List 3.7 Vocabulary

KEY ROOTS of sound-

related words (to help

you make sense of

other sound-related

words)

PHONO-: Greek root – applied most often since 19th century to words involving the science or technology

of analyzing and/or recording/transmitting primarily spoken sound, and secondarily musical sound . . .

SONO-: Latin root – tends to be applied to “sound” in its broadest sense, and to qualities/ variations/

dimensions of heard sound – including music, speech, noise, etc.; Anglo Saxon root - connects “sound” to

swimming, bodies of water, measuring or probing depths, etc. . . . NOISE: Cognate with Latin originals

for “noxious” and “nausea” – meaning quarrel, disturbance -- connection to “annoy” is a folk etymology . .

. VOCA-: Latin root – spoken utterance (sound but not necessarily words) . . . MUSIC-: Greek root – an

art presided over by the Muses (including music, poetry, and other forms of artistic culture); Post-classical

Latin ‘musica’ refers to musical instruments. Some key “starter words” for analyzing musical sound:

rhythm, melody, harmony, tempo, time signature, measure, syncopation, note, chord, pitch, tone, tune,

timbre, accent, volume, dynamics, scale, key, upbeat, downbeat, cadence, polyphony

1 DISCORD n.

discordant adj.

CONCORD n.

DISSONANCE n.

dissonant adj.

DISCORD 1. (of music or sound) unpleasant or unconventional “conflict” or “disruption” in harmony

(pleasant reverberations of simultaneously played notes, especially in “chords”) or rhythm; 2. (of human

interactions) prone to irritable disagreement, annoyance, and conflict; CONCORD: smooth, pleasant, and

predictable norms of interaction among members of a group; DISSONANCE: 1. sound designed or

experienced (and potentially praised or criticized) as startling, un-harmonic, disruptive, unpredictable

(though it may be very carefully composed to generate these effects) 2. human interactions or combinations

of ideas experienced as apparently or actually mis-matched or startling or conflicting (esp. “cognitive

dissonance”) -- To accept a paradox is to tolerate "cognitive dissonance." -- "When compared with the

dissonant and provocative music coming out of downtown New York, the California sound could seem

limp" (NYT). -- "Even at that, some plots seem extraneous, and like the first season, the second ends on a

dissonant cliffhanger " (NYT). -- "I think we've gotten used to the dissonant, so it's not even dissonant

anymore" (Guardian). [accord, concordance, assonance, consonance, syncopation]

2 DIN n. DIN [Origin: Anglo Saxon – oldest of all of these fancy words involving sound]: loud, prolonged,

reverberating sound or “noise,” most often non-musical (term typically conveys disapproval of the

noise) - Think middle school cafeteria, cotton mill, pep rally scream fest, restaurant kitchen, loud party –

prolonged “I can’t hear myself think or speak” sound. -- amid the din of X -- "The clatter of steel adds to

the din of whirring fans " (Guardian). -- "Neither candidate has broken through policy-wise, nor has

either's personality crashed through the din of commericals here" (WPost). -- "'These waters are coming

back,' Bren Smith yelled above the shrieking din, as seagulls plunged near our boat, scooping up fish"

(NYT).

3 CLAMOR n & v.

clamorous adj.

clamoring adj.

CLAMOR: 1. noun - loud sound of many voices or instruments ‘coming together’ in protest or in

pleading for something. Think standing ovation, trumpet fanfare, marching band, rock-and-roll. 2. verb -

strongly and persistently protest and beseech/beg – clamoring for more -- the cloying clamor of

dueling ice-cream trucks -- "And some analysts say that advertisers are clamoring for an alternative to

the two giant Internet platforms that dominate the industry" (WPost). -- "The political clamor over

bathrooms is distressing and puzzling, Baum said" (WTimes). -- "Readers will clamor for more tales

involving Hawk and her quest for justice" (WTimes). [blaring, clambering]

4 CACOPHONY n.

cacophonous adj.

EUPHONY n.

euphonious adj.

