The Century Vocabulary Builder · Chapter 8Second General Exercise
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Copy both sections (the first consists of fairly familiar terms, the second of less familiar terms) of each of the following word-groups. Find the key-syllable, underscore it in each word, observe any modifications in its form. Decide for yourself what its meaning is; then verify or correct your conclusion by reference to the dictionary. Study the influence of the key-syllable upon the meaning of each separate word; find the word's original signification, its present signification. Add to each word-group as many cognate words as you can (1) think of for yourself, (2) find in the dictionary by looking under the key-syllable. Fill the blanks in the sentences after each word-group with terms chosen from the first section of words in that group.
(1) Animosity, unanimous, magnanimity; (2) animate, animadvert, equanimity.
Sentences: It was the ____ opinion that to so noble a foe ____ should be shown. The spiteful man continued to display his ____.
(1) Annual, annuity, anniversary, perennial, centennial, solemn; (2) superannuate, biennial, millennium.
Sentences: The amateur gardener made the ____ discovery that the plant was a ____. The ____ celebration of the great man's birth took a ____ and imposing form in our city. By a happy coincidence the increase in his ____ came on his wedding ____.
(1) Audit, auditor, auditorium, audience, inaudible, obey; (2) aurist, auricular, auscultation.
Sentences: His voice may not have been ____, but it certainly did not fill the ____. Not one ____ in all that vast ____ but was willing to ____ his slightest suggestion. He was not willing that they should ____ his accounts.
(1) Automatic, automobile, autocrat, autobiography; (2) autograph, autonomy.
Sentences: The ____ dictated to his secretary the third chapter of his ____. The habit of changing gear properly in an ____ becomes almost ____.
(1) Cant, descant, incantation, chant, enchant, chanticleer, accent, incentive; (2) canto, canticle, cantata, recant, chantry, chanson, precentor.
Sentences: He ____ upon this topic in a queer, foreign ____. Such utterances are mere sanctimonious ____; I had rather listen to the ____ of a voodoo conjurer. The little girl from the city was ____ with the crowing of ____. The ____ of the choir somehow gave him the ____ to try again.
(1) Cent, per cent, century, centennial; (2) centenary, centime, centurion, centimeter, centigrade.
Sentences: For nearly a ____ this family has been living on a small ____ of its income. I wouldn't give a ____ for ____ honors; I want my reward now.
(1) Chronic, chronological, chronicle; (2) chronometer, synchronize, anachronism.
Sentences: It is a ____ record of changing activities and ____ ills. This page is a ____ of athletic news.
(1) Corps, corpse, corporal, corpulent, corporation, incorporate; (2) corpus, habeas corpus, corporeal, corpuscle, Corpus Christi.
Sentences: The ____ gentleman said he did not believe in ____ punishment. The hospital ____ carried the ____ into the office of a great ____. He resolved to ____ this idea into the reforms he was introducing.
(1 and 2 combined) Creed, credulous, credential, credit, accredit, discredit, incredible.
Sentences: He was not so ____ as to suppose that his ____ would be accepted and his statements ____ without some investigation. It is to his ____ that he refused to be bound by his former religious ____. That such ____ has been heaped upon him is ____.
(1) Crescent, increase, decrease, concrete, recruit, accrue, crew; (2) crescendo, excrescence, accretion, increment.
Sentences: The ____ now had ____ evidence that military life was not altogether pleasant. In the olden days on the sea deaths from scurvy might bring about a dangerous ____ in the size of the ____. His courage ____ with the profits that ____ to him. The ____ moon rode in the sky.
(1) Cure, secure, procure, sinecure, curious, inaccurate; (2) curate, curator.
Sentences: Occupying the position for a while will ____ you of the notion that it is a ____. He was ____ to know so a bookkeeper had managed to ____ so high a salary. He ____ the equipment required.
(1 and 2 combined) Indignity, indignation, undignified, condign, deign, dainty.
Sentences: We must not be too ____ about visiting ____ punishment upon those responsible for this ____. He did not ____ to express his ____. It was an ____ act.
(1) Durable, endure, during, duration, obdurate; (2) durance, duress, indurate, perdurable.
Sentences: ____ the whole interview she remained ____. It is a ____ cloth; it will ____ all sorts of weather. The session was one of prolonged ____.
(1) Finite, infinite, define, definite, confine, final, in fine, unfinished; (2) definitive, infinitesimal.
