TỪ VỰNG TOEIC unit 25

Unit 25VERB SIMIL/SIMUL SCEND ONYM SCRIB/SCRIP FALL SOLU HYDRGreek and Latin Borrowings Quiz 25-1 Quiz 25-2 Quiz 25-3 Quiz 25-4 Quiz 25-5 Review Quizzes 25 VERB comes from the Latin verb

Unit 25

VERB SIMIL/SIMUL SCEND ONYM SCRIB/SCRIP FALL SOLU HYDRGreek and Latin Borrowings

Quiz 25-1 Quiz 25-2 Quiz 25-3 Quiz 25-4 Quiz 25-5 Review Quizzes 25

VERB comes from the Latin verbum, meaning “word.” A verb—or action

word—appears in some form in every complete sentence To express

something verbally—or to verbalize something—is to say it or write it.

verbose Using more words than are needed; wordy

• The writing style in government publications has often been both dry andverbose—a deadly combination

Americans brought up on fast-paced TV shows and action films have lost any

patience they once had for verbosity So most American writing is brisk, and

American speakers usually don't waste many words But many of us love ourown voices and opinions and don't realize we're being verbose until ourlisteners start stifling their yawns And students still try to fill up the pages oftheir term papers with unneeded verbosity

proverb A brief, often-repeated statement that expresses ageneral truth or common observation

• “Waste not, want not” used to be a favorite proverb in many households

Proverbs probably appeared with the dawn of language Sayings such as “Astitch in time saves nine,” or “Pride goeth before a fall,” or “Least said,soonest mended,” or “To everything there is a season” are easily memorizednuggets of wisdom But the convenient thing about proverbs is that there'soften one for every point of view For every “Look before you leap” there's a

“He who hesitates is lost.” “A fool and his money are soon parted” can becountered with “To make money you have to spend money.” A cynic onceobserved, “Proverbs are invaluable treasures to dunces with good memories.”

verbatim In the exact words; word for word

• It turned out that the writer had lifted long passages verbatim from anearlier, forgotten biography of the statesman

Verbatim comes directly from Latin into English with the same spelling and

meaning Memorizing famous speeches, poems, or literary passages is a goodway to both train the memory and absorb the classic texts of our literatureand culture At one time the ability to recite verbatim the Gettysburg Address,the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, and great speeches fromShakespeare was the mark of a well-educated person But when that languagewas quoted by a writer, he or she was always careful to put quotation marksaround it and tell readers who the true author was

verbiage An excess of words, often with little content;wordiness

• The agency's report was full of unnecessary verbiage, which someoneshould have edited out before the report was published

Government reports are notorious for their unfortunate tendency towardempty verbiage, through part of the reason is simply that officials are anxious

to be following all the rules Legal documents are also generally full ofverbiage, partly because lawyers want to be sure that every last possibilityhas been covered and no loopholes have been left But writing that containsunneeded verbiage is often trying to disguise its lack of real substance orclarity of thought And every writer, including government workers andlawyers, should be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to hit theDelete key

SIMIL/SIMUL come from the Latin adjective similis, meaning “like,

resembling, similar,” and the verb simulare, “to make like.” Two similar things resemble each other Two simultaneous activities proceed at the same time And a facsimile, such as you might receive from your fax machine,

looks exactly the same as the original

simile A figure of speech, introduced by as or like, that makes a

point of comparison between two things different in all other respects

• He particularly liked the simile he'd thought of for the last line of the song'schorus, “It felt like a bullet in his heart.”

