Lesson 4 Vocabulary Definitions, Synonyms, Antonyms, and Derivatives Guide

Vocabulary Study: Aesthetic to Contentious

• aesthetic

  • Pronunciation: uhs THEH tic

  • Definition: Relating or pertaining to a sense of beauty or art

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: None listed

  • Contextual Example: He is considered to have aesthetic tastes because he loves beauty and the arts.

  • Derivatives: aesthete, aesthetical, aesthetically, aesthetician, aestheticism, aesthetics

• aloof

  • Pronunciation: uh LOOF

  • Definition: Apart, indifferent

  • Synonyms: Detached, incurious, unconcerned

  • Antonyms: Integrated; friendly

  • Contextual Example: The woman remained aloof during the party, separating herself from everyone else.

  • Derivatives: aloofness

• archaic

  • Pronunciation: are KAY ik

  • Definition: Antiquated, old, out of use

  • Synonyms: Ancient, antique, obsolete, venerable

  • Antonyms: Contemporary; modern

  • Contextual Example: Words such as "thou", which are no longer part of normal vocabulary, are archaic.

  • Derivatives: archaically, archaism, archaize, archaized, archaizing, archaizer

• assuage

  • Pronunciation: uh SWAYJ

  • Definition: To ease, to mitigate, to make less painful or burdensome, to calm

  • Synonyms: Allay, alleviate, lighten, soothe

  • Antonyms: To irritate; to intensify

  • Contextual Examples:

  • Your kind words should assuage her suffering.

  • The medicine should assuage his pain.

  • Derivatives: assuaged, assuaging, assuagement, assuager

• belie

  • Pronunciation: buh LIE

  • Definition: To contradict, to give a false impression

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: To support; to agree with

  • Contextual Example: Her first words appeared to belie all the wonderful things I had heard about her.

  • Derivatives: belied, belying, belier

• contentious

  • Pronunciation: kun TEN shus

  • Definition: Quarrelsome, stirring controversy

  • Synonyms: Bellicose, belligerent, pugnacious

  • Antonyms: Congenial; harmonious

  • Contextual Example: My contentious child will not listen to any form of reason.

  • Derivatives: contentiously, contentiousness, contention

Vocabulary Study: Daunt to Dogmatic

• daunt

  • Pronunciation: DAWNT

  • Definition: To intimidate, to dismay

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: To hearten

  • Contextual Example: I am not daunted by your threats.

  • Derivatives: dauntless, dauntlessly, dauntlessness

• debilitate

  • Pronunciation: deh BIL uh tate

  • Definition: To weaken, to enfeeble

  • Synonyms: Sap

  • Antonyms: To invigorate

  • Contextual Example: I was debilitated by my bout with pneumonia.

  • Derivatives: debilitated, debilitating, debilitation, debilitative, debility

• discord

  • Pronunciation: DIS kord

  • Definition: Lack of agreement, tension, strife

  • Synonyms: Contention, dissension, variance

  • Antonyms: Harmony; agreement

  • Contextual Example: There is a lot of discord in the nation over the issue of abortion.

  • Derivatives: discordance, discordancy, discordant, discordantly, discordantness

• dissemination

  • Pronunciation: deh sem uh NAY

  • Definition: The act of spreading widely; scattering

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Consolidation

  • Contextual Example: The dissemination of these ideas can best be achieved through television.

  • Derivatives: disseminate, disseminator

• dogmatic

  • Pronunciation: dog MAT ik

  • Definition: Strongly opinionated in an unwarranted manner

  • Synonyms: Dictatorial, doctrinaire, magisterial, oracular

  • Antonyms: Unopinionated; wishy-washy

  • Contextual Example: He was so dogmatic that having an intelligent discussion with him was impossible.

  • Derivatives: dogmatician, dogmatical, dogmatically, dogmaticalness, dogmaticism, dogmatism, dogmatize

Vocabulary Study: Duplicity to Ominous

• duplicity

  • Pronunciation: doo PLIS eh tee

  • Definition: Double-dealing, hypocrisy

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Sincerity; single-mindedness

  • Contextual Example: His duplicity was exposed when the girl he was seeing found out he was married.

