TỪ VỰNG TOEIC unit 22

Unit 22ACER/ACR STRICT STRU/STRUCT PROP/PROPRI TORT VIV SERVCLUS Greek and Latin Borrowings Quiz 22-1 Quiz 22-2 Quiz 22-3 Quiz 22-4 Quiz 22-5 Review Quizzes 22 ACER/ACR comes from the La

Unit 22

ACER/ACR STRICT STRU/STRUCT PROP/PROPRI TORT VIV SERVCLUS Greek and Latin Borrowings

Quiz 22-1 Quiz 22-2 Quiz 22-3 Quiz 22-4 Quiz 22-5 Review Quizzes 22

ACER/ACR comes from the Latin adjective acer, meaning “sharp” or

“sour.” Grapefruit and limes have an acid taste; acid can also describe a person's sense of humor (other words for it might be sharp or biting) The acidity of the soil often indicates whether it's good for growing certain crops;

blueberries, for instance, love acid soil, so they're more likely to be foundeast of the Mississippi River, where acid soil is the rule

acerbic Sharp or biting in temper, mood, or tone

• She had enjoyed his acerbic humor for years, but then a friend told herabout the nasty jokes he was making about her behind her back

Acerbic often describes wit An acerbic critic won't make many friends

among the writers or artists whose work is being criticized, but often keeps

his or her readers amused and entertained Acerbity may be slightly less sharp

than sarcasm, but not much; both words have roots meaning basically “cut.”

acrid Unpleasantly sharp and harsh; bitter

• The acrid odor of gunpowder hung in the air long after the shots' echoes haddied away

Acrid exactly fits the smoke from a fire—a burning building or forest, for

example Dense smog may cast an acrid pall over a city, making throats burn

and eyes sting But, like acid and acerbic, acrid sometimes also describes

nonphysical things, such as the remarks of a bitter person

acrimony Harsh or bitter sharpness in words, manner, ortemper

• Town meetings here were usually civilized, and no one could recall an issuethat had ever aroused such intense acrimony as the new pulp mill

Acrimony is angry harshness that usually springs from intense personal

dislike An acrimonious exchange is full of cutting, unpleasant remarks

designed to hurt Civil wars are often more acrimonious and bloody thanforeign wars In the same way, a bad divorce may be more acrimonious thanany other kind of legal battle

exacerbate To make worse, more violent, or more severe

• The increase in coal-burning power plants has greatly exacerbated thebuildup of greenhouse gases

To exacerbate is not to cause, but only to make something bad even worse

So the loss of a major industry in a city may exacerbate its already seriousunemployment problem A vicious remark can exacerbate a quarrel Building

a new mall may exacerbate an area's existing traffic problems A new drugcan exacerbate the side effects of the drug a patient is already taking It used

to be thought that too much blood in the body exacerbated a fever, so thepatient's blood would be drained, often by means of leeches—and not allpatients survived

STRICT comes from the Latin verb meaning “to draw tight, bind, or tie.” So

the English word strict means “tightly controlled.” And when someone

begins a sentence “Strictly speaking, ” you know he or she is going to betalking about a word or idea in its most limited sense, “drawing tight” themeaning till it's as narrow as possible

stricture (1) A law or rule that limits or controls something;restriction (2) A strong criticism

• There are severe legal strictures on the selling of marijuana in almost everystate

Stricture has meant many things through the centuries, and its “restriction”

meaning—probably the most common one today—is actually the mostrecent High-school teachers often put strictures on texting during class.Cities concerned about their murder rate have slapped strictures on thepossession of handguns And the United Nations may vote to put strictures onarms sales to a country that keeps violating international treaties With the

meaning “strong criticism,” stricture is slightly old-fashioned today, but it's

still used by intellectuals So, for example, an article may amount to a harshstricture on the whole medical profession, or an art review may just expressthe critic's strictures on sentimental paintings of cute little houses withglowing windows

restrictive (1) Serving or likely to keep within bounds (2)Serving or tending to place under limits as to use

• The deed to the property had a restrictive covenant forbidding anydevelopment of the land for 50 years