Sentences: One cannot ____ the ____. He ____ himself to purely ____ topics. ____ it was a ____ offer and the ____ one he expected to make. The bridge is still ____.
(1) Flexibility, inflexible, deflect, inflection, reflection, reflex; (2) circumflex, genuflection.
Sentences: The ____ influence of this act was great. I did not like the ____ of his voice. After some ____ he decided to remain ____. He was not to be ____ from his purpose. I could but admire the ____ of her tones.
(1) Fluent, affluent, influence, influenza, superfluous, fluid, influx, flush (rush of water), fluctuate; (2) confluent, mellifluous, flux, reflux, effluvium, flume.
Sentences: When you ____ the basin, an ____ of water fills it again. He is an ____ man and a ____ writer. When I had ____, the doctor gave me a disgusting ____ to drink. The wind must have an ____ in making the waves ____ as they do. Any more would be ____.
(1) Fort, forte, effort, comfort, fortitude, fortify, fortress; (2) aqua fortis, pianoforte.
Sentences: The defenders of the ____ held out with great ____. Though a ____ or two stood at important passes, the border was not really ____. His ____ was not public speaking. It was the only by an ____ that he could ____ them.
(1) Fraction, infraction, fracture, fragility, fragment, suffrage, frail, infringe; (2) diffract, refractory, frangible.
Sentences: It was in the course of his ____ of the rules that he suffered the ____ of his collar-bone. He told the committee of ladies that he was as fond of ____ as of ____. It is hardly a proof of ____ that he is so willing to ____ upon the rights of others. The ____ scaffolding bent and swung as he trod it.
(1 and 2 combined) Fugitive, fugue, refuge, subterfuge, centrifugal.
Sentences: Closing his eyes as if to listen better to the ____ was a little ____ of his. The upward movement of the missile was arrested by the ____ attraction of the earth. The ____ took ____ in an abandoned barn.
(1) Refund, confound, foundry, confuse, suffuse, profuse, refuse, diffuse; (2) fusion, effusion, transfuse.
Sentences: With ____ cheeks and ____ utterance he made a ____ apology. The amount we lost through the defective work at your ____ should be ____ to us. Such a blow might ____ but not ____ him. He ____ the appointment.
(1) Belligerent, gesture, suggest, congested, digestion, register, jest; (2) gerund, congeries.
Sentences: As he stopped before the cash ____ he gave a ____ which showed that his ____ was none too good. His look was ____, but he lightly made a ____. Amid the ____ traffic she stopped to ____ that pink would be more becoming than lavender.
(1) Relate, translate, legislate, elation, dilated, dilatory; (2) collate, correlate, prelate, oblation, superlative, ablative.
Sentences: With ____ eyes he ____ the passage for me. The ____ was very ____ in agreeing upon the measure to be passed. He ____ the story with pride and ____.
(1) Locate, locality, locomotive, dislocate; (2) locale, allocate, collocation.
Sentences: In trying to ____ the mine as near the fissure as possible he fell and ____ his hip. It was only ____ in that entire ____.
(1) Soliloquy, loquacious, loquacity, colloquial, eloquent, obloquy, circumlocution, elocution; (2) magniloquent, grandiloquent, ventriloquism, interlocutor, locutory, allocution. (For related log and ology words see above under Prying Into a Word's Relationships.)
Sentences: ____ always, he indulged at this time in a great deal of ____. Though it was mere ____, yet there was something ____ about it. Amid all this ____ he managed to rid himself of a good deal of ____ regarding Standish. Hamlet's ____ on suicide is a famous passage.
(1) Allude, elude, delude, ludicrous, illusory, collusion; (2) prelude, postlude, interlude.
Sentences: Such evidence is ____, and belief in it is ____. He ____ to a possible ____ between them. The more credulous ones he ____, and the skeptical he manages to ____.
(1) Metrical, thermometer, barometer, pedometer, diametrically, geometry; (2) millimeter, chronometer, hydrometer, trigonometry, pentameter.
Sentences: He was careful to consult both the ____ and the ____. He always wore a ____ on these trips. The two were ____ opposed to each other. The poet has great ____ skill. ____ is an exact science.
(1) Monotone, monotonous, monoplane, monopoly, monocle, monarchy, monogram, monomania; (2) monosyllable, monochrome, monogamy, monorail, monograph, monolith, monody, monologue, monad, monastery, monk.
