TỪ VỰNG TOEIC unit 20

Unit 20NOM PATER/PATR LEGA GREG FLU PREHEND/PREHENS TEMPERPURG MILL HEMI/SEMI Number Words Quiz 20-1 Quiz 20-2 Quiz 20-3 Quiz 20-4 Quiz 20-5 Review Quizzes 20 NOM comes from the Latin wo

Unit 20

NOM PATER/PATR LEGA GREG FLU PREHEND/PREHENS TEMPERPURG MILL HEMI/SEMI Number Words

Quiz 20-1 Quiz 20-2 Quiz 20-3 Quiz 20-4 Quiz 20-5 Review Quizzes 20

NOM comes from the Latin word for “name.” A nominee is a person

“named”—or nominated—to run for or serve in office A binomial (“two names”) is the scientific name for a species: Felis catus for the house cat, for example A polynomial, with “many names,” is an algebra expression

involving several terms: 2x2 + 9y – z3, for instance

nominal (1) Existing in name or form only and not in reality.(2) So small as to be unimportant; insignificant

• The actor himself was the nominal author, but 90 percent of the prose wasthe work of his ghostwriter

Something nominal exists only in name So the nominal ruler in aconstitutional monarchy is the king or queen, but the real power is in thehands of the elected prime minister In the United Kingdom, the Britishmonarch is also the nominal head of the Church of England; and thosebaptized in the Church who aren't really churchgoers might be called nominalChristians A fee can be called nominal when it's small in comparison to thevalue of what it buys So, for example, you might sell a friend a good piece offurniture for a nominal amount And the charge for a doctor's visit might be anominal $20, since most of the cost is covered by an insurance plan

nomenclature (1) A name or designation, or the act

of naming (2) A system of terms or symbols used in biology, where NewLatin names are given to kinds and groups of animals and plants

• Naming newly discovered plants or animals requires close study of thesystem of nomenclature

Various specialized fields have their own particular nomenclatures, or sets ofterms In particle physics, for instance, the elementary particles known asquarks, which are believed to come in pairs, have acquired such names as

“up” and “down,” “strange” and “charm,” and “truth” and “beauty”—which

is all most of us know about quarks and all we need to know But

nomenclature is used most often for the system of biological classification

created by Linnaeus In Linnaeus's system, each species has its own

two-word name, the first two-word being the name of its genus Thus, the genus Equus includes the horse (Equus caballus) and the mountain zebra (Equus zebra).

But since broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage actually all belong to the same

species (Brassica oleracea), they each need a third name to distinguish

themselves

ignominious (1) Marked with shame or disgrace;dishonorable (2) Humiliating or degrading

• If Attila the Hun was truly murdered by his bride on their wedding night, itwas a most ignominious death for a warrior

The Latin nomen could mean both “name” and “good reputation,” and even

today we can say that someone who has been disgraced has “lost his good

name.” With its negative prefix ig-, ignominious indicates the “namelessness”

that goes with shame or dishonor A person who suffers an ignominious fatemay die nameless and forgotten In the former Soviet Union, party leaderswho fell out of favor, even if they avoided being imprisoned or executed,became nonpersons Their names were removed from official records andhistory books and they were treated as if they had never existed

misnomer A wrong name, or the use of a wrong name

• Calling the native peoples of the western hemisphere “Indians” was one ofthe great misnomers in recorded history

Historians have long noted that the Holy Roman Empire in its later years wasneither holy, Roman, nor an empire The Battle of Bunker Hill was actuallyfought on nearby Breed's Hill And the famous Woodstock Festival wasactually held in the town of Bethel But misnomers aren't limited to history.The Pennsylvania Dutch are actually of German ancestry Koala bears aren'tbears—they're marsupials And in the world of food, the Rocky Mountainoyster, as diners have sometimes discovered too late, aren't really oysters

PATER/PATR comes from both the Greek and the Latin word for “father.”

