Lesson 4 Definitions

Archaic - are KAY ik

Antiquated, old, out of use - Synonyms: ancient, antique, obsolete, venerable - Antonyms: Contemporary, modern - Words such as "thou," which are no longer part of normal vocabulary, are archaic. Derivatives: archaically, archaism, archaize, archaized, archaizing, archaizer

Aloof - uh LOOF

Apart, indifferent - Synonyms: Detaches, incurious, unconcerned - Antonyms: integrated, friendly - The woman remained aloof during the party, separating herself from everyone else. Derivatives: aloofness

Duplicity - doo PLIS eh tee

Double-dealing, hypocrisy - Antonyms: sincerity; single-mindedness - His duplicity was exposed when the girl he was seeing found out he was married. Derivatives: duplicitous

Pompous - POM pus

Exaggerated show of dignity or self-importance, bombastic - Synonyms: ostentatious; pretentious - Antonyms: humble; meek - It is very pompous of him to believe the his ideas should always receive the first consideration. Derivatives: Pomp, pomposity, pompously, pompousness

Precocious - press KOE shus

Exceptionally early in development or occurrence - Synonyms: mature - Antonyms: backward - A child prodigy is a young person who is very precocious. Derivatives: precociousness, precosity, precociously

Virulent - VIR yuh lunt

Extremely poisonous; hateful - Antonym: harmless - The doctor prescribed a lot of medication to arrest the virulent infection. Derivatives: virulence, virulently

Gluttonous - GLUT uh nus

Greedy for food and drink - Synonyms: rapacious, ravenous, voracious - Antonyms: temperate - I am so gluttonous that I would have great difficulty dieting. Derivatives: glutton, gluttonize, gluttonously, gluttonousness

Trivia - TRIV ee uh

Insignificant matters - Antonyms: important matters - The English teacher is looking for substance, not trivia, in themes. Derivatives: trivial, triviality, trivialization, trivialize, trivally

Discord - DIS kord

Lack of agreement, tension, strife - Synonyms: contention, dissension, variance - Antonyms: harmony; agreement - There is a lot of discord in the nation over the issue of abortion. Derivatives: discordance, discordancy, discordant, discordantly, discordantness

Slothful - SLOTH ful

Lazy, indolent - Synonyms: Bovine - Antonyms: Industrious - That student is so slothful that he has never done any of his homework assignments. Derivatives: slothfully, slothfulness, sloth

Mundane - mun DANE

Ordinary, commonplace - Antonyms: unusual; outstanding - After I take care of the mundane matters, we an do something exciting. - Derivatives: mundanely, mundaneness, mendanity

Contentious - kun TEN shus

Quarrelsome, stirring controversy - Synonyms: bellicose, belligerent, pugnacious - Antonyms: congenial; harmonious - My contentious child will not listen to any form of reason. Derivatives: contentiously, contentiousness, contention

Volatile - VOL uh til

Quickly changeable, easily vaporized - Antonyms: static; unchangeable - Because of his volatile temper, one must use caution in dealing with him. Derivatives: volatileness, volatility, volatilization, volatilizable, volatize

Aesthetic - uhs THEH tic

Relating or pertaining to a sense of beauty or art - He is considered to have aesthetic tastes because he loves beauty and the arts. Derivatives: aesthete, aesthetically, aesthetically, aesthetician, aestheticism, aesthetics

Egocentric - ee go SEN trik

Self-centered, selfish - Antonyms: modest, selfless - Egocentric people rarely show any concern for others. Derivatives: egocentricity, egocentrism

Dogmatic - dog MAT ik

Strongly opinionated in an unwarranted manner - Synonyms: dictatorial, doctrinaire, magisterial, oracular - Antonyms: unopionated; wishy-washy - He was so dogmatic that having an intelligent discussion with him was impossible. Derivatives: Dogmatician, dogmatical, dogmatically, dogmaticalness, dogmaticism, dogmatism, dogmatize

Euphemism - YOO fuh miz um

Substitution of an inoffensive term for one that is offensive - Antonyms: coarse expression - People frequently use a euphemism for the word "died." They commonly say they "passed away." Derivatives: euphemistic, euphemious, euphemiously, euphemistically, euphemize, euphemizer

Dissemination - den sem uh NAY

The act of spreading widely; scattering - Antonym: consolidation - The dissemination of these ideas can best be achieved through television. - Derivatives: disseminate, disseminator

Ominous - OM uh nus

Threatening - Synonyms: fateful; portentous - Antonyms: Harmless; non-threatening - The ominous clouds were harbingers of the tornado. Derivatives: ominously, ominousness

Belie - buh LIE

To contradict, to give a false impression - Antonyms: to support; to agree with - Her first words appeared to belie all the wonderful things I had heard about her. Derivatives: belied, belying, belier

Assuage - uh SWAYJ

To ease, to mitigate, to make less painful or burdensome, to calm - Synonyms: allay, alleviate, lighten, soothe - Antonyms: to irritate; to intensify - Your kind words should assuage her suffering. The medicine should assuage his pain. Derivatives: assuaged, assuaging, assuagement, assuager

Daunt - DAWNT

To intimidate, to dismay - Antonyms: to hearten - I am not daunted by your threats. Derivatives: dauntless, dauntlessly, dauntlessness

Debilitate - deh BIL uh tate

To weaken, to enfeeble - Synonyms: sap - Antonyms: to invigorate - I was debilitated by my bout with pneumonia. Derivatives: debilitated, debilitating, debilitation, debilitative, debility

Petulance - PECH uh luns

Unreasonable touchiness or irritability - Antonyms: serenity - Petulance is sometimes the trait of a child who is not getting his way. Derivatives: Petulant, Petulancy, petulantly

Verbose - ver BOSE

Wordy, very talkative - Antonyms: terse - That professor is so verbose hat it takes him an hour to cover material that should take fifteen minutes. Derivatives: verbosely, verboseness, verbosity