Sentences: His eye held a ____, his gold ring bore a ____ seal, and his voice was a stilted ____. One thing I hate about a ____ is the ____ reference to everything as his majesty's. He had a ____ of the trade in his town. He is suffering, not from madness, but from ____.
(1) Mortal, immortality, mortify, postmortem, mortgage, morgue; (2) mortmain, moribund, À la mort.
Sentences: After a hasty ____ examination, the body was taken to the ____. She was ____ at this reminder of the ____ on her father's property. The ____ shall put on ____.
(1 and 2 combined) Mutual, mutation, permutation, commute, transmute, immutable, moult.
Sentences: As he ____ that morning he reflected upon the ____ and combinations of fortune. We suffer the ____ of this worldly life, but ourselves are not ____. God's love is ____, and our love for each other should be ____. Birds when they ____ are weakened in body and depressed in spirit.
(1) Native, prenatal, innate, nature, unnatural, naturalize, nation, pregnant, puny; (2) denatured, nativity, cognate, agnate, nascent, renascence, née.
Sentences: It was some ____ influence, he thought, that gave him his ____ physique. It was a ____ reply, but its heartlessness was ____. He was not ____ to the country, but ____. ____ in his ____ was the love of his own ____.
(1) Note, notion, notable, notice, notorious, cognizant, incognito, recognize, noble, ignoble, ennoble, ignore, ignorance, ignoramus, reconnoiter, quaint, acquaintance; (2) notary, notation, connotation, cognition, prognosticate, reconnaissance, connoisseur.
Sentences: In complete ____ of the enemy's position, he decided that he would ____ it. ____ himself, he was ____ of what was going on about him. You must ____ the conduct of such an ____. His ____ with this ____ gentleman ____ him. He ____ but would not ____ this ____ fellow. The ____ is a ____ one. He could but ____ how ____ his brother had become.
(1) Panacea, panoply, panorama, pantomime, pan-American, pandemonium; (2) pantheist, pantheon.
Sentences: Arrayed in all the ____ of savages, they acted the scene out in ____. From this point the ____ of the country-side unrolled itself before him. It is no ____ for human ills; any supposition that it is will lead to ____. It is a ____ movement.
(1) Peter, petrify, petrol, stormy petrel, petroleum, saltpeter, pier; (2) petrology, parsley, samphire.
Sentences: As he walked along the ____, he observed the flight of the ____. The English name for gasoline is ____. ____ is used in the manufacture of gunpowder. He was almost ____ at hearing of this enormous stock of ____. The crowing of the cock caused ____ to weep bitterly.
(1 and 2 combined) Petty, petite, petit jury, petit larceny, petticoat, pettifogger.
Sentences: Charged with ____, he was tried by the ____. The contemptible ____ hid behind the ____ of his wife. She was a winsome maiden, dainty and ____. It is a ____ fault.
(1 and 2 combined) Philosophy, philanthropy, Philadelphia, bibliophile, Anglophile.
Sentences: His ____ was generous, but his ____ was not profound. That queer old ____ hangs to the library like a caterpillar. It was the love of humankind that caused Penn to name the city ____. Most Americans are not ____.
(1 and 2 combined) Cosmopolitan, metropolitan, politics, policy, police.
Sentences: Those who engage in ____ lack, as a rule, a ____ outlook. It is merely ____ intolerance of towns and villages. The ____ of the mayor was to increase the ____ force.
(1 and 2 combined) Potential, potency, potentate, impotent, omnipotent, plenipotentiary.
Sentences: So far from being ____, we possess a ____ difficult to estimate. The ____ sent an ambassador ____. A ____ solution of the problem is this. ____ God.
(1) Impute, compute, dispute, ill repute, reputation, disreputable; (2) putative, indisputable.
Sentences: She could not ____ the cost. There was some ____ as to the cause of his ____. Let them ____ to me what motives they will. Though somewhat ____, he was extremely solicitous about his ____.
(1) Abrogate, arrogate, interrogate, arrogant, derogatory, prerogative; (2) surrogate, rogation, prorogue.
Sentences: In an ____ manner he ____ these ____ to himself. To ____ authority is to give opportunity for remarks ____ to one's reputation. He skilfully ____ the witness.
(1) Salmon, sally, assail, assault, insult, consult, result, exultation, desultory; (2) salient, salacious, resilient.
