Grade 9 College Vocabulary, Week 30

Definition: The quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong; any admirable quality or attribute.

From the reading: "Renew the truce; the solemn rites prepare, And to my single virtue trust the war." (The Aeneid)

KJV link: "And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?" (Mark 5:30)

Synonyms:

goodness, righteousness, merit

Antonyms:

vice

Root:Old English vertu, French vertu, Latin virtus strength, courage, excellence, virtue, from vir a man. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Cessation; relief from something.

From the reading: "The nations, overaw’d, surcease the fight; Immovable their bodies, fix’d their sight." (The Aeneid)

Synonyms:

cessation, end, respite

Antonyms:

continuation

Root:French sursis, from sursis, p.p. of surseoir to suspend, postpone, defer, in Old French, to delay, refrain from, forbear, Latin supersedere. Surcease is not connected with English cease. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Occurring or operating at the same time.

From the reading: "As they formed to charge the fifth time the latter lost heart, and as if acting under a simultaneous influence they turned and fled." (In Freedom's Cause)

Synonyms:

concurrent, coinciding, synchronous

Antonyms:

successive

Root:Late Latin simultim at the same time, from Latin simul. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Witheringly scornful; severely critical.

From the reading: "As he thus strolled and pondered, the solemn light of the morning grew more clear, the east was already coloured by the sun, and a little scathing wind blew up the frozen snow." (The Black Arrow)

Synonyms:

withering, biting, harsh

Antonyms:

mild, gentle

Root:Old Norse skatha, to harm (akin to Old English sceathian) + -ing: harshly hurtful.

Definition: Rising in power or influence.

From the reading: "Thy happy star ascendant brought us luck, O let it not decline!" (Oedipus the King and Antigone)

Synonyms:

rising, dominant, prevailing

Antonyms:

declining

Root:French ascendant, Latin ascendens; present participle of ascendere. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Lacking care or attention to duty; negligent.

From the reading: "“Faith! your ladyship must have thought me very remiss,” said a voice suddenly, close to her elbow." (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Synonyms:

negligent, careless, lax

Antonyms:

diligent, careful

Root:Latin remissus, past participle of remittere to send back, relax. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Being truly so called; real or genuine (used to emphasize a description).

From the reading: "His whole attitude was one of intense longing—a veritable prayer for that confidence, which her foolish pride withheld from him." (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Synonyms:

genuine, actual, true

Antonyms:

counterfeit

Root:French véritable. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Relating to the sense of smell.

From the reading: "Your grandfather was noted for his olfactory powers." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

smelling, nasal

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:Latin olfactus, p.p. of olfacere to smell; olere to have a smell + facere to make. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: A long, complicated dispute; to argue noisily.

From the reading: "Sometimes, when he had reached a new place and had had that lonely feeling, he had followed some boyish clamor of play or wrangling, and had found a temporary friend or so." (The Lost Prince)

Synonyms:

quarrel, squabble, bicker

Antonyms:

agree

Root:Old English wranglen to wrestle. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To make someone troubled or nervous; to stir or shake briskly.

From the reading: "It is collected in vessels, care being taken to agitate them, that the liquid may not coagulate." (The Swiss Family Robinson)

Synonyms:

disturb, upset, stir

Antonyms:

calm, soothe

Root:Latin agitatus, past participle of agitare to put in motion, from agere to move: compare French agiter. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To make someone annoyed or impatient; to cause inflammation in a part of the body.

From the reading: "At last, as time went on, and some decision was necessary, the perplexed King, willing at least not to irritate Rupert, desired that Ruthven should array the troops in the Swedish fashion." (A Book of Golden Deeds)

Synonyms:

annoy, vex, chafe

Antonyms:

soothe

Root:. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious.

From the reading: "That enigmatic and audacious Scarlet Pimpernel, alone and with thirty men at his heels, could not reasonably be expected to escape a second time." (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Synonyms:

mysterious, puzzling, cryptic

Antonyms:

clear, plain

Root:Greek ainigma, a riddle, from ainissesthai, to speak in riddles + -tic: puzzling.

Definition: To disperse or vanish; to waste or squander.

From the reading: "High on their yards, at their mast-heads they place Lanterns enough, and carbuncles so great Thence, from above, such light they dissipate The sea's more clear at midnight than by day." (The Song of Roland)

Synonyms:

disperse, scatter; squander

Antonyms:

gather, conserve

Root:Latin dissipatus, past participle of dissipare; dis- + an obsolete verb sipare, supare. to throw. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To pull a plant up by the roots; to move someone from their home.

From the reading: "The beech had, in some violent gale, been half-uprooted, and had torn up a considerable stretch of turf and it was under this that old Lawless had dug out his forest hiding-place." (The Black Arrow)

Synonyms:

eradicate, root out, displace

Antonyms:

plant

Root:up + root (Old Norse rot): to tear up by the roots.

Definition: Having a gentle sheen or soft glow.

From the reading: "Then the lustrous meadows far beyond the thatch of the garden-wall, yet seen beneath the hanging scollops of the walnut-tree, all awaking, dressed in pearl, all amazed at their own glistening, like a maid at her own ideas." (Lorna Doone)

Synonyms:

shining, gleaming, glossy

Antonyms:

dull, matte

Root:Cf. French lustreux. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: In an acutely disturbed state of mind from fever; wildly excited.

From the reading: "Our imagination was on fire; we were delirious with pride and joy." (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc)

Synonyms:

feverish, raving; ecstatic

Antonyms:

lucid, calm

Root:From Delirium. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: Looking or sounding bizarre or unfamiliar.

From the reading: "Not that our part of the world is at all outlandish, according to my view of it (for I never found a better one), but that it was known to be rugged, and large, and desolate." (Lorna Doone)

KJV link: "Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin." (Nehemiah 13:26)

Synonyms:

bizarre, strange, eccentric

Antonyms:

ordinary, conventional

Root:Old English (Anglo-Saxon) foreign. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To catch in or as in a trap.

From the reading: "That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared." (Job 34:30)

Synonyms:

trap, entrap, snare

Antonyms:

free, release

Root:en-, in + snare (Old Norse snara, a noose): to catch in a noose.

Definition: To stop or restrict a flow of blood or another liquid.

From the reading: "Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched." (Luke 8:44)

Synonyms:

stem, staunch, halt

Antonyms:

(none exact)

Root:From Stanch, v. t., and hence literally signifying, stopped or stayed; compare Spanish estanco stopped, tight, not leaky, as a ship. (Webster, 1913)

Definition: To change one's will so as to prevent an heir from inheriting.

From the reading: "I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they." (Numbers 14:12)

Synonyms:

disown, cut off

Antonyms:

bequeath

Root:Cf. Disherit, Disheir. (Webster, 1913)