Word Power: Building Vocabulary Skills
Lesson 9
Lesson Quiz
Lesson Words
Etymology: [heow (Anglo-Saxon), "form, appearance"]
color; a modification of color
Vincent Van Gogh moved to Paris in 1886. It was then that he became familiar with the new art movements developing at the time. It was his contact with these new movements that that led him to adopt the brilliant hues found in his later paintings.
Synonyms: tint (a slight touching with color), tinge (a stain of color), shade (a degree of color)
NOTE: The word hue meaning "outcry" [huer (Old French), "to shout"] is now used only in the expression "hue and cry." Historically, the expression was used to describe an outcry against a felon. All who heard the cry were obliged to join in the pursuit. Today, a "hue and cry" is a popular clamor raised against an unpopular person or event.
The hue and cry that greeted the announcement of an increase in taxes led the council to withdraw the proposal.
Etymology: [chimaira (Greek), "shegoat." In Greek mythology the chimaira was a fabulous she-monster, with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. It symbolized the destructive aspect of nature.]
merely imaginary, fantastic, marked by a foolish fancy, wildly visionary, preposterously unreal; given to preposterous or fantastic schemes
People of other nationalities view the United States mission to spread demoracy thought the world as naive and chimerical.
Charles Manson held the chimerical vision that the murders he and his followers committed would start an apocalyptic war between blacks and whites.
Synonyms: quixotic, fabulous, utopian, impractical
Antonyms: concrete, practical, prosaic, matter-of-fact
NOTE: Observe the distinction between the meaning of chimerical and that of two of its synonyms:
utopian — visionary in its assumption of an ideal so perfect that it is beyond mortal realization. In 1515 Sir Thomas More wrote a book entitled Utopia. The title is derived from the Greek: ou, "not" + topos, "a place" — in other words, "no such place." The book described an island whose inhabitants enjoyed perfection in an ideal commonwealth. Their laws, politics, morals, and institutions were faultless. The Utopians had no money, no lawyers, no selfish tyrants. . . . Today we refer to a plan as utopian if it proposes a perfect society or an impractical scheme for social reform.
quixotic — extravagantly devoted to idealistic but very impractical schemes. The word is derived from Don Quixote, the chivalrous, idealistic, but impractical hero of the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.
Etymology: [boukolos (Greek), "a cowherd"]
relating to country life
The 1960s situation comedy, Green Acres was about a New York City lawyer and his wife who trade the fast-pace life of New York City for the bucolic life in the fictional small town of Hooterville.
Synonyms: pastoral, rustic, rural, simple, uncomplicated
Antonyms: urban, metropolitan
NOTE: Used as a noun, bucolic means "a poem about country life"; humorously it means "farmer." Webster's Collegiate Dictionary clarifies the distinctions in the use of rural, rustic, pastoral, and bucolic: "Rural refers to the country itself, esp. in its pleasant aspects; rustic implies a contrast with the refinements of the city, and often connotes a lack of polish. That is pastoral which has to do with the life of shepherds or (esp.) with conventional rural life. Bucolic is a literary synonym of rustic."
Etymology: [romen (Middle English), "to roam"]
(a) to wander about
Having a free afternoon on my hands, I rambled the streets of Buenos Aires.
(b) to write or speak disconnectedly or chatter
The speaker rambled on for nearly an hour and still failed to make her point.
(c) to grow or spread at random
The neglected vines rambled all over the walls of the abandoned house.
Synonyms: stroll, roam, straggle, meander
Antonyms: stride (to take regular, measured steps), prowl (to move about stealthily or softly in search of prey), march (to walk in a measured, ordered way), pace (to walk continuously, as from impatience or fretting)
Spanish: pasear - (a person) divagar - (in speech)
Etymology: [ek (Greek), "out" + kalein, "to call"]
a clergyman; pertaining to the church or the clergy
At one time, ecclesiastic ceremonies and processions were an everyday scene on the streets of Madrid, Spain.
Synonyms: clerical; clergy
Antonyms: secular, civil
NOTE: Ekklesia referred to a political assembly of the citizens in the ancient Greek city states. Taken over into Latin as ecclesia, the word was used to designate an assembly of Christians; hence, a congregation or church. From this word is derived the French word église, "church," and the Italian word chiesa, "church."
Etymology: [vitiare, vitiatus (Latin), "injure," from vitium, "a fault"]
to render ineffective or destroy the validity of an object
The contract was vitiated because Tim signed the contract before he was emancipated. It is a well settled rule that minors cannot enter into a binding contract.
Synonyms: invalidate, negate, nullify
Antonyms: vitalize, energize, vivify, validate
Etymology: [From a variant of the English word metal, used figuratively to allude to the temper of the steel in a sword.]
spirit; courage; ability to do something well in difficult circumstances
Rosa Parks showed her mettle when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and move to the back of the bus.
Synonyms: bravery, valour, intrepidity, fearlessness
Etymology: [prae (Latin), "before" + capere (Latin), "to take"]
a practical rule of conduct or action
The precepts we learn in childhood often prove to be invaluable guides later in life.
Synonyms: maxim, moral, truism, adage
NOTE: In law, a precept is a written order issued by a court.
Etymology: [per (Latin), "through" + fides, "faith"]
treacherous
The soldier was court-martialed for his perfidious conduct in battle.
Synonyms: disloyal, faithless, deceitful
Antonyms: faithful, loyal
Etymology: [aversus (Latin), "turned aside"; from a, "away" + vertere, "to turn"]
unwilling; disinclined
Tom is averse to working hard.
Synonyms: reluctant, loath, indisposed
Antonyms: willing, inclined, disposed, favorable