Sentences: After the ____ the firing was ____. The defenders ____ out and ____ us, but the ____ of this effort only added to our ____. We sat there watching the ____ leap over the waterfall and ____ about our arrangements for taking them. To accept the remark as an ____ is to acknowledge the speaker as an equal.
(1) Science, conscience, unconscious, prescience, omniscience, nice; (2) sciolist, adscititious, plebiscite.
Sentences: By his ____ understanding of the issues he was able to gain a reputation for ____. We thought he possessed ____, but he seemed ____ of his erudition. Except under the sharp necessities of ____, he was ruled by a ____ thoroughly tender.
(1) Sect, section, non-sectarian, dissect, insect, intersection, sickle, vivisection, segment; (2) bisect, trisect, insection, sector, secant.
Sentences: He stood at the ____ of the roads, leaning on the shank of a sharp ____. The foreman of the ____ gang is a member of our ____. The boy was ____ an ____ with a butcher knife he had previously used to cut for himself a large ____ of the Sunday cake. It is a ____ movement. He defended the ____ of animals.
(1) Sense, consent, assent, resent, sentimental, dissension, sensation, sensibility, sentence, scent, nonsense; (2) sentient, consensus, presentiment.
Sentences: A woman of her ____ would shrink from a ____ of this sort. He ____ in a single, crisp ____. To be ____ is to be guilty of ____. He had the good ____ to ____ to this course. He ____ such ____ and the causes that produced them. A hound hunts by ____.
(1) Despond, respond, correspond, corespondent, sponsor; (2) sponsion, spouse, espouse.
Sentences: She ____ that her husband had been ____ with the ____. The ____ of the movement could as yet see no reason to ____.
(1 and 2 combined) Structure, instructor, construct, obstruct, instrument, destructive, misconstrue.
Sentences: The student ____ the intentions of his ____. He resolved to ____ every effort to complete the ____. The ____ was one that might easily be turned to ____ work. They ____ a grandstand overlooking the racetrack.
(1) Terrace, territory, subterranean, inter, terrier; (2) terrene, tureen, terrestrial, terra cotta, Mediterranean, terra firma, parterre.
Sentences: The ____ was tearing a great hole in the ____ in order to ____ a bone. He found rich ____ deposits. The discoverers laid claim to the entire ____.
(1) Thesis, parenthesis, antithesis, anathema, theme, epithet, treasure; (2) hypothesis, synthesis, metathesis.
Sentences: To set two ideas in ____ to each other makes both more vivid. By way of ____ he informed me that the subject was ____ to his father. On this ____ he can summon a host of picturesque ____. The ____ is one you will find it hard to establish. He was seeking Captain Kidd's buried ____.
(1 and 2 combined) Tumor, tumidity, tumult, tumulus, contumacy.
Sentences: The ____ of his joints was due to rheumatism. His ____ led to a ____ of opposition. So excited was he at the discovery of the ____ that he did not permit the ____ on his hand to restrain him from beginning the excavation.
(1 and 2 combined) Turbid, disturb, perturbation, turbulence, trouble, imperturbable.
Sentences: His ____ manner gave no hint of the ____ within him. The ____ sweep of the stream caused her not the slightest ____. Do not ____ yourself with the thought that you are putting me to any ____.
(1 and 2 combined) Pervade, invade, evasion, vade mecum.
Sentences: He promised that there would be no ____ of payments. Byron's Childe Harold was my ____ during my travels in Switzerland and Italy. The fragrance of heliotrope ____ the room. You must not ____ my privacy like this.
(1) Avail, prevail, prevalent, equivalent, valiant, validity, invalid, invalidate; (2) valetudinarian, valediction, valence.
Sentences: The ____ of the agreement has been thoroughly established. Our cause is just, and must ____. It is ____ to admitting that the terms are now ____. It was a ____ act and ____ the concessions previously wrested from us. The ____ impression is that mere ingenuity will not ____.
(1) Virtue, virile, virgin, virtually; (2) virago, virtuoso, triumvir.
Sentences: It was ____ a new arrangement. It is ____ soil. To be ____ and daring is every boy's dream. ____ is its own reward.
(1) Revive, survival, convivial, vivid, vivify, vivacious, vivisection; (2) vive (le roi), qui vive, bon vivant, tableau vivant.
Sentences: He has a ____ manner, a ____ spirit. The ____ of the opposition to the ____ of animals is very marked. You cannot ____ a dead cause or scarcely ____ memories of it. The ____ coloring of her cheeks was a sure sign of health, or of skill.