Restrictive covenants (that is, agreements) in real-estate deeds were onceused to forbid the buyer from ever selling the property to anyone of anotherrace These are now illegal, though other kinds of restrictive covenants arevery common; in some neighborhoods, they may even tell you what colorsyou can't paint your house In grammar, a restrictive clause is one that limitsthe meaning of something that comes before it In the sentence “That's theprofessor who I'm trying to avoid,” “who I'm trying to avoid” is a restrictiveclause, since it's what identifies the professor But in the sentence “That's my

History professor, who I'm trying to avoid,” the same clause is nonrestrictive,

since the professor has already been identified as “my History professor.”There should always be a comma before a nonrestrictive clause, but notbefore a restrictive clause

constrict (1) To draw together or make narrow (2) To limit

• She felt that small towns, where everyone seems to know every move youmake and is just waiting to gossip about it, can constrict your life terribly

Arteries constricted by cholesterol slow the flow of blood, just as trafficarteries or highways constricted by accidents slow the flow of traffic But

constriction isn't always physical Economic growth may be constricted by

trade barriers A narrow, constricted life may be the result of poverty or lack

of opportunity And an actress may feel constricted by a role she played as achild or by her TV character from years ago, which the public refuses toforget

vasoconstrictor Something such as a nerve fiber or

a drug that narrows a blood vessel

• For operations like this, my dentist likes to use a vasoconstrictor to keepbleeding to a minimum

Our blood vessels are constantly narrowing and widening in response to ouractivity or our environment, constricting in order to retain body heat andwidening to get rid of excess heat So when we're hot our skin flushes, andwhen we're very cold we become pale Since the width of the blood vesselsaffects blood pressure, vasoconstrictors are prescribed to treat low bloodpressure Vasoconstrictors include antihistamines and amphetamines, as well

as nicotine and caffeine; we commonly buy them for our runny noses and

bloodshot eyes as well The opposite of vasoconstrictors are vasodilators,

which are commonly used to treat high blood pressure

B Fill in each blank with the correct letter:

1 The list of new demands only served to _ the crisis

2 The _ that Olympic athletes be amateurs would sometimes get an athletebanned because of a few dollars he or she had earned as a professional

3 The _ fumes in the plant irritated his eyes and nose for several days

4 With four or five _ comments she managed to annoy or insult almosteveryone in the room

5 Soon after the banking scandal hit the newspapers, a new set of _regulations was announced

6 She was given a _ for the tooth extraction, but there was some bleedinganyway

7 These deposits are beginning to _ the coronary arteries to a dangerousdegree

8 Even for a child-custody case, the _ between the parties was unusual.Answers

STRU/STRUCT comes from the Latin verb struere, meaning “to put

together, build, arrange.” A structure is something that's been constructed,— that is, built or put together Instructions tell how the pieces should be arranged Something that obstructs is a barrier that's been “built” to stand in your way And something destructive “unbuilds.”

deconstruction Analysis of texts, works of art, andcultural patterns that is intended to expose the assumptions on which they arebased, especially by exposing the limitations of language

• Deconstruction has been performed on Huckleberry Finn by English

professors so many times that it's a wonder there's anything left of it

Deconstruction doesn't actually mean “demolition”; instead it means

“breaking down” or analyzing something (especially the words in a work offiction or nonfiction) to discover its true significance, which is supposedly

almost never exactly what the author intended A feminist may deconstruct

an old novel to show how even an innocent-seeming story somehow depends

on the oppression of women A new western may deconstruct the myths ofthe old West and show lawmen as vicious and criminals as flawed but decent

Table manners, The Sound of Music, and cosmetics ads have all been the subjects of deconstructionist analysis Of course, not everyone agrees with

deconstructionist interpretations, and some people reject the whole idea ofdeconstruction, but most of us have run into it by now even if we didn'trealize it

infrastructure (1) The underlying foundation or basicframework (2) A system of public works