So a patron, for example, is someone who assumes a fatherly role toward an

institution or project or individual, giving moral and financial support

patrician A person of high birth or of good breeding andcultivation; an aristocrat

• They passed themselves off as patricians, and no one looked too closely atwhere their money came from

A patrician was originally a descendant of one of the original citizen families

of ancient Rome Until about 350 B.C., only patricians could hold the office

of senator, consul, or pontifex (priest) Later, the word was applied tomembers of the nobility created by the Roman emperor Constantine As timewent by, other nobles, such as those in medieval Italian republics and inGerman city-states, also came to be known as patricians Today someone's

appearance, manners, or tastes can be described as patrician, whether the

person is actually of high birth or not The actress Grace Kelly, an

immigrant's daughter, was admired for her patrician beauty even before she

became Princess Grace of Monaco, with classic features worthy of ancientRome's finest sculptors

patriarchy (1) A family, group, or government controlled

by a man or a group of men (2) A social system in which family membersare related to each other through their fathers

• She spent the 1980s raging against the patriarchy, which she claimed haddestroyed the lives of millions of women

With its root -arch, meaning “ruler, leader,” a patriarch is a man who

dominates something, even if it's just a family In Christianity, the term isused for a few leading figures who appear early in the Old Testament,including Methuselah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; in the Eastern Orthodoxchurch, a patriarch is usually the equivalent of a bishop Outside of the field

of anthropology, patriarchy didn't start to be used much until the 1970s,

when the women's movement gained a huge following Many feminists have

claimed that all Western societies are patriarchal—that is, that they

systematically enable men to dominate women But there's plenty ofdisagreement about how this is done, and the word isn't discussed as often as

it used to be

expatriate A person who has moved to a foreign land

• As he got to know his fellow expatriates in Morocco, he found himselfwondering what had led each of them to leave America

Expatriate combines the prefix ex-, “out of” or “away from,” with the Latin patria, “fatherland.” A famous colony of expatriates was the group of writers

and artists who gathered in Paris between the two world wars, includingErnest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein Unlike an exile

or an emigrant, an expatriate's residence abroad is usually voluntary and

extended but not permanent, and expatriates—often called expats—generally

keep their original national identity and eventually end their self-imposed

exiles by repatriating themselves.

paternalistic Tending to supply the needs of or regulatethe activities of those under one's control

• Some still accuse the university of being too paternalistic in regulatingstudent living arrangements

A good father shows paternal concern about his children, just as a good mother often acts out of maternal feeling But paternalistic has a negative

sound nowadays, since paternalistic people or institutions seek—often withdecent intentions—to control many aspects of the lives of those under theircontrol In the 19th century, mill owners actually often provided cheaphousing for the mill's employees Today companies frequently have strictrules regarding personal appearance, or against marriages within the

company Colleges and universities used to practice a kind of paternalism,

especially in trying to keep men and women out of each other's dorms, but achanging society has mostly put an end to that

1 It's a community pool, and the fee we pay each time we use it is only _.

2 At Christian colleges, policies tend to be rather strict and _

3 “Friend” is a _ for Charlotte; “rival” is more like it

4 The country could still be called a _, with men being completelydominant both at home and in the government

5 The first public attempts to test the antiballistic missiles ended in _failure

6 He soon discovered that he wasn't the only American _ living in theGuatemalan village

7 The person who discovers a previously unknown plant usually gets toname it, but the _ must follow a strict set of rules

8 His family and upbringing were _, but he still considered himself a man

of the people

Answers

B Match the word on the left to the correct definition on the right:

1 paternalistic a wrong name

2 nomenclature b aristocrat

3 patriarchy c exercising fatherly authority

4 misnomer d rule by men

5 expatriate e naming system

6 nominal f humiliating

7 ignominious g in name only

8 patrician h person living abroad

Answers

LEGA comes from the Latin legare, meaning “to appoint” or “to send as a

deputy.” The same root actually shows up in such words as legal—but how

the law connects with sending deputies can get awfully complicated andprobably isn't worth going into

legate An official representative, such as an ambassador

• All the important European powers sent legates of some kind to the peaceconference

Legate is a somewhat old-fashioned word, less used today than it was a century ago More common is the synonym envoy In the days before

electronic communications, a legate often had particularly largeresponsibilities, since he couldn't check with his government to be sure hewas doing the right thing The Vatican still sends papal legates to representthe pope's point of view in negotiations

legacy (1) Something left to a person in a will (2) Somethinghanded down by an ancestor or predecessor or received from the past

