Grade 8 College Vocabulary, Week 8

Definition: showy in a cheap or tasteless way; too bright or flashy.

From the reading: "But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy"

KJV link: Peter teaches that true beauty is not outward show: "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible" (1 Peter 3:4).

Synonyms:

flashy, garish, showy

Antonyms:

plain, tasteful, understated

Root:Middle English gaude, "a trinket, a showy ornament," perhaps from Latin gaudium, "joy."

Definition: Lacking good taste or refinement; crude; in older English, common or ordinary, belonging to the crowd.

From the reading: "Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar."

Synonyms:

crude, coarse, unrefined; (older sense) common

Antonyms:

refined, cultivated, tasteful

Root:Latin vulgaris, "of the common people," from vulgus, "the crowd." The Latin Bible of Jerome is called the Vulgate because it was written in the people's common Latin.

Definition: a young bird just learning to fly; by extension, a beginner or something newly begun.

From the reading: "Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade." (Polonius warns his son not to give his friendship to every unproven newcomer.)

Synonyms:

beginner, novice, newcomer

Antonyms:

veteran, expert, master

Root:Middle English flegge, "feathered, ready to fly," + -ling (a small or young one). To be unfledged is to lack flight feathers.

Definition: To seize and hold tightly; to wrestle; to struggle to deal with a hard problem (the common test sense: "grapple with").

From the reading: "Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel"

Context (sense 2): Laertes would have to grapple with life in France without his father's daily counsel.

Synonyms:

grasp, clutch; (sense 2) wrestle with, tackle, confront

Antonyms:

release, let go; (sense 2) avoid, evade

Root:Old French grapil, "a hook." Sailors threw grappling hooks to seize and board an enemy ship.

Definition: very talkative; inclined to talk a great deal.

From the reading: "...he tells Laertes to hurry, then keeps him with twenty-odd lines of advice."

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

Synonyms:

talkative, garrulous, chatty

Antonyms:

taciturn, reticent, quiet

Root:Latin loquax, "talkative," from loqui, "to speak" (as in eloquent).

Definition: using more words than are needed; wordy.

Context: In Much Ado About Nothing, Constable Dogberry is so verbose and muddled that he can hardly report the crime his own watchmen have uncovered.

KJV link: The Preacher warns against careless, hasty speech before God: "therefore let thy words be few" (Ecclesiastes 5:2).

Synonyms:

wordy, long-winded, rambling

Antonyms:

concise, succinct, terse

Root:Latin verbosus, "full of words," from verbum, "word."

Definition: habitually silent; inclined to say very little.

From the reading: "Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice" (good advice for becoming taciturn, though Polonius does not follow it himself).

KJV: "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding" (Proverbs 17:28).

Synonyms:

reserved, reticent, laconic

Antonyms:

loquacious, talkative, garrulous

Root:Latin taciturnus, from tacere, "to be silent" (as in tacit, unspoken).

Definition: fond of giving moral advice and wise sayings, often in a self-important or preachy way.

From the reading: "...and then keeps him standing on the dock through a long string of precepts."

Synonyms:

moralizing, preachy, pompous

Antonyms:

plainspoken, modest, unassuming

Root:Latin sententiosus, "full of meaning," from sententia, "opinion, maxim." A sententia was a short, quotable saying. Polonius strings so many together that he becomes sententious.

Definition: to delay or avoid making a decision in order to gain time; to stall.

From the reading: "Well, you will temporize with the hours." (Don Pedro teases Benedick, who swears he will never marry, that time will soften him.)

Synonyms:

stall, delay, procrastinate

Antonyms:

decide, commit, act promptly

Root:French temporiser, from Latin tempus, temporis, "time."

Definition: Pretending to be shy or modest, especially in a teasing way; unwilling to give information (the common modern sense: "coy about his plans"); in Shakespeare, aloof and hard to approach.

From the reading: "I know her spirits are as coy and wild" (Hero, describing proud Beatrice).

Synonyms:

bashful, reserved; (sense 2) evasive, cagey

Antonyms:

forward, bold; (sense 2) open, forthcoming

Root:Old French coi, "quiet, still," from Latin quietus, "at rest."