Fiction, poetry, and philosophy have been full of similes for centuries Infact, the oldest literature known to us uses similes, along with their closerelatives known as metaphors (see metaphorical) This suggests that similesare an essential part of imaginative writing in all times and all cultures WhenTennyson, describing an eagle, writes “And like a thunderbolt he falls,” he'susing a simile, since the line makes a specific comparison “The road was aribbon of moonlight” could be called a metaphor, though “The road was like

a ribbon of moonlight” would be a simile

assimilate (1) To take in and thoroughly understand (2) Tocause to become part of a different society or culture

• One of the traditional strengths of American society has been its ability toassimilate one group of immigrants after another

Assimilate comes from the Latin verb assimulare, “to make similar,” and it

originally applied to the process by which food is taken into the body andabsorbed into the system In a similar way, a fact can be taken into the mind,thoroughly digested, and absorbed into one's store of knowledge Anewcomer to a job or a subject must assimilate an often confusing mass ofinformation; only after it's been thoroughly absorbed can the person makeintelligent use of it An immigrant family assimilates into its new culture bygradually adopting a new language and the habits of their new neighbors—aprocess that's always easier for the children than for the parents

simulacrum A copy, especially a superficial likeness orimitation

• As a boy he had filled his bedroom with model fighter jets, and thesesimulacra had kept his flying fantasies active for years

In its original meaning, a simulacrum is simply a representation of somethingelse; so an original oil painting, marble statue, or plastic figurine could all besimulacra (notice the plural form) in the old sense But today the wordusually means a copy that's meant to substitute for the real thing—andusually a cheap and inferior copy, a pale imitation of the original So in oldPersia a beautifully laid out garden was a simulacrum of paradise Somecountries' governments are mere simulacra of democracy, since the people inpower always steal the elections by miscounting the votes And a bad actormight do a simulacrum of grief on the stage that doesn't convince anyone

simulate (1) To take on the appearance or effect of something,often in order to deceive (2) To make a realistic imitation of something, such

1 Please quote me _ or don't “quote” me at all.

2 Most students can't _ so much information all at once, so they approach

it gradually

3 He turned out to be a _ old windbag, and I slept through the whole talk

4 That restaurant doesn't offer real maple syrup, just an unconvincing _

5 She did her best to _ pleasure at the news, but could barely manage asmile

6.“Nothing ventured, nothing gained” was a favorite _ of mygrandmother's

7 Unnecessary _ usually gets in the way of clarity in writing

8 “A day without sunshine is like a chicken without a bicycle” has to be theoddest _ of all time

Answers

B Complete the analogy:

1 garbage : food :: verbiage : _

a boxes b verbs c words d trash

2 create : invent :: assimilate : _

a wring b absorb c camouflage d drench

3 frequently : often :: verbatim : _

a later b closely c differently d exactly

4 painting : portrays :: simulacrum : _

a imitates b shows c demonstrates d calculates

5 sound bite : quotation :: proverb : _

a saying b sentence c introduction d phrase

6 inflate : expand :: simulate : _

a reveal b entrap c devote d imitate

7 scarce : sparse :: verbose : _

a poetic b wordy c fictional d musical

8 contrast : different :: simile : _

a near b distant c alike d clear

Answers

SCEND comes from the Latin verb scandere, “to climb.” The staircase we

ascend to our bedroom at night we will descend the next morning, since what

goes up must come down

transcend To rise above the limits of; overcome, surpass

• His defeat in the election had been terribly hard on him, and it took twoyears before he finally felt he had transcended the bitterness it had produced

Great leaders are expected to transcend the limitations of politics, especiallyduring wartime and national crises A great writer may transcendgeographical boundaries to become internationally respected And certainlaws of human nature seem to transcend historical periods and hold true forall times and all places

condescend (1) To stoop to a level of lesser importance ordignity (2) To behave as if superior

• Every so often my big brother would condescend to take me to a movie, butonly when my parents made him

Back when society was more rigidly structured, condescend didn't sound so

negative People of higher rank, power, or social position had to overlookcertain established rules of behavior if they wished to have social dealings

with people of lower status, but such condescension was usually gracious and

courteous In today's more classless society, the term implies a manner thatmay be slightly offensive A poor relation is unlikely to be grateful to a

wealthy and condescending relative who passes on her secondhand clothes,

and employees at an office party may not be thrilled when the boss's wifecondescends to mingle with them Often the word is used rather unseriously,

as when a friend comments that a snooty sales clerk condescended to wait onher after ignoring her for several minutes

descendant (1) One that has come down from another orfrom a common stock (2) One deriving directly from a forerunner ororiginal

• Though none of the great man's descendants ever came close to achievingwhat he had, most of them enjoyed very respectable careers

Descendant is the opposite of ancestor Your grandparents' descendants are

those who are descended from them—your parents, your brothers and sisters,and any children that any of you may have It's been claimed that everyperson on earth is a descendant of Muhammad, and of every historical person

before him—Julius Caesar, the Buddha, etc.—who started a line of descent.

