TỪ VỰNG TOEIC unit 13

Discord, a word more common in earlier centuries than today, means basically “conflict,” so discordant often means “conflicting.” The opinions of Supreme Court justices are frequently di

Unit 13

CORD CULP DICT GNI/GNO GRAPH ART FORT CIS Animal WordsQuiz 13-1 Quiz 13-2 Quiz 13-3 Quiz 13-4 Quiz 13-5 Review Quizzes 13

CORD, from the Latin word for “heart,” turns up in several common English

words So does its Greek relative card-, which is familiar to us in words such

as cardiac, “relating to the heart.”

accord (1) To grant (2) To be in harmony; agree

• What she told police under questioning didn't accord with the accounts ofthe other witnesses

A new federal law may accord with—or be in accordance with—the

guidelines that a company has already established The rowdy behavior of thehero Beowulf accords with Norse ideals of the early Middle Ages; but suchbehavior wouldn't have been in accordance with the ideals of a later young

lord from the same general region, Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet Accord is

also a noun, meaning “agreement.” Thus, we often hear of two countriessigning a peace accord; and we also frequently hear of two things or peoplebeing “in accord with” each other

concord (1) A state of agreement: harmony (2) A formalagreement

• In 1801 Napoleon signed a concord with the pope reestablishing theCatholic Church in France

The roots of concord suggest the meaning “hearts together.” At the very

outset of the American Revolution, the town of Concord, Massachusetts, wasthe site of a famous battle—obviously not exactly in keeping with its name Itshares that name with the capital of New Hampshire and a few other towns

and cities, and Concordia, the original Latin word for “concord,” is the name

of several Lutheran universities Today concord is a rather formal term,

probably most often used to mean a specific agreement; thus, two countriesmay sign a concord on matters that have led to trouble in the past

cordial Warm, friendly, gracious

• After the meeting, the president extended a cordial invitation to everyonefor coffee at her own house

Anything that is cordial comes from the heart Cordial greetings to friends onthe street, or cordial relations between two countries, are warm without being

passionate Cordial is also a noun, which originally meant any stimulating

medicine or drink that was thought to be good for the heart Today a cordial

is a liqueur, a sweetened alcoholic drink with interesting flavoring Cordialssuch as crème de menthe, Drambuie, or Benedictine are alcoholic enough towarm the spirits and the heart

discordant Being at odds, conflicting, not in harmony

• The first discordant note at dinner was struck by my cousin, when heclaimed the president was only interested in taking away our guns

Discord, a word more common in earlier centuries than today, means basically “conflict,” so discordant often means “conflicting.” The opinions of

Supreme Court justices are frequently discordant; justices who disagree with

the Court's decision usually write a dissenting opinion Discordant is often

used with a somewhat musical meaning, suggesting that a single wrong note

or harmony has been heard in the middle of a performance—even though

musical words such as chord actually come from a different Latin word,

meaning “cord” or “string” (a reference to the strings of ancient instrumentssuch as the lyre)

CULP comes from the Latin word for “guilt.” Its best-known appearance in

English is probably in culprit, meaning someone who is guilty of a crime.

culpable Deserving to be condemned or blamed

• The company was found guilty of culpable negligence in allowing thechemical waste to leak into the groundwater

Culpable normally means simply “guilty.” To a lawyer, “culpable

negligence” is carelessness so serious that it becomes a crime—for instance,building a swimming pool in your suburban yard with no fence around it, so

that a neighbor's child could fall in and drown But degrees of culpability are

important in the law; someone who intended to do harm always faces a moreserious challenge in court than someone who was merely careless

exculpate To clear from accusations of fault or guilt

• The girls aren't proud of what they did that night, but they've beenexculpated by witnesses and won't be facing criminal charges

Exculpate gets its meaning from the prefix ex-, which here means “out of” or

“away from.” A suspected murderer may be exculpated by the confession of

another person And exculpatory evidence is the kind that defense lawyers

are always looking for

inculpate To accuse or incriminate; to show evidence ofsomeone's involvement in a fault or crime

• It was his own father who finally inculpated him, though without intendingto

Inculpate is the opposite of exculpate, just as inculpatory evidence is the opposite of exculpatory evidence By inculpating someone else, an accused

person may manage to exculpate himself Through plea bargaining, theprosecution can often encourage a defendant to inculpate his friends in returnfor a lighter sentence

mea culpa An admission of personal fault or error

• The principal said his mea culpa at the school board meeting, but not all theparents were satisfied

