VOCABULARY LIST 5
These ten expressive adjectives, needless to say, are not restricted to lying or liars. Not their general meanings:
1. notorious — well-known for some bad quality -- a notorious philanderer
2. consummate — perfect, highly skilled -- consummate artistry at keyboard
3. incorrigible — beyond reform -- an incorrigible optimist
4. inveterate — long-accustomed, deeply habituated -- an inveterate smoker (this adjective, like notorious, usually has an unfavorable connotation)
5. congenital — happening at or during birth -- a congenital deformity
6. chronic — going on for a long time, or occurring again and again -- chronic appendicitis
7. pathological — diseased -- a pathological condition
8. unconscionable — without pangs of conscience -- unconscionable cruelty to children
9. glib — smooth, suspiciously fluent -- a glib witness
10. egregious — outstandingly bad or vicious -- an egregious error
ORIGINS AND RELATED WORDS
1.
well-known
"Widely but unfavorably
known" is the common definition for
notorious. Just as a
notorious liar is well-known for unreliable statements, so a notorious gambler, a notorious thief, or a notorious killer has achieved a wide
reputation for some form of antisocial behavior. The noun is
notoriety.
The derivation is from
Latin
notus, known, from which we also
get
noted. It is an interesting characteristic of
some words that a change of syllables can alter the emotional impact. Thus, an admirer of certain business
executives will speak of them as "noted
industrialists"; these same people's enemies will call them "notorious exploiters." Similarly, if we admire a man's or a
woman's un-worldliness, we refer to it by the complimentary term childlike; but if we are annoyed by the
trait, we describe it derogatively as
childish. Change "-like" to "-ish" and our emotional tone undergoes a complete
reversal.
2.
plenty
of room at the top
The top of a mountain is
called, as you know, the
summit, a
word derived from Latin summus,
highest, which also gives us the mathematical term
sum, as in addition. A consummate artist has reached the very
highest point of perfection; and to
consummate
a marriage, a business deal, or a contract is, etymologically, to bring it to
the highest point; that is, to put the final touches to it, bring it to
completion.
[Note how differently
consummate, the adjective, is pronounced
from the verb to consummate.]
Nouns are formed from
adjectives by the addition of the noun suffix -ness: sweet -- sweetness; simple -- simpleness; envious --e nviousness;
etc.
Many adjectives, however,
have alternate noun forms, and the adjective
consummate is one of them. To make a noun out of
consummate,
add either -ness or -acy:
consummateness
or consummacy.
Verbs ending in -ate invariably tack on the noun suffix
-ion to form nouns:
create--creation; evaluate--evaluation; etc.
Noun form of the verb to consummate?
______________________
3.
no help
Call people incorrigible if they do anything to
excess, and if all efforts to correct or reform them are to no avail. Thus, one can be an
incorrigible idealist, criminal, optimist, philanderer, etc.
The noun is
incorrigibility
or, alternatively, incorrigibleness.
4. veterans
Inveterate, from Latin
vetus, old*, generally indicates disapproval.
Inveterate gamblers have grown old in the habit, etymologically
speaking; inveterate drinkers have
been imbibing for so long that they, too, have formed old, well-established
habits; and inveterate liars have
been lying for so long, and their habits are by now so deep-rooted, that one
can scarcely remember (the word implies) when they ever told the truth.
The noun is inveteracy or
inveterateness.
A veteran, as of the Armed Forces, grew older serving the country;
otherwise a veteran is an old hand at the game (and therefore skillful).
The word is both a noun and an
adjective: a veteran at (or in)
swimming, tennis, police work, business, negotiations, diplomacy -- or a veteran actor, teacher, diplomat,
political reformer.
* Latin senex, source of senile,
senescent, and senator, as you will recall, also means
old. In
inveterate,
in- means in; it is not
the negative prefix found in incorrigible.
5.
birth
Greek
genesis, birth or origin, a root we discovered in discussing
psychogenic, is the source of a great
many English words.
Genetics is the science that treats of the transmission of
hereditary characteristics from parents to offspring. The scientist specializing in the field
is a geneticist, the adjective is
genetic. The particle in the chromosome of the
germ cell containing a hereditary characteristic is a
gene.
Genealogy is the study of family trees or ancestral origins (logos, study). The practitioner is a
genealogist. Adjective?