(Some of us still find this hard to believe.) And not all descendants arehuman; every modern thesaurus, for example, could be called the descendant

of the one devised by Peter Mark Roget in 1852

ascendancy Governing or controlling interest; domination.

• China's growing ascendancy over Tibet was capped by the invasion of1950

In the course of a year, the sun appears to pass through the twelveconstellations of the zodiac in sequence, and all the planets also lie close to

the solar path The constellation and planet that are just rising, or ascendant,

above the eastern horizon in the sun's path at the moment of a child's birth aresaid by astrologers to exercise a lifelong controlling influence over the child

This is the idea that lies at the heart of ascendancy, though the word today no

longer hints at supernatural powers

ONYM comes from the Greek onyma, meaning “name, word.” An

anonymous donor or writer is one who isn't named A synonym is a word with

the same meaning as another word (see SYN) And homonyms (seeHOM/HOMO) are words that look and sound alike but aren't actually related,

such as well (“healthy”) and well (“a deep hole with water in it”).

antonym A word that means the opposite of some other word

• There's no point in telling a three-year-old that cat isn't an antonym of dog, and sun isn't an antonym of moon.

Antonym includes the Greek prefix ant-, meaning “opposite” (see

ANT/ANTI) Antonyms are often thought of in pairs: hot/cold, up/down,

wet/dry, buy/sell, failure/success But a word may have more than one antonym (old/young, old/new), especially when one of the words has synonyms (small/large, small/big, little/big), and a word may have many approximate antonyms (adore/hate, adore/detest, adore/loathe) But although

lots of words have synonyms, not so many have antonyms What would be

the antonym of pink? weather? semipro? thirty? firefighter? wax? about? consider?

eponymous Of, relating to, or being the person for whomsomething is named

• Adjectives such as Elizabethan, Victorian, and Edwardian show how the

names of certain British monarchs have become eponymous for particulartime periods and styles

Things as different as a bird, a river, and a drug may be named to honorsomeone The Canadian city of Vancouver was named after the explorerGeorge Vancouver; the diesel engine was named for its inventor, RudolphDiesel; Alzheimer's disease was named after the physician Alois Alzheimer;

and so on Common eponymous terms include Ohm's law, Parkinson's Law, and the Peter Principle And if the Beatles' famous “white album” actually

has a name, it's usually called “The Beatles,” which means that it's

eponymous as well Don't be surprised if eponymous turns out to be a hard

word to use; lots of other people have discovered the same thing

patronymic Part of a personal name based on the name ofone's father or one of his ancestors

• Reading Tolstoy's vast novel, it can be helpful to know that HeleneVasilievna's second name is a patronymic, and thus that her father is namedVasili

A patronymic, or patronym (see also PATER/PATR), is generally formed by

adding a prefix or suffix to a name Thus, a few centuries ago, the malepatronymic of Patrick was Fitzpatrick (“Patrick's son”), that of Peter wasPeterson or Petersen, that of Donald was MacDonald or McDonald, and that

of Hernando was Hernández Today, of course, each of these is an ordinary

family name, or surname In Russia, both a patronymic and a surname are

still used; in the name Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, for example, Ilyich is apatronymic meaning “son of Ilya.”

pseudonym A name that someone (such as a writer) usesinstead of his or her real name

• Hundreds of Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Bobbsey Twins novels werechurned out under such pseudonyms as Franklin W Dixon, Carolyn Keene,and Laura Lee Hope