Definition: Dizzy, as if about to fall; silly, flighty, and changeable; not serious or steady.

From the reading: "...for man is a giddy thing" (Benedick excusing himself for marrying after all his vows against it).

Synonyms:

dizzy; (sense 2) flighty, frivolous, fickle

Antonyms:

steady, sober, serious

Root:Old English gidig, "mad, possessed": first "out of one's wits," later "dizzy," then "frivolous."

Definition: open contempt for someone or something thought unworthy; (verb) to reject or treat with contempt.

From the reading: "Stand I condemn’d for pride and scorn so much?" Beatrice, overhearing her friends, resolves to change: "Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!"

Synonyms:

contempt, disdain, derision

Antonyms:

respect, admiration, esteem

Root:Old French escarnir, "to mock," from a Germanic word for "jest, mockery."

Definition: pretending to have virtues or beliefs that one does not really have; acting one way while being another.

From the reading: "Out on thee! Seeming! I will write against it" (Claudio accuses innocent Hero of hypocrisy, though the real deceit belongs to Don John's plot).

KJV: "Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Matthew 23:28).

Synonyms:

pretense, insincerity, duplicity

Antonyms:

sincerity, honesty, integrity

Root:Greek hypokrisis, "playing a part on the stage," from hypokrites, "actor." A hypocrite wears a mask, like an actor.

Definition: careful to consider all circumstances and consequences before acting or speaking; cautious.

From the reading: "Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgement."

KJV: "And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect" (Exodus 23:13).

Synonyms:

cautious, wary, prudent

Antonyms:

rash, reckless, heedless

Root:Latin circum, "around," + specere, "to look": one who looks all around before stepping.

Definition: To humiliate or deeply embarrass (the common modern sense); to put to death or subdue sinful desires by self-discipline; in Shakespeare, "mortifying" can mean deadly.

From the reading: "...goest about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief." (Gloomy Don John refuses Conrade's comfort.)

KJV: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8:13).

Synonyms:

humiliate, shame, embarrass; (sense 2) subdue, discipline

Antonyms:

honor, gratify, indulge

Root:Latin mortificare, "to put to death," from mors, mortis, "death," + facere, "to make."

Definition: meant to teach, especially to teach a moral lesson; (sometimes) teaching in a heavy-handed way.

From the reading: "Polonius’ precepts imitate a long tradition of fathers’ advice to sons..."

KJV: "My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother" (Proverbs 1:8). Proverbs is the oldest and best didactic writing.

Synonyms:

instructive, educational, moralizing

Antonyms:

entertaining, frivolous

Root:Greek didaktikos, "apt at teaching," from didaskein, "to teach."

Definition: a long speech by one person to listeners who do not answer, or do not answer yet.

From the reading: "A monologue is the same thing grown up and set on a stage or a page."

Synonyms:

speech, address, discourse

Antonyms:

dialogue, conversation

Root:Greek monos, "alone," + logos, "word, speech."

Definition: The act of making known something that was hidden; a surprising disclosure; in a monologue, what the speech shows about the speaker that he does not say outright.

From the reading: "...by the end we know the speaker better than when he began, and perhaps better than he knows himself."

Synonyms:

disclosure, unveiling, discovery

Antonyms:

concealment, cover-up, secret

Root:Latin revelare, "to unveil," from re-, "back," + velum, "veil." The last book of the Bible is named for this word: God draws back the veil.

Definition: not knowing or not intending; done or acting without awareness.

From the reading: "...what your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light" (Borachio, on the bumbling watchmen who unwittingly uncovered the plot against Hero).

Synonyms:

unaware, unknowing, inadvertent

Antonyms:

deliberate, knowing, intentional

Root:un- + witting, from Old English witan, "to know." It is the same root as wit, the prized quality in Much Ado.

Definition: not aware of what is happening around one; unmindful.

Context: Benedick and Beatrice trade insults, oblivious to the love their friends can already see growing between them.

Synonyms:

unaware, heedless, unmindful

Antonyms:

aware, alert, attentive

Root:Latin obliviosus, "forgetful," from oblivisci, "to forget."