Grade 9 College Vocabulary, Week 4

Definition: Happening at an unsuitable time; coming too early.

From the reading: "Some one will say: And are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life which is likely to bring you to an untimely end?" (The Last Days of Socrates: Apology)

KJV link: "Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light." (Job 3:16)

Synonyms:

ill-timed, premature, unseasonable

Antonyms:

timely, opportune

Root:un-, not + time (Old English tima) + -ly: not at the right time.

Definition: To stir up a feeling or response; to awaken from sleep.

From the reading: "I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you." (The Last Days of Socrates: Apology)

Synonyms:

stir, kindle, awaken

Antonyms:

calm, lull

Root:Pref. a- + rouse. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A charge or claim that someone has done something wrong.

From the reading: "The accusations of both might be summed up in a formula." (The Last Days of Socrates: Apology)

KJV link: "And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem." (Ezra 4:6)

Synonyms:

charge, allegation, indictment

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old French acusation, French accusation, Latin accusatio, from accusare. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A reduction in size, extent, or importance.

From the reading: "The wisest princes need not think it any diminution to their greatness, or derogation to their sufficiency, to rely upon counsel." (Essays of Bacon)

Synonyms:

decrease, reduction, lessening

Antonyms:

increase, growth

Root:Latin deminuere, to lessen.

Definition: A prediction, especially one given by a prophet under divine inspiration.

From the reading: "This is the prophecy which I utter before my departure to the judges who have condemned me." (The Last Days of Socrates: Apology)

KJV link: "Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?" (2 Chronicles 9:29)

Synonyms:

prediction, foretelling, revelation

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Old English prophecie, Old French profecie, French prophétie, Latin prophetia, from Greek , from Prophet. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To interrupt a speaker with rude remarks or questions.

Context (original sentence): A few rowdy men heckled the candidate from the back of the hall.

Synonyms:

jeer, taunt, interrupt

Antonyms:

applaud

Root:Middle English hekelen, to comb flax.

Definition: According to custom; usual.

From the reading: "For the customary sign would surely have opposed me had I been going to evil and not to good." (The Last Days of Socrates: Apology)

Synonyms:

usual, habitual, traditional

Antonyms:

unusual, unconventional

Root:CF. Old French coustumier, French coutumier. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Able to be maintained or defended against attack or objection.

From the reading: "It is quite tenable that the doctrine of necessity makes no difference at all; that it leaves the flogger flogging and the kind friend exhorting as before." (Orthodoxy)

Synonyms:

defensible, sound, justifiable

Antonyms:

untenable, indefensible

Root:Latin tenere, to hold.

Definition: A journey undertaken by a group for a particular purpose, such as exploration or war.

From the reading: "What would not a man give, O judges, to be able to examine the leader of the great Trojan expedition; or Odysseus or Sisyphus, or numberless others, men and women too!" (The Last Days of Socrates: Apology)

Synonyms:

journey, voyage, campaign

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin expeditio: compareFrench expédition. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: The most perfect or typical example of a quality or class.

From the reading: "And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" (Hamlet)

Synonyms:

epitome, embodiment, essence

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin quinta essentia, fifth essence.

Definition: Extremely wicked, deeply criminal.

From the reading: "For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges." (Job 31:11)

Synonyms:

wicked, atrocious, monstrous

Antonyms:

virtuous

Root:Old French haïnos hateful, French haineux, from Old French haïne hate, French haine, from haïr to hate; of German origin. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To be enough or adequate.

From the reading: "But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter." (Deuteronomy 3:26)

Synonyms:

serve, do, satisfy

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin sufficere, to supply, from sub-, under + facere, to make: to be enough.

Definition: Damaged or spoiled.

From the reading: "As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:" (Isaiah 52:14)

Synonyms:

scarred, blemished, spoiled

Antonyms:

unblemished

Root:Old English merran, to hinder or waste: damaged, spoiled.

Definition: Having a strong dislike of or opposition to something.

From the reading: "Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war." (Micah 2:8)

Synonyms:

opposed, reluctant, disinclined

Antonyms:

inclined, eager

Root:Latin aversus, past participle of avertere. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To state authoritatively that an action or procedure should be carried out; to recommend a medicine or remedy.

From the reading: "Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much." (Ezra 7:22)

Synonyms:

order, dictate, recommend

Antonyms:

forbid

Root:Latin praescribere, praescriptum; prae before + scriebe to write. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Bending and moving easily; flexible.

From the reading: "And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all." (Ezekiel 16:4)

Synonyms:

lithe, limber, pliant

Antonyms:

stiff, rigid

Root:Old English souple, French souple, from Latin supplex suppliant, perhaps originally, being the knees. Cf. Supplicate. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Densely populated.

From the reading: "And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:" (Deuteronomy 26:5)

Synonyms:

crowded, teeming, densely settled

Antonyms:

sparse, deserted

Root:Latin populosus, from populus people: compare French populeux. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To support or strengthen; to prop up.

From the reading: "So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him." (1 Samuel 26:7)

Synonyms:

support, reinforce, shore up

Antonyms:

undermine, weaken

Root:Old English (Anglo-Saxon) bolster; akin to Icelandic b, Sw. & Dan. bolster, OHG. bolstar, polstar, German polster; from the same root as English bole stem, bowl hollow vessel. Cf. Bulge, Poltroon. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To sharpen a blade; to stir up an appetite or desire.

From the reading: "If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready." (Psalm 7:12)

Synonyms:

sharpen, hone; stimulate

Antonyms:

dull, blunt

Root:Old English hwettan, to sharpen (akin to hwaet, bold): to sharpen.

Definition: A person one works with, especially in something secret or wrong; an ally or accomplice.

From the reading: "For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:" (Psalm 83:5)

Synonyms:

ally, accomplice, associate

Antonyms:

enemy, opponent

Root:Latin confoederatus, past participle of confoederare to join by a league; con- + foederare to establish by treaty or league, from foedus league, compact. (Webster, 1913)