CACOPHONY: Sound experienced as unpleasantly, even painfully chaotic and alarming (usually a

loud coinciding of various random or uncoordinated or ‘warring’ sources of sound). Think of mid-city rush

hour traffic combined with construction noise; voices ‘talking over’ one another in argument, a toddler at

the piano, a 3rd grade string orchestra. EUPHONY: sound experienced as pleasantly harmonious and

well coordinated. – a cacophony of X -- "He thrives on bling over substance, cacophony over

contemplation" (NYT). -- "At the entrance, visitors hear a cacophony of bird chirps and animal cries "

(SeattleT). -- "And when he played a zither, its euphony cascaded through the room" (WPost). -- "Who

for its euphony and significance would not want the old name back again?" (Slate). -- "He counts 'Wives

with Knives,' a title as self-explanatory as it is euphonious, among his creations" (USNews). -- "'Irish'

English moves to a unique, euphonious rhythm" (Guardian). [euphemism, euphonium, eulogy]

VOCAB LIST 3-7 2019-2020 “dissonant” to “maxim” 2

5 STRIDENT adj.

stridency n.

STRIDENT [Origin: Latin for ‘creak’]: 1. (of sound) harshly high-pitched, grating, attention-demanding,

especially as identified in a single female voice, as when an attempt to “shout” pans out as a “screech” 2.

(Of how some political “position” or some opinion is ‘held’ or ‘presented”) Intensely, "shrilly" and

harshly demanding and vocal – often irritatingly and narrow-mindedly so. [Both senses of this term

are frequently used to stereotype women seeking or exercising roles of authority.] -- strident criticism --

stridently opposed -- "LePen's speech was short and strident, peppered with her trademark emotive

adjectives: 'savage globalization,' 'arrogant elites,' 'big money' (LAT). -- "In his more strident moments,

Hitler urged Germans to be more like ants and finches, thinking only of survival and reproduction"

(Slate). -- "He was interrupted, many times, by strident protesters " (WPost). -- "The report is the most

strident warning yet from the New York Fed about stresses in sub-prime auto lending" (NYT). -- "those

strident string melodies " (Salon).

6 SONOROUS adj. (of sound) loud, deep, and resonant [think of snoring] -- "Sonorous boos washed down from the stands,

accompanying Manning on his walk back to the sidelines" (NYT). -- "But his Gandalf persona, with that

sonorous delivery, is just iconic." (The Verge)

7 CADENCE n. brief, distinctive rhythmic pattern (or way of 'falling out') of notes or speech - a "snippet" of rhythm

(often referring to a 'cadence' strategically repeated within or used to conclude some piece of music -- to

enhance emphasis or mood, or generate a sense of unity or drama), or a speech rhythm characteristic of a

regional accent or an individual's voice -- "Each phrase is announced with the scrupulous cadences

found in late Stravinsky" (LAT). "Elizabeth Marvel as Marc Antony brings down the house with the

funeral oration, spicing its pentameter cadence with the gumbo drawl of a southern senator" (NYT). --

"Suggesting Kennedy's distinctive cadence was a challenge for Perry" (SeattleT). -- "It's the narrator's

voice, expressed in an insistent cadence" (LAT). [cascade]

8 LILTING adj .

LILT n. & v.

LILTING: - adj. (of sound, or motion) moving in a rhythm that is buoyant, varied, 'swinging' and

'uplifing' in effect 2. LILT - noun: some characteristic 'lively' rhythm or cadence associated with a

particular voice, or a particular regional/cultural 'accent' -- lilting along -- "The lilt of her native Scotland

lends a beguiling charm to her speech" (Wtimes). -- "He speaks with a lilting twang; she with New

England deliberativeness " (WPost). -- "As we close in on Christmas, there is such a holiday lilt to the

air, almost a brogue" (LAT). -- "We now lilt about in our own bubbles of self-programmed sound"

(NYer). -- "Yes, it's ridiculous, but it works, and with a zesty feminist lilt, too" (WPost).