_____________________
The
genital, or sexual,
organs are
involved in the process of conception and birth. The
genesis
of anything -- a plan, idea, thought, career, etc. -- is its beginning, birth,
or origin, and
Genesis, the first
book of the Old Testament, describes the creation, or birth,
of the universe.
Congenital is constructed by combining the prefix
con-, with or together, and the root
genesis, birth.
So a
congenital defect, deformity, condition,
etc. occurs during the
nine-month birth process (or period of gestation, to become technical).
Hereditary
characteristics, on the other hand, are acquired at the moment of
conception. Thus, eye color, nose
shape, hair texture, and other such qualities are
hereditary; they are determined by the
genes in the germ cells of the mother and father. But a thalidomide baby resulted from the
use of the drug by a pregnant woman, so the deformities are
congenital.
Congenital is used both literally and figuratively. Literally, the word generally refers to
some medical deformity or abnormality occurring during gestation. Figuratively, it wildly exaggerates, for
effect, the very early existence of some quality:
congenital liar,
congenital
fear of the dark, etc.
REVIEW OF ETYMOLOGY
Prefix/Root/Suffix Meaning English Word
ORIGINS AND RELATED WORDS
A
chronic liar lies consistently, again and again and again; a
chronic invalid is ill time after time,
frequently, repeatedly. The
derivation of he word is Greek
chronos, time.
The noun form is
chronicity.
An
anachronism is someone or something out of time, out of date,
belonging to a different era, either earlier or later. (The prefix
ana-, like
a- is negative.) The adjective is
anachronous or
anachronistic.
Wander along
Read a novel in which a
scene I supposedly taking place in the nineteenth century and see one of the
characters turning on a TV set.
An
anachronism!
Your friend talks, thinks,
dresses and acts as if he were living in the time of Shakespeare. Another
anachronism!
Science fiction is
deliberately anachronous -- it deals
with the phenomena, gadgetry, accomplishments far off (possibly) in the future.
An anachronism is out of
time;
something out of place is
incongruous, a word combining the
negative prefix in- with the prefix
con-, with or together, and a Latin verb
meaning to agree or correspond.
Thus, it is incongruous to wear a sweater and slacks
to a formal wedding; it is anachronous
to wear the wasp waist, conspicuous bustle, or powdered wig of the eighteenth
century. The noun form of
incongruous is
incongruity.
Chronological, in correct time or order, comes from
chronos.
To tell a story
chronologically is to relate the events in the time order of their occurrence.
Chronology is the science of time order
and the accurate dating of events (logos,
science) -- the expert in this field is a
chronologist
-- or a list of events in the time order in which they have occurred and will
occur.
A chronometer, combining
chronos with
metron,
measurement, is a higly accurate timepiece,
especially one used on hips.
Chronometry is the measurement of
time--the adjective is
chronometric.
Add the prefix syn-, together, plus the verb suffix
-ize, to
chronos, and you have constructed
synchronize, etymologically
to time together, or to move, happen or
cause to happen, at the same time or rate. If you and your friend
synchronize
your watches, you set them at the same time. I f you
synchronize the activity of your arm and legs, as in swimming, you
move them at the same time or rate.
The adjective is synchronous;
the noun form of the verb synchronize
is synchronization.
Pathological is
diseased
(a pathological condition)--this
meaning of the word ignored the root
logos,
science or study.
Pathology
is the science
or study of disease -- its nature, cause, cure, etc. However, another meaning of the noun
ignores logos, and
pathology may be any morbid, diseased or
abnormal physical condition(s); in short, simply
disease, as in "This case involves so many kinds of
pathology that several different
specialists are working on it."
A
pathologist is an expert who examines issue, often by autopsy or
biopsy, to diagnose disease and to interpret the abnormalities in such tissue
that may be cause by specific diseases.
Pathos occurs in some English words with the additional meaning of
feeling. If you feel or suffer with someone, you
are sympathetic -- sym- is a respelling before the letter
p of he Greek prefix
syn-, with or
together. The noun is
sympathy, the verb
sympathize. Husbands,
for example, as the story goes, may have
sympathetic
labor pains when their wives are about to deliver.
The prefix anti-, you will recall, means
against. If you experience
antipathy to people or things, you feel
against them -- you feel strong dislike or hostility. The adjective is
antipathetic, as in "an
antipathetic
reaction to an authority figure."
