TỪ VỰNG TOEIC unit 24

Unit 24MAND UND SANCT LOQU VIR VAL CRE/CRET FUS Greek and LatinBorrowings Quiz 24-1 Quiz 24-2 Quiz 24-3 Quiz 24-4 Quiz 24-5 Review Quizzes 24 MAND comes from mandare, Latin for “entrust”

Unit 24

MAND UND SANCT LOQU VIR VAL CRE/CRET FUS Greek and LatinBorrowings

Quiz 24-1 Quiz 24-2 Quiz 24-3 Quiz 24-4 Quiz 24-5 Review Quizzes 24

MAND comes from mandare, Latin for “entrust” or “order.” A command is

an order; a commandment is also an order, but usually one that comes from God And a commando unit carries out orders for special military actions.

mandate (1) A formal command (2) Permission to act, given

by the people to their representatives

• The new president claimed his landslide victory was a mandate from thevoters to end the war

A mandate from a leader is a command you can't refuse But that kind of

personal command is rarely the meaning of mandate today; much more

common are connected with institutions Thus, the Clean Air Act was a

mandate from Congress to clean up air pollution—and since mandate is also

a verb, we could say instead that the Clear Air Act mandated new restrictions

on air pollution Elections are often interpreted as mandates from the publicfor certain kinds of action But since a politician is not just a symbol ofcertain policies but also an individual who might happen to have an awfullynice smile, it can be risky to interpret most elections as mandating anything atall

mandatory Required

• If attendance at the meeting hadn't been mandatory, she would have justgone home

Something mandatory is the result of a mandate or order, which usually

comes in the form of a law, rule, or regulation Today there seem to be a lot

of these mandates, so mandatory seat belts, mandatory inspections forindustries, and mandatory prison sentences for violent crimes are regularly inthe news But mandatory retirement at age 65, which used to be common, isnow illegal in most cases

commandeer To take possession of something by force,especially for military purposes

• No sooner had they started their meeting than the boss showed up andcommandeered the conference room

Military forces have always had the power to commandeer houses TheDeclaration of Independence complains about the way the British soldiershave done it, and the third Amendment to the Constitution states that thecommandeering of people's houses shall be done only in a way prescribed bylaw Almost anything—food, supplies, livestock, etc.—can be militarilycommandeered when the need arises But you don't have to be in the militaryfor someone to “pull rank” on you: Your father may commandeer the car justwhen you were about to take it out for the evening, your teacher maycommandeer your cell phone as you're texting in the middle of class, or yourolder sister may commandeer the TV remote to watch some lousy dancingcompetition

remand (1) To order a case sent back to another court or agencyfor further action (2) To send a prisoner back into custody to await furthertrial or sentencing

• The state supreme court had remanded the case to the superior court,instructing it to consider the new evidence

Remand means “order back” or “send back.” After losing a case in a lower

court, lawyers will frequently appeal it to a higher court If the higher courtlooks at the case and sees that the lower court made certain kinds of errors, itwill simply remand it, while telling the lower court how it fell short the firsttime: by not instructing the jury thoroughly, for example, or by not takinginto account a recent related court decision

UND comes into English from the Latin words unda, “wave,” and undare,

“to rise in waves,” “to surge or flood.” Undulations are waves or wavelike things or motions, and to undulate is to rise and fall in a wavelike way.

undulant (1) Rising and falling in waves (2) Wavy in form,outline, or surface

• The man's undulant, sinister movements reminded her of a poisonous snakeabout to strike

The surface of a freshly plowed field is undulant A range of rolling hillscould be called undulant, as could the shifting sands of the Sahara Awaterbed mattress is often literally undulant And a field of wheat will

undulate or sway in the wind, like the waves of the sea.

inundate (1) To cover with a flood or overflow (2) Tooverwhelm

• As news of the singer's death spread, retailers were inundated with ordersfor all his old recordings

In the summer of 1993, record rains in the Midwest caused the MississippiRiver to overflow its banks, break through levees, and inundate the entire

countryside; such an inundation hadn't been seen for at least a hundred years.

By contrast, the Nile River inundated its entire valley every year, bringing therich black silt that made the valley one of the most fertile places on earth.(The inundations ceased with the completion of the Aswan High Dam in1970.) Whenever a critical issue is being debated, the White House andCongressional offices are inundated with phone calls and e-mails, just as atown may be inundated with complaints when it starts charging a fee forgarbage pickup

redound (1) To have an effect for good or bad (2) To rebound

or reflect

• Each new military victory redounded to the glory of the king, whosebrilliance as a leader was now praised and feared throughout Europe

Redound has had a confusing history Its original meaning was simply

“overflow.” But since the prefix re- often means “back,” the later meaning

“result” may have arisen because flowing back—on a beach, for example—is

a result of the original flowing Redound has long been confused with other words such as resound and rebound, so today “rebound” is another of its

standard meanings As examples of its usual meaning, we could say that theprohibition of alcohol in 1919 redounded unintentionally to the benefit ofgangsters such as Al Capone—and that Capone's jailing on tax-evasioncharges redounded to the credit of the famous “Untouchables.”