9 SIBILANT adj . & n.

sibilance n .

cueing (through multiple s's) or making a 'hissing' sound -- Parseltongue is the sibilant language

understood by both Voldemort and Harry Potter. -- The jury is out on the sibilant opening of

Shakespeare's Sonnet No. 30, "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought": some readers find it

charming, others cloying. -- "Rendezvous, it says, terraces; the sibilants run up my spine, a shiver as if in

fever " (Handmaid's Tale).

10 HALTING adj.

halt v.

HALTING: - adj. (of rhythm, or motion) abruptly stopping-and-starting, or hobbling or limping;

HALT: 1. verb - stop abruptly; 2. noun - [UK usage] bus-stop or train-stop or taxi-stand -- Her halting

speech grated on my nerves. -- "Because the city's economy is densely interwoven, reviving it is likely to be

a halting process" (NYT). -- "In what crevices and crannies, one might ask, did they lodge, this maimed

company of the halt and the blind?" (Virginia Woolf, "Street Haunting")

VOCAB LIST 3-7 2019-2020 “dissonant” to “maxim” 3

11 LYRICISM n.

LYRICAL adj.

lyric n. & adj.

LYRICISM / LYRICAL: 'song-like,' melodic, emotionally exuberant expressiveness implemented in

poetry, prose, and music - esp music performance (James Corden's specialty); LYRIC: genre category

for short poems that express personal reflections and emotions (as opposed to 'narrative' poems, or 'dramatic

monologue' or 'verse drama'). "Lyric poems" include sonnets, odes, hymns. -- to wax lyrical about X --

"The soprano line shifts from phrases of aching lyricism to chantlike declamations" (NYT). -- "The

dreary amateur lyricism clarified nothing but the extent of his aloneness" (LAT). -- "He often seemed

more Mozartian than Haydn-esque, emphasizing sweet lyricism over quirkiness" (LAT). -- "It's common to

hear chefs wax lyrical about ingredients they adore" (Guardian) -- "'Psycho' wouldn't be 'Psycho' without

Hermann's music, which, even when lyrical, puts you on edge" (NYT).

12 ELEGIAC adj .

elegiacally adv.

elegy n.

(of music, or tone of voice, or a poem) conveying a sound and/or message evoking or evocative of

mourning and remembrance; a formal poem of mourning written in elegiac meter (a classical metrical

form for poem's commemorating the dead) -- Milton's Lycidas is the most famous pastoral elegy in

English. -- "Despite its title, 'The Retreat of Western Liberalism' is not bleak or elegiac" (Economist). --

"It's the kind of uncanny, elegiac image we've seen in a thousand dystopias " (NYer).

13 ECLECTIC adj.

eclecticism n.

including (or open to, or taking equal pleasure in) many markedly distinct types (said of "taste in

music" or "taste in food" or "taste in design" or of some collection/assembly of things) -- "It's an eclectic

place of cattle drives, art galleris, cafes, and coffee roasters" (LAT). -- "So does a soak in one of the four

pools, where I hear an eclectic collection of languages from my fellow bathers " (WPost).

14 REPERTOIRE n. the 'always-ready-to-play' collection/stock of plays, parts, songs, recipes that a "performer"

(production company, actor, musician, chef, home cook etc.) could execute with little-to-no notice --

classical repertoire -- modern repertoire -- a repertoire of skills -- My uncle is a brilliant cook and has

dozens of dishes in his dinner party repertoire -- "Sanders used every hand gesture in his rich repertoire"

(WPost). --

15 OBFUSCATE v.

obfuscation n .

to attempt to conceal or 'keep in the dark' something (or some viewer of something) through

distraction, obstruction, or confusion, especially through misleading or non-forthcoming language --

"We didn't put out a bunch of obfuscating facts -- 'We said, yeah it's a terrible thing, it happened'"

(LAT). -- "One thing developers like to do is obfuscate their code to make it harder for people to figure

out how it works" (WTimes). -- "Thoreau concluded that school subjected children to 'the process not of

enlightening, but of obfuscating the mind'" (WPost).

16 EFFACE v.

EXPUNGE v.

LIQUIDATE v.

