Grade 8 College Vocabulary, Week 7

Definition: Loud and echoing; unmistakable and complete, as in "a resounding victory" (a common test sense).

From the reading: "The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!"

Synonyms:

echoing, ringing, booming; (second sense) decisive, emphatic

Antonyms:

faint, muffled; (second sense) narrow, doubtful

Root:Latin resonare, "to sound again," from re- (again) + sonare (to sound).

Definition: plain, simple and unpolished; (literally) made of cloth woven at home.

From the reading: "A speaker’s choice of words: plain or grand, old or new, learned or homespun."

Synonyms:

plain, rustic, unpretentious

Antonyms:

polished, sophisticated, ornate

Root:English home + spun: cloth spun at home, not bought from a merchant. Colonial families wore homespun to avoid British goods.

Definition: God's care and guidance over His creation; wise care in planning for the future.

Context: The lesson notes that a Pilgrim like William Bradford would speak naturally of providence, because he believed God had guided the Mayflower across the sea.

KJV link: The orator Tertullus flatters the governor Felix, saying "very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence" (Acts 24:2). Here the word means a ruler's foresight; most often Christians use it for God's care.

Synonyms:

divine guidance, provision; (second sense) foresight, prudence

Antonyms:

chance, fortune; (second sense) improvidence, shortsightedness

Root:Latin providentia, "foresight," from pro- (ahead) + videre (to see): seeing ahead and providing.

Definition: showing strong, warm feeling; intensely earnest.

Context: Henry's fervent appeal ended with a call to Almighty God and a personal resolve.

KJV: Apollos, "being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord" (Acts 18:25).

Synonyms:

ardent, passionate, zealous

Antonyms:

apathetic, lukewarm, indifferent

Root:Latin fervere, "to boil, glow": a heart that is boiling hot.

Definition: the quality of seeming true or real; likeness to truth.

From the reading: "The quality of seeming true: words that fit what we know of the speaker, his time and his situation."

Synonyms:

realism, plausibility, authenticity

Antonyms:

implausibility, unreality, falseness

Root:Latin verisimilis, "probable," from verus (true) + similis (like): like the truth.

Definition: something placed in the wrong time period, such as a word, object or idea that does not belong to the age being shown.

From the reading: "Avoid anachronisms in words and ideas: a man of 1620 does not think like a man of today, and you should not make him."

Synonyms:

misdating, chronological error

Antonyms:

(none exact) period accuracy

Root:Greek anachronismos, from ana- (backward, against) + chronos (time).

Definition: the act of rebuilding something, especially piecing together a past event or text from evidence and memory.

From the reading: "Patrick Henry, speech to the Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775, as reconstructed by William Wirt (1817)"

Synonyms:

re-creation, restoration, rebuilding

Antonyms:

destruction, demolition

Root:Latin re- (again) + construere (to pile together, build).

Definition: truthfulness; the habit of telling the truth; accuracy.

Context: Because Wirt was open about his method and worked from witnesses, readers can trust the veracity of his account even where they question single words.

KJV link: "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour" (Ephesians 4:25). Veracity is this command lived out.

Synonyms:

truthfulness, honesty, accuracy

Antonyms:

falsehood, deceit, mendacity

Root:Latin verax, "truthful," from verus, "true."

Definition: a speaker's or writer's choice of words; (also) the clearness of a person's speech.

From the reading: "Fit the diction to the age."

Synonyms:

wording, phrasing, vocabulary

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin dictio, "a saying, a word," from dicere, "to say."

Definition: a statement or fact that is the opposite of, or cannot agree with, another.

From the reading: "Invent only where the record is silent, and never put words in his mouth that contradict what he believed or did."

Synonyms:

inconsistency, conflict, denial

Antonyms:

agreement, consistency, confirmation

Root:Latin contra- (against) + dicere (to speak): to speak against.

Definition: genuine; really coming from the person or time it claims to come from.

Context: A student's speech for Bradford should set his authentic words in quotation marks, so a reader can tell them from the invented ones.

Synonyms:

genuine, real, bona fide

Antonyms:

counterfeit, spurious, fake

Root:Greek authentikos, "original, primary," from authentes, "one who acts on his own authority."

Definition: strong disagreement, especially one that divides a group.

Context: Henry's resolution passed only narrowly, for there was sharp dissension in the Convention over whether to arm the colony.

KJV: "When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them" (Acts 15:2).

Synonyms:

discord, strife, conflict

Antonyms:

harmony, accord, unity

Root:Latin dissentire, "to differ in feeling," from dis- (apart) + sentire (to feel, think).

Definition: deep, lasting sadness or gloom; (as adjective) sad and thoughtful.

From the reading: "He is of a very melancholy disposition." (Hero, describing the sullen Don John)

Synonyms:

gloomy, sorrowful, despondent

Antonyms:

cheerful, merry, buoyant

Root:Greek melancholia, from melas (black) + chole (bile). Old physicians thought too much "black bile" made a man gloomy.

Definition: A person's usual temper or nature; a tendency or inclination to act a certain way.

From the reading: "He is of a very melancholy disposition."

Synonyms:

temperament, nature, character; (second sense) tendency, inclination

Antonyms:

(none exact) (second sense) disinclination, reluctance

Root:Latin dispositio, "arrangement," from dis- (apart) + ponere (to place): how a person is "arranged" inside.

Definition: tiresome because too long, slow or dull.

From the reading: "Neighbours, you are tedious." (Leonato, losing patience with the rambling constable Dogberry)

KJV: The orator Tertullus begins, "Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words" (Acts 24:4).

Synonyms:

wearisome, monotonous, long-winded

Antonyms:

engaging, lively, brief

Root:Latin taedium, "weariness, disgust," from taedere, "to weary."

Definition: deserving scorn; worthless or shameful. (In Shakespeare's day it could also mean "scornful," the sense of the line below; today tests mean "deserving contempt.")

From the reading: "...for the man,—as you know all,—hath a contemptible spirit." (Don Pedro on Benedick, meaning that Benedick is quick to scorn)

Synonyms:

despicable, base, shameful

Antonyms:

admirable, honorable, worthy

Root:Latin contemptibilis, from contemnere, "to despise," from con- (thoroughly) + temnere (to scorn).

Definition: a short, minor fight; (by extension) a brief clash of words or ideas.

From the reading: "...they never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them."

Synonyms:

clash, scuffle, encounter

Antonyms:

truce, peace, accord

Root:Old French eskirmir, "to fence, fight with a sword," from a Germanic word for "protect."

Definition: too strong to be defeated or overcome.

From the reading: "I would have thought her spirit had been invincible against all assaults of affection."

Synonyms:

unconquerable, unbeatable, indestructible

Antonyms:

vulnerable, weak, defenseless

Root:Latin in- (not) + vincere (to conquer).

Definition: stubbornly going one's own way; hard to control or guide; straying from what is right.

From the reading: Beatrice jokes that she will not give her life to "a clod of wayward marl" (a husband made of earth).

KJV link: Beatrice's joke rests on Genesis: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7).

Synonyms:

willful, headstrong, errant

Antonyms:

obedient, docile, compliant

Root:Middle English awayward, "turned away": one whose way turns from the right path.

Definition: an act that breaks a law, command or moral rule; a sin or offense.

From the reading: "The flat transgression of a school-boy, who, being overjoy’d with finding a bird’s nest, shows it his companion, and he steals..."

KJV: "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Psalm 32:1). "For sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4).

Synonyms:

offense, violation, trespass

Antonyms:

obedience, compliance, righteousness

Root:Latin transgredi, "to step across," from trans- (across) + gradi (to step): stepping over a line.