redundancy (1) The state of being extra or unnecessary.(2) Needless repetition

• A certain amount of redundancy can help make a speaker's points clear, buttoo much can be annoying

Redundancy, closely related to redound, has stayed close to the original

meaning of “overflow” or “more than necessary.” Avoiding redundancy isone of the prime rules of good writing ““In the modern world of today”contains a redundancy; so does “He died of fatal wounds” and “For themutual benefit of both parties.” But redundancy doesn't just occur inlanguage “Data redundancy” means keeping the same computer data in morethan one place as a safety measure, and a backup system in an airplane mayprovide redundancy, again for the sake of safety

1 “Each and every” is an example of a _ that almost everyone uses.

2 A group of four gunmen tried to _ the jet soon after takeoff

3 In the second movement, the composer depicts the waves of the ocean bymeans of lines that rise and fall in _ patterns

4 The court's decision represents a _ to continue working toward absoluteequality in the workplace

5 Sportsmanship and generosity always _ to the credit of both the teamand the school

6 The judge will probably _ this case to the lower court for further study

7 Piles of job applications _ the office every day

8 The session on business ethics is _ for all employees

Answers

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

1 needless repetition a mandate

SANCT, meaning “holy,” comes from the Latin word sanctus Thus, sanctity

means “holiness.” In ancient Greece, a spot could be sanctified, or “made

holy,” by a group of priests who carried out a solemn ritual; these might bespots where fumes arose from a crack in the earth or where a spring of clearwater flowed out of the ground, and a temple might be built there for worship

of a god

sanction To give approval to

• The bill's opponents claimed that removing criminal penalties for drugpossession would amount to sanctioning drug use

Sanction originally meant “make holy” or “give official church approval to.”

The word still has a solemn sound to it, so sanctioning is something generallydone by an institution or government, though not necessarily by a church So

a college may sanction—or “give its blessing to”—the use of office space by

a gay organization, or a hot-rod association may sanction two new tracks for

official races But sanction is also a noun, which may have two near-opposite

meanings, “approval” and “penalty.” Thus, a company may be accused of

giving its sanction to illegal activities But when two or more countries

impose sanctions on another country, it often involves cutting off trade No

wonder sanction is such a tricky word for so many of us.

sanctimonious Pretending to be more religiouslyobservant or morally better than other people

• The candidates' speeches were sanctimonious from beginning to end, filledwith stories about how their deep faith was the basis for everything they did

Making a show of your religious morality has always struck some people thewrong way, including Jesus In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preachesthat, when we give away money for charity, we shouldn't let our left handknow what our right hand is doing—that is, the giving should be done for itsown sake and other people shouldn't be told about it Those who make a

display of how good and pious they are called hypocrites But sanctimony, or sanctimoniousness, has often been a good strategy for American politicians,

many of whom have found it a great way to win votes

sacrosanct (1) Most sacred or holy (2) Treated as if holyand therefore immune from criticism or disturbance of any kind

• Lots of experts have criticized the governor's education program, but it'sregarded as sacrosanct by members of her own party

Sacrosanct means literally “made holy by a sacred rite,” and in its original use the word was reserved for things of the utmost holiness But sacrosanct is

now used to describe a questionable sacredness which nevertheless makessomething immune from attack or violation; that is, the person using the wordusually doesn't regard the thing as sacred at all So to call a governmentprogram sacrosanct is to imply that others regard it as untouchable And apiece of writing is more likely to be thought of as sacrosanct by its authorthan by the editor who has to fix it up

sanctuary (1) A holy place, such as a church or temple,

or the most holy part of one (2) A place of safety, refuge, and protection

• The midtown park is a tranquil sanctuary amidst the city's heat, noise, andbustle

Historically, churches have been places where fugitives could seek at leasttemporary protection from the law In Anglo-Saxon England, churches andchurchyards generally provided 40 days of immunity, and neither the sheriffsnor the army would enter to seize the outlaw But gradually the right ofsanctuary was eroded In 1486 sanctuary for the crime of treason wasdisallowed, and sanctuary for most other crimes was severely restricted byHenry VIII and later abolished In the 1980s many U.S churches providedsanctuary to political refugees from Central America, and the U.S.government mostly chose not to interfere Today, wildlife sanctuaries provideprotection for the species within its boundaries, and farm-animal sanctuariesnow rescue livestock from abuse and starvation

LOQU comes from the Latin verb loqui, “to talk.” An eloquent preacher

speaks fluently, forcefully, and expressively And a dummy's words come out

of a ventriloquist's mouth—or perhaps out of his belly (in Latin, venter).

colloquium A conference in which various speakers taketurns lecturing on a subject and then answering questions about it

• There's a colloquium at Yale on Noah Webster in September, where she'sscheduled to deliver a paper