EFFACE: to erase, clean or obscure by rubbing or striking out (not always intentionally) -- “The

bakers are self-effacing and you end up wanting them all to win” (NYT). – I'm so heavy footed that I

efface the treads on my sneakers within weeks. – “Most of all, the two reject what they consider the

imposition of a singular French identity that effaces all other affiliations” (WPost). – After high tide, all

traces of the sand castle had been effaced. EXPUNGE: to intentionally or 'effectively' cross out,

eliminate, cancel, or counteract some previously documented record or 'ingrained' impression --

"When he turned 18, his record was expunged" (Guardian) -- "After integration, it was renamed

Northeast, expunging the most direct link to its history as an all-black high school" (WPost). -- "The

comeback expunged the frustration caused by the team's pitching staff" (LAT). LIQUIDATE: 1. to sell

off property (especially real estate and physical goods – but also securities like stocks and bonds) to

convert its value into easily exchangeable "cash" (i.e. into a "liquid" asset). [When this done rapidly to

end a business and pay off debt, as in a ‘liquidation’ sale, owners commonly earn less from the sale of the

assets than was originally paid for them.] 2. Utterly destroy and ‘eradicate’ or ‘wipe out’ or ‘cancel’–

often a criminal’s euphemism for murder or genocide/ethnic ‘cleansing.’ – liquidate assets / holdings /

merchandise / contract -- liquidation sale -- Hitler's goal was to liquidate Jews off the face of the earth.

– “He can tear up contracts, hire and fire workers, and liquidate city assets” (WP).

VOCAB LIST 3-7 2019-2020 “dissonant” to “maxim” 4

17 ESCHEW v . to abstain from or avoid (out of aversion, or for 'one's own good') -- eschew temptation -- "Quick

communication on a smartphone almost requires writers to eschew rules of grammar and punctuation"

(NYT). -- "In fact, he eschewed scatalogical humor in his shows, thinking it vulgar " (Slate).

18 PREROGATIVE n. a 'special privilege' that is commonly associated with, or assumed by, or tolerated in members of

some social subgroub -- but tabooed for or offensive to many outsiders [Origin: Medieval monarchs

and aristocrats exercised power by virtue of inherited, class-based 'prerogatives.' In modern usage,

'prerogative' is often used to identify extra-legal privileges or 'rights' that might be in question, or only 'so-

called.'] -- "To change her mind is a woman's prerogative" is an old sexist cliché. -- "If he wants to treat

them to expensive dinners or the occasional bauble, then that's his prerogative" (Slate). -- "The EU rules

don't specify the amount of benefits to be paid, which remains a prerogative of national governments"

(WSJ). -- "Our passports are not a birthright. They are part of the ruler's prerogative" (Economist).

19 DEIGN v. to loftily condescend towards (to do or to acknowledge something or someone -- and meanwhile flatter

yourself for being 'noble' because you wouldn't 'have' to do so -- that you regard as 'inferior,' as not really

'worth' your time or attention) -- to deign to X -- "The big names will roll in later, and they probably

won't deign to walk the red carpet set up for the event" (WTimes). -- "Some dog owners had deigned to

bag up the offending substance, but found it beyond their powers to carry the baggie to a trash

receptacle" (NYT). -- "Thousands of girls dream to work here; you only deign to work here" (Devil Wears

Prada).

20 MAXIM n. a concisely expressed, highly memorable general principle or rule of conduct -- often a cliché of

uncertain origin. -- "My favorite Nixon maxim was: 'never get mad unless it's on purpose'" (NYer). -- "In

the social media age, the old maxim is again proved: a lie travels half way around the world before the

truth gets its pants on" (Salon). -- "As the maxim has it, "News is what somebody somewhere wants to

suppress. All the rest is advertising" (WPost). EXAMPLES of "maxims": 'time is money' . . . 'let the

buyer beware' . . . 'all's well that ends well" . . . "measure twice, cut once" . . . "what doesn't kill you

makes you stronger" . . . [dictum, principle, aphorism, epigram, precept]