• The Stradivarius family of violin makers left a priceless legacy ofremarkable instruments

In its basic meaning, a legacy is a gift of money or other personal propertythat's granted by the terms of a will—often a substantial gift that needs to beproperly managed But the word is used much more broadly as well So, forinstance, much of Western civilization—law, philosophy, aesthetics— could

be called the undying legacy of ancient Greece And the rights andopportunities that women enjoy today are partly the legacy of the earlysuffragists and feminists

delegation A group of people chosen to represent theinterests or opinions of others

• Each American colony sent a delegation to the Second ContinentalCongress, and in its second year all 56 delegates approved Jefferson'sDeclaration of Independence

The task of a delegation—each member of which can be called a delegate—is

to represent a larger group, often at a conference Thus, a delegation ofnondoctors to a medical convention may want to make sure the rights andneeds of patients aren't ignored, just as a delegation of laypeople may attend areligious conference to express the concerns of other laypeople

relegate (1) To remove or assign to a less important place (2)

To refer or hand over for decision or for carrying out

• First-year students were relegated to the back of the line so that all the upperclasses could eat first

Originally relegate meant “to send into exile, banish.” So when you relegate

an old sofa to the basement, you're sending it to home-decorating Siberia.When confronted with a matter that no one really wants to face, a chiefexecutive may relegate it to a committee “for further study,” which maymanage to ignore it for years It may be annoying to read a newspaper articleabout a pet project and find that your own contributions have been relegated

to a short sentence near the end

GREG comes from the Latin grex, “herd” or “flock.” Bees, starlings, cows—

any creatures that like to live together in flocks or herds—are called

gregarious, and the same word is used for people who enjoy companionship

and are happiest when they're in the middle of a rowdy herd

aggregate A collection or sum of units or parts

• His lawyers realize that the aggregate of incriminating details is nowpointing toward a conviction

An aggregate is often an example of something being greater than the sum ofits parts For instance, even if no individual element in a person's backgroundwould assure a criminal career, the aggregate of factors could make a life of

crime seem unavoidable Aggregate is often used in the phrase “in the

aggregate,” as in “Her achievements were, in the aggregate, impressive

enough to earn her a scholarship.” Aggregate is also an adjective, meaning

“total”; so, for instance, economists often discuss aggregate demand forgoods and services in the country's economy, just as you yourself mightspeak about your father's aggregate income from his three jobs

congregation (1) A gathering of people, especially forworship or religious instruction (2) The membership of a church or temple

• That Sunday the congregation was especially large, and the ministerdelivered one of his best sermons

The verb congregate may be used for spontaneous gatherings A crowd

quickly congregates at the scene of an accident, for example, just as cows,sheep, or horses tend to congregate during a storm And under military rule,citizens are often forbidden to congregate on street corners or anywhere else.But a congregation is generally a group that has gathered for a formalpurpose, usually in church The Congregational Church was originally thechurch of the Puritan settlers, in which each congregation governed its ownchurch independent of any higher authority

egregious Standing out, especially in a bad way; flagrant

• Many of the term papers contained egregious grammatical errors

Since egregious begins with a short version of ex-, meaning “out of,” the

word should mean literally “out of the herd.” So something egregiouspossesses some quality that sets it apart from others Originally, thatdistinguishing quality was something good, but by the 16th century theword's meaning had taken a U-turn and the word was being applied to thingsthat were outrageously bad This has remained the most common sense.Thus, an egregious fool is one who manages to outdo run-of-the-mill fools,and egregious rudeness sets a new standard for unpleasant salesclerks

segregate (1) To separate from others or from the generalmass; isolate (2) To separate along racial lines

• Some schools are experimenting with gender segregation, claiming thatboth sexes learn better in classrooms from which the other sex is absent

The prefix se- means “apart,” so when you segregate something you set it

apart from the herd The word typically means separating somethingundesirable from the healthy majority During the apple harvest, damagedfruit is segregated from the main crop and used for cider In prisons, hardenedcriminals are segregated from youthful offenders Lepers used to besegregated from the general population because they were thought to be

highly infectious The opposite of segregate is often integrate, and the two

words were in the news almost daily for decades as African-Americansstruggled to be admitted into all-white schools and neighborhoods