A colloquy is a conversation, and especially an important, high-level discussion Colloquy and colloquium once meant the same thing, though today colloquium always refers to a conference Because of its old

“conversation” meaning, however, a colloquium is a type of conference withimportant question-and-answer periods

soliloquy A dramatic speech that represents a series ofunspoken thoughts

• Film characters never have onscreen soliloquies, though they may tell ustheir thoughts in a voiceover

Since solus means “alone” in Latin, soliloquies take place when a character is

alone onstage, or maybe spotlighted off to one side of a dark stage Novelshave no trouble in expressing to the reader a character's personal thoughts,but such expression is less natural to stage drama The soliloquies of

Shakespeare—in Hamlet (“To be or not to be”), Macbeth (“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow”), Romeo and Juliet (“But soft! what light from

yonder window breaks”), etc.—are the most famous, but modern playwrightssuch as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Sam Shepard have alsoemployed them

colloquial Conversational in style

• The author, though obviously a professional writer, uses a colloquial style

in this new book

Since colloquy means basically “conversation,” colloquial language is the

language almost all of us speak It uses contractions (“can't,” “it's,”

“they've”), possibly some slang, lots of short words and not many long ones.But our language usually changes when we write, becoming more formal andsometimes even “literary.” Except in e-mails and text messages, many peoplenever write a contraction or use the word “I”, and avoid informal wordscompletely But colloquial language isn't necessarily bad in writing, and it'ssometimes more appropriate than the alternative

loquacious Apt to talk too much; talkative

• She had hoped to read quietly on the plane, but the loquacious salesman inthe next seat made it nearly impossible

A loquacious speaker can leave a big audience stifling its yawns after the first

45 minutes, and the loquaciousness of a dinner guest can keep everyone else

from getting a word in edgewise Loquacious letters used to go on for pages,and a loquacious author might produce a 1,200-page novel Lincoln's brief269-word Gettysburg Address was delivered after a two-hour, 13,000-word

speech by America's most famous orator, a windbag of loquacity.

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

VIR is Latin for “man.” A virtue is a good quality—originally, the kind of

quality an ideal man possessed And virtuous behavior is morally excellent.

All in all, the Romans seem to have believed that being a man was a goodthing

virility Energetic, vigorous manhood; masculinity

• For his entire life he believed that anyone who had been a Marine hadestablished his virility beyond any doubt

Luckily, there's no doubt about what virility is, since it's depicted on thecovers of dozens of new romance novels every month! A masterful anddominating manner, a splendid bared chest, a full head of lustrous hair, and

an array of stunning costumes seem to be what's required (Virile traits often

missing in these men are hair on the chest and any hint of future baldness.)High-school football provides a showplace for demonstrations of adolescentvirility, and for years afterward virile high-school players can keep usingfootball language in their business life: “get to the red zone,” “Hail Marypass,” “move the ball,” and on and on

triumvirate (1) A commission or government of three (2)

A group or association of three

• A triumvirate slowly emerged as the inner circle of the White House, andthe vice president wasn't among them

The first triumvirate of the Roman Republic, which consisted of JuliusCaesar, Pompey, and Crassus, was simply an alliance or partnership, not aformal institution of the government The alliance didn't last long, however,and Caesar eventually emerged with total power This led to hisassassination, after which a second triumvirate took over, with Octavian,Mark Antony, and Lepidus dividing the Roman world among themselves

But these triumvirs also soon turned on one another, with Octavian alone

taking power; in time he would become Rome's first emperor

virago A loud, bad-tempered, overbearing woman

• The staff called her a virago and other things behind her back, but everyonewas respectful of her abilities

The original Latin meaning of virago was “female warrior.” But in later

centuries the meaning shifted toward the negative The most famous virago in

English literature is the ferocious Kate in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew Some historical viragoes have also become famous Agrippina

poisoned her husband, the Emperor Claudius, so that her son Nero could takehis place (but it was Nero himself who eventually had her assassinated) AndQueen Eleanor of Aquitaine, a powerful virago of the 12th century, wasimprisoned by her husband, King Henry II of England, after she encouragedtheir sons to rebel against him Today some people are beginning to use

virago admiringly again.

virtuosity Great technical skill, especially in thepractice of a fine art

• Playing with the band, his virtuosity doesn't show through; you really have

to hear him solo to appreciate him

Virtuosity is used particularly to describe musicians, but also often for writers, actors, dancers, and athletes A virtuoso is a highly skilled performer, and a virtuoso performance is one that astonishes the audience by its feats In

ancient Greece the cities would hold male competitions in acrobatics,conjuring, public reciting, blowing the trumpet, and acting out scenes from

Homer's epics, the winners of which would have been praised as virtuous, or

“full of manly virtues.”

VAL has as its basic meaning “strength,” from the Latin verb valere,

meaning “to be worthy, healthy, or strong” and “to have power or influence.”

So evaluating a house involves determining how healthy it is A valid license

or credit card is one that's still in effect, and a valid proof is one that providesstrong evidence