectation; (sense 2) view, vista

Antonyms:

(sense 1) unlikelihood, hopelessness; (sense 2) retrospect

Root:Latin prospectus, "a view," from prospicere, "to look forward" (pro- "forward" + specere "to look").

Definition: something assumed or believed to be true without proof.

From the reading: "The supposition of the lady’s death"

Context: Hero is not dead. The whole city simply supposes she is, and the Friar's plan rests on that supposition.

Synonyms:

assumption, presumption, hypothesis

Antonyms:

certainty, proof, fact

Root:Latin suppositio, from supponere, "to put under" (sub- "under" + ponere "to place"): what is placed underneath an argument.

Definition: to criticize strongly and formally; (noun) harsh, official disapproval.

From the reading: "I hear how I am censured"

Context: Hiding in the arbour, Benedick overhears his friends censure his pride, and he resolves to mend it.

Synonyms:

condemn, rebuke, criticize

Antonyms:

praise, commend, approve

Root:Latin censura, from censere, "to assess, judge." The Roman censor counted the citizens and judged their morals.

Definition: the act of speaking ill of someone to lower his reputation; belittling criticism.

From the reading: "...detractions, and can put them to mending."

Context: Benedick decides that a wise man is happy when he hears his faults named, if he then corrects them.

Synonyms:

disparagement, belittlement, criticism

Antonyms:

praise, flattery, tribute

Root:Latin detrahere, "to draw away, pull down," from de- (down) + trahere (to draw).

Definition: the crime of lying after swearing an oath to tell the truth.

From the reading: "A sin of perjury: she not denies it."

Context: Leonato wrongly believes the lie about his daughter. Later Dogberry calls a true accusation "flat perjury," because he misuses big words.

KJV link: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour" (Exodus 20:16).

Synonyms:

false witness, lying under oath

Antonyms:

truthfulness, honesty, testimony

Root:Latin periurium, from per- (through, in the sense of "wrongly") + iurare (to swear).

Definition: deep regret and sorrow for a wrong one has done.

From the reading: "Change slander to remorse; that is some good."

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). Remorse is good when it leads to repentance.

Synonyms:

regret, penitence, contrition

Antonyms:

indifference, pride, shamelessness

Root:Latin remordere, "to bite again," from re- (again) + mordere (to bite): the conscience that keeps biting.

Definition: to imitate something closely in order to deceive; (adjective) fake; (noun) a forgery.

From the reading: "Maybe she doth but counterfeit."

Context: Don Pedro pretends to wonder whether Beatrice only counterfeits her love. The joke is that the whole report is the friends' own counterfeit, staged for Benedick to overhear.

Synonyms:

fake, forge, feign

Antonyms:

genuine, authentic, real

Root:Old French contrefait, "imitated," from Latin contra (against) + facere (to make).

Definition: to hide one's true feelings, motives or facts behind a false appearance.

From the reading: "Marry, thou dost wrong me; thou dissembler, thou."

KJV: "He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him" (Proverbs 26:24).

Synonyms:

pretend, disguise, conceal

Antonyms:

reveal, confess, disclose

Root:Latin dissimulare, "to disguise," from dis- (apart) + similis (like). The spelling changed under Old French sembler, "to seem."

Definition: To openly disregard a rule, law or custom (the main test sense); to mock or jeer at. Do not confuse it with flaunt, "to show off.".

From the reading: "a college of witcrackers cannot flout me"

Context: Now engaged, Benedick says no amount of mockery will shake him out of his resolve to marry.

Synonyms:

defy, disregard; (sense 2) mock, scoff at

Antonyms:

obey, observe, respect

Root:Uncertain; perhaps Middle Dutch fluyten, "to play the flute," hence "to jeer."

Definition: something that blocks or hinders progress; an obstacle.

From the reading: "If there be any impediment, I pray you discover it."

Context: Claudio asks Don John to name any reason why he should not marry Hero. The "impediment" Don John then reveals is a lie.

KJV: "And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech" (Mark 7:32).

Synonyms:

obstacle, hindrance, barrier

Antonyms:

aid, help, advantage

Root:Latin impedimentum, from impedire, "to shackle the feet" (in- + pes, pedis "foot").

Definition: To grasp with the mind, to understand; to arrest; to anticipate with fear (as in apprehensive).

From the reading: "Cousin, you apprehend passing shrewdly."

Context: Leonato tells Beatrice that she sees things very sharply. The bumbling watchmen, by contrast, apprehend the villains in the arresting sense while barely apprehending anything at all.

KJV: "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do" (Philippians 3:13), the lesson's own verse.

Synonyms:

comprehend, grasp; (sense 2) arrest, seize

Antonyms:

misunderstand; (sense 2) release, free

Root:Latin apprehendere, "to seize," from ad- (to) + prehendere (to grasp).

Definition: avoiding the company of others; living apart from the world.

From the reading: "In some reclusive and religious life,"

Context: If the plan fails, the Friar would hide Hero away in a quiet convent life, out of reach of wagging tongues.

Synonyms:

solitary, secluded, withdrawn

Antonyms:

sociable, gregarious, outgoing

Root:Latin recludere, "to shut up," from re- + claudere (to close).

Definition: to correct or scold someone for a fault, usually gently or with the aim of his improvement.

From the reading: "I cannot reprove it"

Context: Benedick admits he cannot find fault with the report that Beatrice is virtuous.

KJV: "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee" (Proverbs 9:8).

Synonyms:

rebuke, admonish, chide

Antonyms:

praise, approve, commend

Root:Latin reprobare, "to disapprove," from re- (back, against) + probare (to test, approve).

Definition: a speech in a play spoken by a character alone, or as if alone, so that we hear his thoughts aloud.

Context: Wolsey's farewell is a soliloquy, spoken after the lords have left him. In Much Ado, Benedick steps out of the arbour and reasons with himself in a comic soliloquy.

Synonyms:

monologue, solo speech

Antonyms:

dialogue, conversation

Root:Latin soliloquium, from solus (alone) + loqui (to speak). St. Augustine coined the word for his Soliloquies, in which he talks with his own reason about God and the soul.