Mea culpa, Latin for “through my fault,” comes from the prayer in the

Catholic mass in which, back when Latin was still the language of the mass,one would confess to having sinned “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maximaculpa” (“through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievousfault”) When we say “Mea culpa” today, it means “I apologize” or “It was

my fault.” But mea culpa is also common as a noun So, for instance, a book

may be a long mea culpa for the author's past treatment of women, or an oilcompany may issue a mea culpa after a tanker runs aground

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

DICT comes from dicere, the Latin word meaning “to speak.” So a

dictionary is a treasury of words for speaking And a contradiction (with its prefix contra-, “against”) speaks against or denies something.

diction (1) Choice of words, especially with regard tocorrectness, clearness, or effectiveness (2) Clarity of speech

• Our CEO is determined to appear in some TV ads, but he first needs towork on his diction with a vocal coach

When your English teacher complains about some of the words you chose touse in an essay, she's talking about your diction She may also use the termwhen commenting on the word choices made by a poet, and why a particularword was the best one possible in a particular line (Compare syntax.) But the

second meaning of diction is just as common, and your English teacher might

use that one on you as well, especially when she's asked you to readsomething aloud and you mumble your way through it

edict (1) An official announcement that has the force of a law (2)

crisis arose in the Roman Republic, the senate would appoint a dictator, who

would have the power to rule by edict The idea was that the dictator couldmake decisions quickly, issuing his edicts faster than the senate could act.When the crisis was over, the edicts were canceled and the dictator usuallyretired from public life Things are different today: dictators almost alwaysinstall themselves in power, and they never give it up

jurisdiction (1) The power or right to control or exerciseauthority (2) The territory where power may be exercised

• Unluckily for the defendants, the case fell within the jurisdiction of thefederal court rather than the more tolerant state court

Questions of jurisdiction are generally technical legal matters The mostimportant ones include which court will hear a given case and which law-enforcement agency can get involved But although they may seem like mere

technicalities, jurisdictional matters sometimes turn out to be all-important in

the final outcome Jurisdiction may depend on where you are (for example, inwhich state), on who you are (if you're a juvenile, for example, you may only

be tried in juvenile court), and on what the subject is (for example, casesinvolving the estate left by someone who has died are dealt with in probatecourt)

dictum A formal and authoritative statement

• It has long been a dictum of American foreign policy that the governmentdoesn't negotiate with kidnappers and terrorists

The word dictum is frequently used in philosophy, but also in economics,

political science, and other fields Almost any condensed piece of wisdom

—”The perfect is the enemy of the good,” “Buy low, sell high,” “All politics

is local,” etc.—can be called a dictum In the law, judges may often add to a

written opinion an obiter dictum, or “statement made in passing”—a strong

statement that isn't directly relevant to the case being decided If they're well

thought out and eloquent, obiter dicta (notice the plural form) may be

referred to by later judges and lawyers for years afterward

GNI/GNO comes from a Greek and Latin verb meaning “to know,” and can

be found at the root of know itself Among other words built from this root, you may recognize (“know again”) some and be ignorant of (“not know”) others But only an ignoramus would know absolutely none of them.

cognitive (1) Having to do with the process of knowing,including awareness, judgment, and understanding (2) Based on factualknowledge that has been or can be gained by experience

• A child isn't a computer; a third-grader's cognitive abilities are highlydependent on his or her upbringing and happiness

Cognitive skills and knowledge involve the ability to acquire factualinformation, often the kind of knowledge that can easily be tested So

cognition should be distinguished from social, emotional, and creative development and ability Cognitive science is a growing field of study that

deals with human perception, thinking, and learning

agnostic A person who believes that whether God exists is notknown and probably cannot be known

• Both of them were always agnostics, but after they had children they startedattending church again

The words agnostic and agnosticism were coined around 1870 by the great

English biologist T H Huxley, who had just spent a decade defending theworks of Charles Darwin against the attacks of the church Scientists often

put a high value on evidence when arguing about religion, and many agnostic

thinkers believe that human minds simply aren't equipped to grasp the nature

of God But agnostics differ from atheists, who actually claim that no God

exists and may even think they can prove it You may have seen the similar

word gnostic, the name for followers of certain religious sects from around

the time of Christ that sought spiritual knowledge and rejected the material

world An increasing interest in gnosticism today can be seen in the popular

novels of Philip Pullman, Dan Brown, and Neil Gaiman

incognito In disguise, or with one's identity concealed

• Years after her reign as a top Hollywood star, she was discovered workingincognito as a bartender in Manhattan while living in cheap hotels