The Greek pseudo- is used in English to mean “false,” or sometimes

“resembling.” A pseudonym is thus a false name, or alias A writer's

pseudonym is called a pen name, as in the case of Howard O'Brien (who

usually writes as “Anne Rice” but sometimes under other names), and an

actor's pseudonym is called a stage name, as in the case of Marion Morrison (“John Wayne”) A cadre name may be used for the sake of secrecy by a

revolutionary plotter such as Vladimir Ulyanov (“Lenin”) or IosifDzhugashvili (“Stalin”) And in many religious orders, members adopt

devotional names, as Agnes Bojaxhiu did in 1931 (“Teresa,” later known as

“Mother Teresa”)

B Fill in each blank with the correct letter:

2 The best _ for “popular” is “unpopular,” not “shy.”

3 The Democrats are in the _ at the moment, but they may not be nextyear

4 She'll remind you that she's a _ of some fairly famous people, but shewon't mention that the family also has some criminals in its past

5 In a Russian family in which the father is named Fyodor, a boy's _would be Fyodorovich and a girl's would be Fyodorevna

6 He was born Vlad Butsky, but he writes under the _ Vance Bond

7 She lives in a very glamorous world these days, and she would never _

to show up at a family reunion

8 The Restaurant Alain Savoy is the _ establishment belonging to the greatFrench chef

Answers

SCRIB/SCRIP comes from the Latin verb scribere, “to write.” Scribble is an

old word meaning to write or draw carelessly A written work that hasn't been

published is a manuscript And to describe is to picture something in words.

conscription Enforced enlistment of persons, especiallyfor military service; draft

• The first comprehensive system for nationwide conscription was instituted

by France for the Napoleonic wars that followed the French Revolution

With its scrip- root, conscription means basically writing someone's name on

a list—a list that, unfortunately, a lot of people usually don't want to be on.Conscription has existed at least since ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom (27thcentury B.C.), though universal conscription has been rare throughouthistory Forms of conscription were used by Prussia, Switzerland, Russia, andother European powers in the 17th and 18th centuries In the U.S.,conscription was first applied during the Civil War, by both the North and theSouth In the North there were pockets of resistance, and the draft led to riots

in several cities The U.S abandoned conscription at the end of the war anddidn't revive it until World War I

circumscribe (1) To clearly limit the range or activity ofsomething (2) To draw a line around or to surround with a boundary

• Some children do best when their freedom is clearly circumscribed and theiractivities are supervised

The prefix circum-, “around,” is the key to circumscribe's basic meaning.

Thus, we could say that a boxing ring is circumscribed by ropes, just as thearea for an archaeological dig may be A governor's power is alwayscircumscribed by a state's constitution And a physician's assistant has a

circumscribed role that doesn't include writing prescriptions.

inscription (1) Something permanently written, engraved,

or printed, particularly on a building, coin, medal, or piece of currency (2)The dedication of a book or work of art

• All U.S coins bear the Latin inscription “E pluribus unum”—“From many,one.”

With its prefix in-, meaning “in” or “on,” it's not surprising that an inscription

is either written on or engraved into a surface Inscriptions in the ancientworld were always chiseled into stone, as inscriptions still may be today Theprincipal monument of the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C., for

instance, is a black wall on which are inscribed the names of all the

Americans who died during the war—each name in full, row upon seeminglyendless row But an inscription may also be a dedication, such as the words

“For my wife” all by themselves on a page near the beginning of a book

proscribe To forbid as harmful or unlawful; prohibit

• Despite thousands of laws proscribing littering, many of America's streetsand public spaces continue to be dumping grounds

The Latin prefix pro- sometimes meant “before,” in the sense of “in front of” the people So in ancient Rome proscribere meant to make public in writing

the name of a person who was about to be executed, and whose propertywould be seized by the state But the meaning of the English word soon

shifted to mean simply “prohibit” instead Proscribe today is actually often the opposite of the very similar prescribe, which means basically “require.”

FALL comes from the Latin verb fallere, “to deceive.” It's actually at the

root of the word false, which we rarely use today to mean “deceptive,”

though that meaning does show up in older phrases: “Thou shalt not bearfalse witness against thy neighbor,” for instance, or “A false-hearted lover

will send you to your grave.” Fallere is even at the root of fail and fault,

though you might not guess it to look at them