Grade 8 College Vocabulary, Week 28

Definition: Without basis or good reason; unfounded.

From the reading: "He wanted to tell her all about it, but he knew how dear the Angel was to her, and he dreaded to burden her with his fears when they might prove groundless." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

unfounded, baseless, unjustified

Antonyms:

well-founded, justified, substantiated

Root:English ground (Old English grund, "bottom, foundation") + -less: standing on nothing.

Definition: Produced in the throat; harsh and throaty in sound.

From the reading: "With a ravishing swagger, half-lifted wings, and deep, guttural hissing, the lover approached again." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

throaty, harsh, rasping

Antonyms:

clear, melodious, silvery

Root:Latin guttur, "throat."

Definition: Relating to the medieval system in which vassals held land from a lord in return for service.

From the reading: "But no pages or squires--not even a solitary warder--was placed by the emblem of feudal power and knightly degree." (The Talisman)

Synonyms:

manorial, seigneurial

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:French féodal, or Late Latin feudalis. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To love or admire someone excessively, as if worshipping an idol.

From the reading: "She is an idolized, petted only child, and there is great wealth." (Freckles)

KJV link: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." (1 John 5:21)

Synonyms:

adore, worship, dote on

Antonyms:

despise, scorn, disdain

Root:Greek eidolon, "image, phantom," from eidos, "form."

Definition: Something suggested without being said outright; a likely consequence.

From the reading: "The implication of this statement was so gratifying to Black Jack that he seemed again to expand and take on increase before their very eyes." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

suggestion, inference, hint

Antonyms:

statement, declaration, explicit claim

Root:Latin implicare, "to fold in, entangle," from in- + plicare, "to fold."

Definition: To make or do something with whatever is at hand, without preparation.

From the reading: "At their feeding-ground Freckles set down his old pail of scraps and swept the snow from a small level space with a broom improvised of twigs." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

extemporize, contrive, make do

Antonyms:

rehearse, prepare, plan

Root:Italian improvvisare, from Latin improvisus, "unforeseen" (in- "not" + providere "to foresee").

Definition: Something that persuades or leads a person to act; an incentive.

From the reading: "For now his chickens not only represented all his former interest in them, but they furnished the inducement that was bringing his Angel." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

incentive, motive, enticement

Antonyms:

deterrent, discouragement, disincentive

Root:Latin inducere, "to lead in," from in- + ducere, "to lead."

Definition: Untidy in appearance, as hair or clothing in disorder.

Context (original sentence): He arrived disheveled after riding all night through the storm.

Synonyms:

untidy, messy, rumpled

Antonyms:

neat, tidy

Root:Old French deschevelé, with the hair in disorder.

Definition: To make a bill into law; to act out a role or scene.

From the reading: "They elected Myles as their Grand High Commander, and held secret meetings in the ancient tower, where many mysteries were soberly enacted." (Men of Iron)

Synonyms:

decree, ordain; perform

Antonyms:

repeal

Root:en-, to put into + act (Latin actum, a thing done, from agere, to do): to put into law or action.

Definition: A thing that is helpful or beneficial; a blessing.

From the reading: "Notwithstanding these various pretensions to sanctity, Abdallah was (for an Arab) a boon companion, who enjoyed a merry tale, and laid aside his gravity so far as to quaff a blithe flagon when secrecy ensured him against scandal." (The Talisman)

Synonyms:

blessing, benefit, godsend

Antonyms:

curse, bane

Root:Old English bone, boin, a petition, from Icelandic b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, Old English (Anglo-Saxon) b, and perh. to English ban; but influenced by French bon good, from Latin bonus. Ban, Bounty. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Serving during an intermediate interval of time.

From the reading: "I will in the interim undertake one of Hercules’ labours, which is, to bring Signior Benedick and the Lady Beatrice into a mountain of affection the one with the other." (Much Ado About Nothing)

Synonyms:

temporary, provisional, acting

Antonyms:

permanent

Root:Latin, from inter between + im, an old accusative of is he, this, that. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler.

From the reading: "He had expected to see something lion-like, something regal, and, after all, the great King Henry was commonplace, fat, unwholesome-looking." (Men of Iron)

Synonyms:

royal, majestic, kingly

Antonyms:

lowly, humble

Root:Latin regalis, from rex, regis, a king. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: One who enters where he has no right or welcome; a trespasser.

From the reading: "It seemed to him that he could feel the eyes of some intruder at his back." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

trespasser, interloper, invader

Antonyms:

guest, host, resident

Root:Latin intrudere, "to thrust in," from in- + trudere, "to push."

Definition: Concerned with worldly rather than religious or spiritual matters.

From the reading: "Great secular trees lent cool shadows to the grounds, and now, on this warm early autumn night, the leaves slightly turned to russets and gold, the old garden looked singularly poetic and peaceful in the moonlight." (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Synonyms:

worldly, temporal, lay

Antonyms:

sacred, religious

Root:Old English secular, seculer. Latin saecularis, from saeculum a race, generation, age, the times, the world; perhaps akin to English soul: compare French séculier. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Having great power, influence, or effect.

From the reading: "Then it was that that extra sense became potent in Marguerite Blakeney." (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Synonyms:

powerful, mighty, strong

Antonyms:

weak, powerless

Root:Latin potens, able, from posse, to be able: powerful.

Definition: Liable to decay or spoil quickly; not lasting.

From the reading: "She folded the outer edges of the proof so that it would fit into the book, explaining as she did so its perishable nature in that state." (Freckles)

KJV link: "To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." (1 Peter 1:4)

Synonyms:

short-lived, decaying, fleeting

Antonyms:

durable, lasting, imperishable

Root:Latin perire, "to pass away, be lost," from per- "through" + ire "to go."

Definition: To go or come before in time, order or rank.

From the reading: "They stopped at the west entrance to the swamp, waiting for him to precede them down the trail, as he had told them it was safest for the horse that he should do." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

go before, lead, antedate

Antonyms:

follow, succeed, come after

Root:Latin praecedere, from prae- "before" + cedere "to go."

Definition: The accepted rules of polite behavior in society or in a profession.

From the reading: "Hundreds of men couldn't be taught, even in a school of etiquette; so it must be instinctive with you." (Freckles)

Synonyms:

manners, decorum, protocol

Antonyms:

rudeness, impropriety, boorishness

Root:French étiquette, "ticket, label": originally the card of rules posted at court.

Definition: To threaten or endanger.

From the reading: "But they evinced not the timidity of the scared flock—there were dark brows of defiance, and looks which menaced the hostility they dared not to proffer in words." (Ivanhoe)

Synonyms:

threaten, endanger, imperil

Antonyms:

protect

Root:French, from Latin minaciae threats, menaces, from minax, - acis, projecting, threatening, minae projecting points or pinnacles, threats. Cf. Amenable, Demean, Imminent, Minatory. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Filled with awe; overwhelmed by wonder and reverent fear.

From the reading: "Duncan gazing as if awestruck, and to hear her bewildered “Weel I be drawed on!”" (Freckles)

KJV link: "Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him." (Psalm 33:8)

Synonyms:

amazed, wonderstruck, overawed

Antonyms:

unimpressed, indifferent, blasé

Root:Old Norse agi, "fright, terror," + English struck: struck by awe.