But you may have no feeling
at all -- just indifference, lack of any interest, emotion, or response, complete
listlessness, especially when some reaction is normal or expected. Then you are
apathetic;
a-, as you
know, is a negative prefix. The
noun form is
apathy (AP'-ə-thee), as in voter
apathy, student
apathy, etc.
On the other hand, you may
be so sensitive or perceptive that you not only share the feelings of another,
but you also identify with those
feelings, in fact experiencing them yourself as if momentarily you were that
other person. What you have, then,
is empathy; you
empathize, you are
empathetic,
or, to use an alternate adjective,
empathic.
Em- is a
respelling before the letter p of the
Greek prefix en-, in.
Someone who is pathetic who is obviously
suffering -- such a person may arouse sympathy or pity (or perhaps
antipathy?) in you. A
pathetic
story is about suffering and, again, is likely to arouse sadness, sorrow, or
pity.
Some interesting research
was done many years ago by Dr. J. B. Rhine and his associates at
REVIEW OF ETYMOLOGY
Prefix/Root/Suffix Meaning English Word
ORIGINS AND RELATED WORDS
8
. knowing
Psychopaths commit
antisocial and unconscionable
acts -- they are not troubled by
conscience,
guilt, remorse, etc. over what they have done.
Unconscionable and
conscience
are related in derivation -- the first word from Latin
scio, to know, the second
from Latin
sciences, knowing,
and both using the prefix
con-,
together.
Etymologically, then,
you conscience is your knowledge
with a moral sense of right and
wrong; if you are unconscionable,
your conscience is not (un-)
working, or you have no conscience.
The noun form is
unonscionableness or
unconscionability.
Conscious, also from
con-
plus scio,
is knowledge or awareness of one's emotions or sensations, or of what's
happening around one.
Science, from
sciens, is systematized
knowledge as opposed, for example, to belief, faith,
institution, or guesswork.
Add Latin
omnis, all,
to sciens,
to construct
omniscient,
all-knowing, possessed of infinite knowledge. The noun is
omniscience.
Add the prefix pre-, before, to
sciens to
construct prescient -- knowing
about events before they occur,
i.e., psychic, or possessed of unusual powers of prediction. The noun if
prescience.
And, finally, ad the negative
prefix ne- to sciens to produce nescient, not knowing or
ignorant. Can you, by analogy
with the previous two words, write the noun form of
nescient? ________________________
9.
fool some of
the people…
Glib is from an old
English root that means slippery.
Glib
liars or glib talkers are
smooth and slippery; they have ready answers, fluent tongues, a persuasive
air -- but, such is the implication of the word, they fool only the most nescient, for their smoothness
lacks sincerity and conviction.
The noun is glibness.
10.
herds and flocks
Egregious is from Latin
grex,
gregis, herd or flock. An
egregious lie, act, crime, mistake,
etc. is so exceptionally
vicious that it conspicuously stands
out
(e- a shortened form of the
prefix ex-, out) from the
herd or
flock or other bad things.
The noun is egregiousness.
A person who enjoys
companionship, who, etymologically, like to be with the herd, who reaches
out for friends and is happiest when surrounded by people -- such a person
is gregarious.
Extroverts are of
course gregarious -- they prefer
human contact, conversation, laughter, interrelationships, to solitude.
The suffix -ness, as you know, can be added to
an adjective to construct a noun form. Noun form for
gregarious: _________________________
Add the prefix con -, with, together, to
grex, gregis,
to get the verb congregate; add
the prefix se-, apart, to build
the verb segregate; add the
prefix ad-, to, toward (ad- changes to ag- before a root starting with
g-), to construct the verb
aggregate.
Let's see what we
have. When people
gather together in a
herd, or flock, they
(write the verb) ______________.
The noun is congregation,
one of the meanings of which is a religious "flock."
Put people or things
apart from the herd, and you
(write the verb) _____________ them.
Can you construct the noun by adding the suitable noun suffix?
__________
Bring individual items
to or toward the herd, and you
(write the verb) ______________________ them. Noun? ____________________________
The verb aggregate also means to come together to or toward the herd,
that is to gather into a mass or
whole, or by extension, to total
or amount to. So aggregate, another noun form, is a
group or mass of individuals considered as a whole, a
herd, or a flock, as
in the phrase "people in the aggregate".
REVIEW OF ETYMOLOGY
Prefix/Root/Suffix Meaning English Word
Word List