Word Power: Building Vocabulary Skills
Lesson 7
Lesson Quiz
Lesson Words
Etymology: [atavus (Latin), "an ancestor"]
1. a remote family trait, or a disease that has remained latent for one or more generations
John's disease is a prime example of atavism. The disease often skips several generations. John's great grandfather also had the disease.
2. reappearance of a primitive instinct
Fox hunting is oftn said to be an example of an atavism made respectable by the social position of its participants.
Synonyms: recurrence; remembrance, renewal
Etymology: [rancere (Latin), "to be sour"]
intense ill will or malice
The speech Hitler gave to his party was full of rancor.
Synonyms:animosity, bitterness, hostility
Antonyms: amity, good will, benignity, amenity, complaisance
Etymology: [vorax, voracis, from vorare (Latin), "to devour"]
eager to devour something; ravenous with hunger; greedy to eat
Amy is a voracious reader.
Synonyms: gluttonous, rapacious, insatiable, ravenous
Antonyms: abstemious, temperate, moderate
Etymology: [sinus (Latin), "a bent surface or curve"]
following a winding course; serpentine (that is, winding and turning this way and that) in form
The Charles River is a very sinuous river.
Synonyms: winding, meandering, crooked
Antonyms: direct, straight
Etymology: [de (Latin prefix), "down" + notare, "to mark, to sign"]
to show; to communicate or express meaning by word or sign
The second verse of the poem is said to denote pain and death.
The term ringside seat comes from boxing and denotes the seats just outside the boxing ring.
Synonyms: mark, signify, express, indicate
Antonyms: connote, suggest, imply
NOTE: The difference between denotation and connotation: "The denotation of a word is its actual meaning; its connotation, that which it suggests or implies in addition to its actual meaning."
Etymology: [French; from volare (Latin), "to fly"]
1. explosive
The transportation of volatile products such as gasoline is a very dangerous activity.
Synonyms: explosive, sensitive
2. tending to quickly into erupt into violence
Despite the volatile nature of their relationship, they were married for over 50 years.
Synonyms: temperamental, excitable
3. subject to rapid change
The petroleum industry is known to have volatile price fluctuations.
Synonyms: erratic, capricious, inconstant
Synonyms: mercurial, temperamental, capricious, inconstant
Antonyms: constant, fixed, steady, permanent, stable, grave, saturnine
NOTE: The technical term volatile as used in science means "easily vaporizable."
Etymology: [lucrativus (Latin), from lucrum, "gain"]
profitable
For more than three hundred years the New England States enjoyed a lucrative whale oil trade.
Synonyms: gainful, advantageous, remunerative
Antonyms: unprofitable, unremunerative
Etymology: [coercere (Latin); from co, "together" + arcere, "to confine or enclose"]
to compel a person to do something against his will by applying physical force or other means, such as intimidation
The defendant told the jury that the police coerced him into confessing to the murder.
Synonyms: constrain, force, impel
Etymology: [alias (Latin), "in another manner"; from alius, "other"]
an assumed or false name
The criminal used several aliases in order to avoid detection by the police.
Synonyms: pen name, nom de plume, pseudonym
Antonyms: appellation (correct name)
NOTE 1: When used as an adverb, alias means "otherwise called."
Mary Ann Evans, alias George Eliot.
The first is the real name, the second the pen name.
NOTE 2: The assumption of an alias in order to avoid detection may not necessarily be for a wrongful purpose. Writers and actors frequently use names other than their own for any one of many reasons. For example, George Eliot and George Sand wrote under men's names because women novelists were frowned on at that time. The alias of a writer is called a pen name, nom de plume, or pseudonym (literally, "false name").
Etymology: [plebeius (Latin), from plebs, "the common people"]
pertaining to the common people; hence, common or vulgar
Because it is expensive, golf is not a plebeian sport.
Synonyms: bourgeois, commoner, undistinguished
Antonyms: patrician, aristocratic, distinguished