  • Derivatives: duplicitous

• egocentric

  • Pronunciation: ee go SEN trik

  • Definition: Self-centered, selfish

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Modest; selfless

  • Contextual Example: Egocentric people rarely show any concern for others.

  • Derivatives: egocentricity, egocentrism

• euphemism

  • Pronunciation: YOO fuh miz um

  • Definition: Substitution of an inoffensive term for one that is offensive

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Coarse expression

  • Contextual Example: People frequently use a euphemism for the word "died." They commonly say someone "passed away."

  • Derivatives: euphemistic, euphemious, euphemiously, euphemistically, euphemize, euphemizer

• gluttonous

  • Pronunciation: GLUT uh nus

  • Definition: Greedy for food and drink

  • Synonyms: Rapacious, ravenous, voracious

  • Antonyms: Temperate

  • Contextual Example: I am so gluttonous that I would have great difficulty dieting.

  • Derivatives: glutton, gluttonize, gluttonously, gluttonousness

• mundane

  • Pronunciation: mun DANE

  • Definition: Ordinary, commonplace

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Unusual; outstanding

  • Contextual Example: After I take care of these mundane matters, we can do something exciting.

  • Derivatives: mundanely, mundaneness, mundanity

• ominous

  • Pronunciation: OM uh nus

  • Definition: Threatening

  • Synonyms: Fateful, portentous

  • Antonyms: Harmless; non-threatening

  • Contextual Example: The ominous clouds were harbingers of the tornado.

  • Derivatives: ominously, ominousness

Vocabulary Study: Petulance to Volatile

• petulance

  • Pronunciation: PECH uh luns

  • Definition: Unreasonable touchiness or irritability

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Serenity

  • Contextual Example: Petulance is sometimes the trait of a child who is not getting his way.

  • Derivatives: petulant, petulancy, petulantly

• pompous

  • Pronunciation: POM pus

  • Definition: Exaggerated show of dignity or self-importance, bombastic

  • Synonyms: Ostentatious, pretentious

  • Antonyms: Humble; meek

  • Contextual Example: It is very pompous of him to believe that his ideas should always receive the first consideration.

  • Derivatives: pomp, pomposity, pompously, pompousness

• precocious

  • Pronunciation: preh KOE shus

  • Definition: Exceptionally early in development or occurrence

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Backward

  • Contextual Example: A child prodigy is a young person who is very precocious.

  • Derivatives: precociousness, precosity, precociously

• slothful

  • Pronunciation: SLOTH ful

  • Definition: Lazy, indolent

  • Synonyms: Bovine

  • Antonyms: Industrious

  • Contextual Example: That student is so slothful that he has never done any of his homework assignments.

  • Derivatives: slothfully, slothfulness, sloth

• trivia

  • Pronunciation: TRIV ee uh

  • Definition: Insignificant matters

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Important matters

  • Contextual Example: The English teacher is looking for substance, not trivia, in themes.

  • Derivatives: trivial, triviality, trivialization, trivialize, trivally

• verbose

  • Pronunciation: ver BOSE

  • Definition: Wordy, very talkative

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Terse

  • Contextual Example: That professor is so verbose that it takes him an hour to cover material that should take fifteen minutes.

  • Derivatives: verbosely, verboseness, verbosity

• virulent

  • Pronunciation: VIR yuh lunt

  • Definition: Extremely poisonous; hateful

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Harmless

  • Contextual Example: The doctor prescribed a lot of medication to arrest the virulent infection.

  • Derivatives: virulence, virulently

• volatile

  • Pronunciation: VOL uh til

  • Definition: Quickly changeable, easily vaporized

  • Synonyms: None listed

  • Antonyms: Static; unchangeable

  • Contextual Example: Because of his volatile temper, one must use caution in dealing with him.

  • Derivatives: volatileness, volatility, volatilization, volatilizable, volatize