Grade 8 College Vocabulary, Week 15

Definition: too much to be endured or borne. Today it is often said of people who are unbearably proud or annoying. Milton uses it in the old, literal sense: a light too bright for human eyes to bear.

From the reading: "That glorious form, that light unsufferable,"

Synonyms:

unbearable, intolerable, overwhelming

Antonyms:

bearable, tolerable, endurable

Root:Latin in- (not) + sufferre, "to bear up" (sub- "under" + ferre "to carry").

Definition: a home or dwelling place; where one lives or stays.

From the reading: "To welcome him to this his new abode,"

KJV: "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23).

Synonyms:

dwelling, residence, habitation

Antonyms:

(none exact) homelessness, wandering

Root:Middle English abood, from Old English abidan, "to wait, remain." An abode is where one abides.

Definition: having to do with the countryside; plain, simple and unpolished.

From the reading: "Sat simply chatting in a rustic row;" (the shepherds, before the angels appear).

Synonyms:

rural, pastoral, homespun

Antonyms:

urban, refined, sophisticated

Root:Latin rusticus, from rus, "the countryside."

Definition: To make something look or seem larger; to praise and glorify, to declare someone great.

Context: At the first Christmas, Mary did not magnify herself; she magnified the Lord who had come so low.

KJV: "And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord" (Luke 1:46).

Synonyms:

enlarge, amplify; (second sense) glorify, extol, exalt

Antonyms:

shrink, minimize; (second sense) belittle, disparage

Root:Latin magnificare, from magnus (great) + facere (to make): "to make great."

Definition: including or affecting everyone and everything; found everywhere.

From the reading: "She strikes an universal peace through sea and land."

Synonyms:

worldwide, general, all-embracing

Antonyms:

particular, local, limited

Root:Latin universus, "turned into one," from unus (one) + versus (turned).

Definition: unfriendly; belonging to or acting like an enemy.

From the reading: "Unstained with hostile blood;" (the war chariots stand unused on the night of Christ's birth).

Synonyms:

antagonistic, unfriendly, belligerent

Antonyms:

friendly, amicable, cordial

Root:Latin hostilis, from hostis, "enemy, stranger."

Definition: usual or customary; done by habit.

From the reading: "The sun himself withheld his wonted speed," (as if the sun waited in shame before a greater Light).

Synonyms:

customary, habitual, accustomed

Antonyms:

unusual, unaccustomed, rare

Root:Old English gewunod, "accustomed," from wunian, "to dwell, to be used to."

Definition: filled with sudden horror, shock or amazement.

From the reading: "The agèd Earth aghast," (Milton looks ahead to the Day of Judgment).

Synonyms:

horrified, appalled, thunderstruck

Antonyms:

unmoved, calm, unperturbed

Root:Middle English agasten, "to frighten," from Old English gæstan; related to ghost.

Definition: pleasant to hear; sweet and tuneful.

From the reading: "Move in melodious time;"

Synonyms:

tuneful, harmonious, mellifluous

Antonyms:

harsh, discordant, grating

Root:Greek melodia, "singing," from melos (song) + oide (ode, song).

Definition: extremely light and delicate; heavenly; seeming too fine for this world.

From the reading: "Of music, and ethereal mirth" (from the lines by Milton printed at the end of this edition).

Synonyms:

heavenly, airy, delicate

Antonyms:

earthly, heavy, material

Root:Greek aither, "the upper air, the pure bright sky," which the ancients thought lay above the clouds.

Definition: to make something last longer; to extend in time.

From the reading: "With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly close." (A "close" is the final cadence of a piece of music.)

Synonyms:

extend, lengthen, protract

Antonyms:

shorten, curtail, abbreviate

Root:Latin prolongare, from pro- (forward) + longus (long).

Definition: shining brightly; glowing with light, joy or beauty.

From the reading: "With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;" (Mercy coming down from heaven).

Synonyms:

shining, brilliant, resplendent

Antonyms:

dim, dull, gloomy

Root:Latin radiare, "to beam," from radius, "a ray, a spoke of a wheel."

Definition: A shrine where pagans believed a god answered questions, or the priest who spoke there; a message from God; a person thought to give wise, sure counsel.

From the reading: "The oracles are dumb," (at Christ's coming the false voices of Delphi fall silent).

KJV link: The pagan oracles fail, but God's word stands. Paul says of Israel that "unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Romans 3:2).

Synonyms:

prophet, seer; (second sense) revelation, divine word

Antonyms:

(none exact) silence, ignorance

Root:Latin oraculum, from orare, "to speak, to pray."

Definition: like a beast; coarse, savage, or without reason.

From the reading: "The brutish gods of Nile as fast," (the animal-headed idols of Egypt flee).

KJV: "A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this" (Psalm 92:6).

Synonyms:

beastly, savage, boorish

Antonyms:

refined, civilized, humane

Root:Latin brutus, "heavy, dull, without reason," the root also of brute.

Definition: gloomy and depressing; dreary; (also) very poor in quality.

From the reading: "In dismal dance about the furnace blue;" (the worshipers of Moloch call in vain on an idol that has fled).

Synonyms:

dreary, bleak, cheerless

Antonyms:

cheerful, bright, joyful

Root:Medieval Latin dies mali, "evil days," marked on old calendars as unlucky.

Definition: having to do with hell or the underworld; (informally) dreadful, hateful.

From the reading: "Troop to the infernal jail," (the shadows of night flee at sunrise, as the powers of darkness flee from Christ).

Synonyms:

hellish, diabolical, fiendish

Antonyms:

heavenly, celestial, divine

Root:Latin infernus, "lower, underground," from infra, "below."

Definition: A rule, law or standard by which things are judged; the accepted list of books in Scripture or of great works in literature. Do not confuse it with cannon, the gun.

From the reading (Composition lesson): "The second canon of rhetoric is arrangement: putting the right things in the right order."

Context: Milton keeps this canon when he ends his hymn soon after the turn: the false gods have fled and the Babe sleeps, and he stops.

Synonyms:

rule, standard, principle; (second sense) official list, body of works

Antonyms:

exception, deviation

Root:Greek kanon, "a measuring rod, a rule," probably from kanna, "reed."

Definition: full of grief or pain; sorrowful.

From the reading: "And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering Day." (Hell is pictured as giving up her house of sorrow to the light.)

Synonyms:

mournful, doleful, woeful

Antonyms:

joyful, cheerful, blissful

Root:Latin dolor, "pain, grief." The same root gives doleful and condolence.

Definition: Ready and willing to serve (Milton's sense); useful, in good working order, good enough for its purpose (the common modern and test sense).

From the reading: "Bright-harnessed angels sit in order serviceable." (The last line of the hymn: heaven's armies wait as servants at a stable.)

Synonyms:

(sense 1) ready, obliging; (sense 2) usable, functional, practical

Antonyms:

(sense 2) useless, unusable, broken

Root:Old French servisable, from Latin servitium, "service," from servus, "servant."

Definition: (noun) rule, power or controlling influence; (verb) to move back and forth, or to influence someone's opinion.

From the reading: "Not half so far casts his usurpèd sway," (the old Dragon's stolen power is cut back from the day of Christ's birth).

Synonyms:

(noun) dominion, control, authority; (verb) influence, persuade

Antonyms:

(noun) powerlessness, weakness

Root:Middle English sweyen, "to move, swing," probably from Old Norse sveigja, "to bend."