Quiz 20-2

A Complete the analogy:

1 habit : custom :: legacy : _

a descendant b tradition c transit d deputy

2 obedient : tame :: egregious : _

a crowded b uncrowded c blatant d fair

3 governor : executive :: legate : _

a letter b priest c deputy d bandit

4 series : sequence :: aggregate : _

a individual b collection c attack d annoyance

5 flock : group of sheep :: delegation : _

a group of candidates b group of worshippers c group of runners

d group of representatives

6 tear : mend :: segregate : _

a mix b sort c send away d refine

7 revise : amend :: relegate : _

a vanish b banish c tarnish d varnish

8 location : place :: congregation : _

a birds b whales c group d temple

Answers

B Fill in each blank with the correct letter:

1 The child had tried to hide his mistake with an _ lie

2 The king's _ arrived two weeks early in order to negotiate the agreementthat the king would later sign in person

3 Battlefield medics were forced to _ the hopeless cases from the othercasualties

4 The government is struggling to overcome a _ of corruption that goesback a hundred years or more

5 Taken in the _, these statistics are very disturbing

6 At the conference a carefully chosen _ presented its views to thepresident

7 The _ grew silent as the first strains of the wedding march sounded

8 There in the corner, where the shopkeeper had decided to _ him, sat astuffed bear with a mournful face

Answers

FLU comes from the Latin verb fluere, “to flow.” So a flume is a narrow

gorge with a stream flowing through it A fluent speaker is one from whom words flow easily Influence originally referred to an invisible fluid that was

believed to flow from the stars and to affect the actions of humans Amysterious outbreak of disease in 15th-century Italy led Italians to blame it

on the stars' influenza—and the name stuck.

affluence An abundance of wealth

• The affluence of the city's northern suburbs is indicated by the huge housesthere

Affluence comes from the Latin verb affluere, “to flow abundantly.” Thus, someone or something blessed with affluence has received an incoming flood

of riches Since the affluent residents of suburbs often work in the central city but pay taxes back home, the wealth of some metropolitan areas tends to flow

in one direction—out

effluent Polluting waste material discharged into theenvironment

• The effluent from the mill had long ago turned this once-beautiful streaminto a foul-smelling open-air sewer

Effluent comes from the Latin verb effluere, “to flow out.” In an older

meaning, an effluent was a stream flowing out of a river or lake But

nowadays effluent almost always means wastes that pour into our water and

air Liquid factory waste, smoke, and raw sewage can all be called effluents

An effluent filter keeps treated waste flowing out of a septic tank fromclogging up its drainage pipes

confluence (1) A coming or flowing together at one point.(2) A place of meeting, especially of two streams

• The confluence of several large economic forces led to the “perfect storm”that shook the world economy in 2008

The joining of rivers—as at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where theShenandoah and Potomac Rivers flow together spectacularly—was the

original meaning of confluence, and in its later meanings we still hear a

strong echo of the physical merging of waters So today we can speak of aconfluence of events, a confluence of interests, a confluence of cultures, and

so on, from which something important often emerges

mellifluous Flowing like honey; sweetened as if withhoney

• His rich, mellifluous voice is familiar to us from countless voice-overs forcommercials, station breaks, and documentaries

With its root mel-, meaning “honey,” mellifluous means literally “flowing

like honey.” The word usually applies to sound; it has often been used todescribe voices such as Renee Fleming's or Barbra Streisand's, or pieces bycomposers such as Ravel and Debussy The DJ on a radio station that playssoft music may have a voice so mellifluous that it almost puts the listener tosleep

PREHEND/PREHENS comes from the Latin verb prehendere, “to seize.”

Most of the English words where it appears are closely related to the onesdiscussed below

prehensile Adapted for grasping, especially by wrappingaround

• The squid has eight short “arms” but also two long prehensile tentacles that

it uses for catching its prey

Howler monkeys are among the American monkeys with prehensile tails.Famous for their booming howls, howlers can wrap their tails around anearby branch while using their prehensile feet and hands for picking licefrom their fur or lobbing a coconut at an unwelcome tourist Our own handsare prehensile, of course Our feet are not; on the other hand, they're muchbetter for running than the prehensile feet of a monkey or ape