• The public loved her speeches about crime but dozed off when she brought

up highway repair and infrastructure deterioration

Infra- means “below”; so the infrastructure is the “underlying structure” of a

country and its economy, the fixed installations that it needs in order tofunction These include roads, bridges, dams, the water and sewer systems,railways and subways, airports, and harbors These are generallygovernment-built and publicly owned Some people also speak about suchthings as the intellectual infrastructure or the infrastructure of scienceresearch, but the meaning of such notions can be extremely vague

construe (1) To explain the arrangement and meaning of words

in a sentence (2) To understand or explain; interpret

• She asked how I had construed his last e-mail, and I told her that somethingabout it had left me very worried

Construe can usually be translated as “interpret.” It's often used in law; thus,

an Attorney General might construe the term “serious injury” in a child-abuselaw to include bruises, or a judge might construe language about gifts to

“heirs” to include spouses The IRS's construal of some of your activities

might be different from your own—and much more expensive at tax time.Construing is also close to translating; so when the British say “publicschool,” for instance, it should be construed or translated as “prep school” inAmerican terms

instrumental (1) Acting as a means, agent, or tool (2)Relating to an instrument, especially a musical instrument

• His mother had been instrumental in starting the new arts program at theschool, for which she was honored at the spring ceremony

An instrument is a tool, something used to construct It's often a tool for

making music A musical saw happens to be a carpenter's tool that can beplayed with a violin bow (though you probably wouldn't want to play a

wrench or a pair of pliers) The musical meanings of instrumental, as in “It starts with an instrumental piece” or “a jazz instrumental,” are common But

the meanings “helpful,” “useful,” and “essential,” as in “He was instrumental

in getting my book published,” are just as common

PROP/PROPRI comes from the Latin word proprius, meaning “own.” A

proprietor is an owner, and property is what he or she owns And the original meaning of proper was “belonging to oneself,” so a writer around the year

1400 could say “With his own proper sword he was slain,” even if we mightnot say it quite the same way today

proprietary (1) Relating to an owner or proprietor; made

or sold by one who has the sole right to do so (2) Privately owned and run as

be proprietary, and enter the “public domain,” meaning that everyone can usethem freely Baseball fans often take a proprietary attitude toward theirfavorite team—that is, they behave more or less as if they own it, eventhough the only thing they may own is the right to yell from a bleacher seattill the end of a game

propriety (1) The state of being proper; appropriateness (2)Acting according to what is socially acceptable, especially in conductbetween the sexes

• Propriety used to forbid a young unmarried man and woman to go almostanywhere without an adult

In an earlier era, when social manners were far more elaborate than they are

today, propriety and impropriety were words in constant use Today we're

more likely to use them in other contexts We may talk about the propriety ofgovernment officials' dealings with private citizens, the propriety of therelationship between a lawyer and a judge, or the impropriety of speaking out

of turn in a meeting that follows Robert's rules of order Relations betweenmen and women still present questions of propriety, but today it's often in theworkplace rather than in social settings Wherever rules, principles, andstandard procedures have been clearly stated, propriety can become an issue

Something improper usually isn't actually illegal, but it makes people

uncomfortable by giving the impression that something isn't quite right

appropriate (1) To take exclusive possession of, oftenwithout right (2) To set apart for a particular purpose or use

• It was one of those insulting words that sometimes get appropriated by agroup that it's meant to insult, which then starts using it proudly anddefiantly

From its roots, the verb appropriate would mean basically “make one's

own”—that is, “take,” or sometimes “grab.” Each year the President andCongress create a budget and appropriate funds for each item in it, fundswhich mostly come in the form of taxes from the public In the House of

Representatives, the powerful Appropriations Committee often gets the last word on how much money goes to each program “Misappropriation of

funds,” on the other hand, is a nice way of saying “theft.” If someoneappropriated pieces of your novel, you might take him or her to court; and ifyou appropriated trade secrets from your former employers, you might be theone sued

expropriate (1) To take away the right of possession orownership (2) To transfer to oneself

• It was only when the country's new government threatened to expropriatethe American oil refineries that Congress became alarmed