In a famous myth, Zeus and Hermes visit a village incognito to test thevillagers The seemingly poor travelers are turned away from everyhousehold except that of Baucis and Philemon This elderly couple, thoughvery poor themselves, provide the disguised gods with a feast When the godsfinally reveal themselves, they reward the couple generously for theirhospitality, but destroy the rest of the village

prognosis (1) The chance of recovery from a given disease

or condition (2) A forecast or prophecy

• The prognosis for a patient with chicken pox is usually excellent; theprognosis for someone with liver cancer is terrible

With its prefix pro-, meaning “before,” prognosis means basically

“knowledge beforehand” of how a situation is likely to turn out Prognosis

was originally a strictly medical term, but it soon broadened to includepredictions made by experts of all kinds Thus, for example, economists areconstantly offering prognoses (notice the irregular plural form) about where

the economy is going, and climate scientists regularly prognosticate about

how quickly the earth's atmosphere is warming

4 When their dictatorial grandfather issued an _, everyone obeyed it.

5 She has strong opinions about lots of public issues, but she's an _ aboutforeign policy

6 The _ for the world's climate in the next century is uncertain

7 He complains about his students' _, saying they mumble so much that heoften can't understand them

8 The judge refused to consider two elements in the case, saying that theylay outside his _

Answers

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

GRAPH comes from the Greek verb graphein, “to write.” Thus, a biography

is a written account of someone's life (see BIO), a discography is a written

list of recordings on disc (records or CDs), and a filmography is a list of motion pictures But lots of uses of -graph and -graphy don't mean literally

“writing” (as in autograph or paragraph), but instead something more like

“recording,” as in photography, seismograph, or graph itself.

calligraphy The art of producing beautiful handwriting

• Calligraphy can be seen today in event invitations, logo designs, and stoneinscriptions

Kalli- is a Greek root meaning “beautiful,” and “beautiful” in the case of calligraphy means artistic, stylized, and elegant Calligraphy has existed in

many cultures, including Indian, Persian, and Islamic cultures; Arabic puts aparticularly high value on beautiful script, and in East Asia calligraphy haslong been considered a major art Calligraphers in the West use pens withwide nibs, with which they produce strokes of widely differing width within asingle letter

hagiography (1) Biography of saints (2) Biography thatidealizes or idolizes

• According to the new biography, which should really be called ahagiography, the former prime minister doesn't seem to have done anythingsmall-minded or improper in his entire life

For those able to read, reading stories of the lives of the saints was a popularpastime for centuries, and books collecting short saints' biographies were bestsellers These often included terrifically colorful stories (about slayingdragons, magically traveling through space, etc.) that were perhaps a bit toogood to be strictly true, and after finding God not one of them ever did asingle thing that wasn't saintly—and some of them may not have actually

existed Still today, hagiographic accounts of the lives of politicians and

pop-culture stars are being written, though there now seems to be a biggeraudience for biographies that seek out the not-so-wholesome secrets of theperson's life, sometimes even making up a few of them

choreography (1) The art of composing and arrangingdances and of representing them in symbolic notation (2) The movements bydancers in a performance

• The reviews praised the show for its eye-catching choreography, calling itthe best element of the whole musical

In ancient Greece, a choreia was a circular dance accompanied by a singing chorus But the actual notating of dances by means of symbols didn't begin

until the 17th or 18th century, when ballet developed into a complex art form

in France The choreographer of a major ballet, which might run to an hour

or more, will always record his or her work in notation, though

choreographing a five-minute segment for a TV talent show usually doesn't

require any record at all

lithograph A picture made by printing from a flat surface(such as a smooth stone) prepared so that the ink will only stick to the designthat will be printed

• To make a lithograph, the artist first draws an image, in reverse, on a grained limestone or aluminum plate

fine-Lithos is Greek for “stone,” and a stone surface has traditionally been

involved in lithography, though a metal plate may take its place today The

lithographic process was invented around 1796 and soon became the main method of printing books and newspapers Artists use lithography to produce

prints (works intended to be sold in many copies), and art lithographssometimes resemble older types of prints, including etchings, engravings, andwoodcuts Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, and M C Escher areamong the many artists who have used lithography to produce importantoriginal works Today lithographic printing accounts for over 40% of allprinting, packaging, and publishing

ART comes from the Latin word for “skill.” This reminds us that, until a few

centuries ago, almost no one made a strong distinction between skilled

craftsmanship and what we would now call “art.” And the word art itself

could also mean simply “cleverness.” The result is that this root appears insome words where we might not expect it