Grade 8 College Vocabulary, Week 27

Definition: The use of sharp, cutting words, often saying the opposite of what is meant, in order to mock or wound.

From the reading: "Using slang or sarcasm and calling it voice." (the lesson)

Synonyms:

irony, satire

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Greek sarkasmos, from sarkazein, to tear flesh like a dog (sarx, flesh): a cutting remark.

Definition: To ward off a weapon or attack; to evade an awkward question skillfully.

From the reading: "“Have you any idea how it hurts?” she parried." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

block, deflect, hedge

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French paré, past participle of parer. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To take in or soak up, as a sponge takes water or a mind takes learning; to occupy fully.

From the reading: "McLean laughed, for Freckles needed to see or hear only once to absorb learning as the thirsty earth sucks up water." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

soak up, assimilate, engross

Antonyms:

emit, release, repel

Root:Latin absorbere, from ab- "away" + sorbere "to suck in."

Definition: Of the greatest importance; chief.

From the reading: "He planted harebells; violets, blue, white, and yellow; wild geranium, cardinal-flower, columbine, pink snake's mouth, buttercups, painted trilliums, and orchis." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

chief, principal, primary

Antonyms:

minor, secondary

Root:Latin cardinalis, from cardo the hing of a door, that on which a thing turns or depends: compare French cardinal. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: An individual animal, plant, or thing used as an example of its kind for study or display.

From the reading: "Besides these were a butterfly-net, a naturalist's tin specimen-box, a bottle of cyanide, a box of cotton, a paper of long, steel specimen-pins, and a letter telling what all these things were and how to use them." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

sample, example, instance

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin, from specere to look, to behold. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The quality of being complicated or full of fine detail.

From the reading: "Between the panels, and above and below them, were borders of wood once white, now tinted like cream, and carved with marvellous intricacy of design." (Ben-Hur)

Synonyms:

complexity, elaborateness, detail

Antonyms:

simplicity

Root:Latin intricare, to entangle.

Definition: The state of being estranged or made a stranger; separation from one's home, people or affections.

From the reading: "He was of foreign birth, and despite years of alienation, in times of strong feeling he committed inherited sins of accent and construction." (Freckles)

KJV link: "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." (Ephesians 4:18)

Synonyms:

estrangement, separation, isolation

Antonyms:

belonging, fellowship, reconciliation

Root:Latin alienus, "belonging to another, foreign," from alius, "other."

Definition: Rough or harsh in texture; rude or vulgar in manner.

From the reading: "There was the trembling Limberlost guard in his coarse clothing, with his cotton rags and his old pail of swamp water." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

rough, crude, vulgar

Antonyms:

fine, refined

Root:from course, in the sense "ordinary, in the usual course" (Latin cursus, a running): common, rough.

Definition: Tending to mislead; giving a false impression.

From the reading: "You attacked single-handed a man almost twice your size, and fought as a demon, merely at the suggestion that you be deceptive and dishonest." (Freckles)

KJV link: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

Synonyms:

misleading, deceitful, delusive

Antonyms:

honest, straightforward, genuine

Root:Latin decipere, "to ensnare, cheat," from de- + capere, "to take."

Definition: Rudeness; a lack of good manners, or an act that shows it.

From the reading: "“Anyone who knows you even half as well as I do, knows that you are never guilty of a discourtesy, and you move with twice the grace of any man here." (Freckles)

KJV link: "Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous." (1 Peter 3:8)

Synonyms:

rudeness, incivility, impoliteness

Antonyms:

courtesy, politeness, civility

Root:Latin dis- "not" + Old French corteis, "having court manners."

Definition: Speech that belittles or lowers the worth of someone or something.

From the reading: "No disparagement intinded to the sinse of the mare!” he added hastily." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

belittling, denigration, slight

Antonyms:

praise, compliment, commendation

Root:Old French desparagier, "to marry beneath one's rank," from dis- + parage, "rank, lineage."

Definition: Quaint, amusing humor; a whimsical joke or odd funny way of speaking.

From the reading: "Freckles decorated his story with keen appreciation and rare touches of Irish wit and drollery that made it most interesting as well as very funny." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

humor, whimsy, waggery

Antonyms:

solemnity, gravity, dullness

Root:French drôle, "a merry fellow," perhaps from Dutch drol, "a little fat man."

Definition: An improvement in the condition or strength of something; a renewal of religious fervor.

From the reading: "The yearly resurrection of the Limberlost is a mighty revival." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

renewal, resurgence, awakening

Antonyms:

decline

Root:From Revive. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A particular form of a language spoken in a region or by a group.

From the reading: "He filled the air all the way with snatches of oratorios, gospel hymns, and dialect and coon songs, in a startlingly varied programme." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

speech, idiom, vernacular

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French dialecte, Latin dialectus, from Greek Dialogue. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To call someone to come; to call up courage or strength.

From the reading: "Yet, summon all the fortitude he might, that saw eating into the tree rasped his nerves worse and worse." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

call, send for, muster

Antonyms:

dismiss

Root:Latin summonere, to hint or remind privately, from sub-, secretly + monere, to warn: to call to come.

Definition: A person who represents, explains or champions an idea; (in math) the small raised number that shows a power.

From the reading: "She was a living exponent of universal brotherhood." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

advocate, champion, representative

Antonyms:

opponent, critic

Root:Latin exponere, "to put forth, explain," from ex- "out" + ponere "to place."

Definition: To try or attempt; to test the purity or quality of a metal.

From the reading: "By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned." (Hebrews 11:29)

Synonyms:

try, attempt; test

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old French asai, essai, trial, French essa. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The quality of being settled once and for all; a tone that allows no further argument.

From the reading: "“And you like him best?” persisted the Angel with finality." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

decisiveness, conclusiveness, certainty

Antonyms:

uncertainty, tentativeness, indecision

Root:Latin finalis, from finis, "end, boundary."

Definition: A situation of noisy quarreling or fighting; a brawl.

From the reading: "And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away." (Deuteronomy 28:26)

Synonyms:

brawl, scuffle, melee

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Abbreviated from affray. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Known widely and usually unfavorably.

From the reading: "Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed." (Ezekiel 22:5)

Synonyms:

notorious, disreputable, shameful

Antonyms:

renowned, honorable

Root:Pref. in- not + famous: compare Latin infamis. (Webster, 1913)