In ancient Rome, an emperor could condemn a wealthy senator, have himkilled, and expropriate his property In 1536 Henry VIII declared himselfhead of the new Church of England and expropriated the lands and wealth ofthe Roman Catholic monasteries And nearly all of North America wasexpropriated from the American Indians, usually without any payment at all

Today, democratic governments only carry out legal expropriations, in which the owners are properly paid for their land—for example, when a highway or

other public project needs to be built

Quiz 22-2

A Complete the analogy:

1 grant : award :: expropriate : _

a find b want c move d claim

2 consumer goods : cars :: infrastructure : _

a foundation b surface c bridges d boats

3 accept : receive :: appropriate : _

a send b lose c take d offer

4 solve : figure out :: construe : _

a build b misspell c tighten d interpret

5 habit : practice :: propriety : _

a appropriateness b property c behavior d proportion

6 description : portrayal :: deconstruction : _

a demolition b interpretation c transference d translation

7 monetary : money :: proprietary : _

a prosperity b property c profit d protection

8 practical : effective :: instrumental : _

a hardworking b tool-shaped c instructional d usefulAnswers

B Indicate whether the following pairs of terms have the same or different meanings:

TORT comes from a form of the Latin verb torquere, meaning “to twist,

wind, or wrench.” In torture, parts of the body may be wrenched or twisted or

stretched; so those “Indian sunburns” that schoolkids give by twisting in

different directions on some unlucky guy's wrist stay pretty close to torture's

original meaning

tort A wrongful act that does not involve breach of contract and forwhich the injured party can receive damages in a civil action

• The manufacturer was almost bankrupted by the massive tort actionsbrought by employees harmed by asbestos

Tort came into English straight from French many centuries ago, and it still

looks a little odd Its root meaning of “twisted” (as opposed to “straight”)obviously came to mean “wrong” (as opposed to “right”) Every first-yearlaw student takes a course in the important subject of torts Torts include allthe so-called “product-liability” cases, against manufacturers of cars,household products, children's toys, and so on They also cover dog bites,slander and libel, and a huge variety of other very personal cases of injury,both mental and physical—Torts class is never dull If you're sued for a tortand lose, you usually have to pay “damages”—that is, a sum of money—tothe person who you wronged

extort To obtain from a person by force, threats, or illegal power

• She had tried to extort money from a film star, claiming that he was thefather of her baby

To extort is literally to wrench something out of someone Extortion is a

mainstay of organized crime Just as the school bully extorts lunch moneyfrom the smaller kids in exchange for not beating them up, thugs extort

“protection” money from business owners with threats of violence But that'sonly one kind of extortion; a mobster might extort favors from a politicianwith threats of revealing some dark secret, just as you might extort a favorfrom a brother or sister by promising not to tell on them

contort To twist in a violent manner

• The governor's explanation of his affair was so contorted that it only madematters worse for him

Circus contortionists are known for twisting their bodies into pretzels; such contortions tend to be easier for females than for males, and much easier for

the young than for the old When trying to say something uncomfortable ordishonest, people often go through verbal contortions But when someoneelse “twists” something you said or did, we usually say instead that they've

distorted it.

tortuous (1) Having many twists, bends, or turns; winding.(2) Crooked or tricky; involved, complex

• The road over the mountains was long and dangerously tortuous, and as yourounded the sharp corners you could never see whether a huge truck might bebarreling down toward you

A labyrinth is a tortuous maze The first labyrinth was built as a prison for themonstrous Minotaur, half bull and half man; only by holding one end of athread was the heroic Theseus able to enter and slay the Minotaur and thenexit A tortuous problem, a tortuous history, and the tortuous path of a billthrough Congress all have many unexpected twists and turns; a tortuousexplanation or argument may be too crooked for its own good Don't confuse

tortuous with torturous, which means “tortured” or “painfully unpleasant”; tortuous has nothing to do with torture.

VIV comes from vivere, the Latin verb meaning “to live or be alive.” A

survivor has lived through something terrible A revival brings something

back to life, whether it's an old film, interest in a long-dead novelist, orreligious enthusiasm in a group, maybe in a huge tent in the countryside