cupidamor
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#1 Let's learn words by roots
From now on, I will post four words including the roots, meaning and examples everyday. They are excerpted from the book: Merriam-Webster Vocabulary Builder, a very good book. You may find it at your local foreign book store. 
BELL comes from the Latin word meaning "war". Bellona was the little-known Roman goddess of war; her husband, Mars, was the god of war.
antebellum Existing before a war, especially before the American Civil War(1861-65)
eg. When World War I was over, the French nobility found it impossible to return to their extravagant antebellum way of life.
Often the word antebellum summons up images of ease, elegance, and entertainment on a grand scale that disappeared in the postwar years. That way of life in the american South depended on a social structure that collapsed after the war. The years after the Civil War-and many other wars-were colored for some people by nostalgia and bitterness(Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the wind shows this through the eyes of the Southern gentry), and for others by relief and anticipation.
bellicose Warlike, aggressive, quarrelsome.
eg.The country often elected the more bellicose party after a peroid of tension along the border, hoping that military action would result.
The internaitonal relations of a nation with a bellicose foreign policy tend to be stormy and difficult, since such a nation looks for opportunities to fight rather than to negotiate. Combative by nature, it is happiest when quarreling or, better yet, actively engaged in battle.
belligerence Aggressiveness, combativeness.
eg. The belligerence in Turner's voice told them that the warning was a serious threat.
The belligerence of Marlon Brando's performance as the violent Stanley Kowalski in A streetcar Named Desire electrified the country. Belligerent speeches by leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States throughout the Cold War kept the world on edge for years. Iraq's shocking belligerence toward Kuwait and its own Kurdish people resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
rebellion Open defiance and opposition, sometimes armed, to a person or thing in authority.
eg. The substitute teacher attempted to end the student rebellion by insisting on absolute quite.
These days, some degree of rebellion against parents and other authority figures is viewed as a normal part of growing up, as long as it is not destructive and does not go on too long. Rebellion, armed or otherwise, has ofter served to alert those in power to the discontent of those they control. The American War of Independence was first viewd by the British as a minor rebellion that would soon run its course.
[ Last edited by cupidamor on 2006-6-26 at 06:59 PM ]
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2006-6-25 10:25 AM |
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cupidamor
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#2
PAC/PEAS is related to the Latin words for "agree" and "peace". The Pacific Ocean - that is, the "Peaceful Ocean" - was named by Magellan because it seemed so calm after the storms near Cape Horn. (He obviously never witnessed a Pacific hurricane.)
pacify (1) To soothe anger or agitation. (2) To subdue by armed action.
eg. It took the police hours to pacify the angry demonstrators.
Unhappy babies are ofter given a rubber device for sucking called a pacifier to make them stop crying. In the same way, someone stirred up by anger or some other strong emotion can usually be pacified by resolving or removing its causes. In a usuage that became popular during the Vietnam War, pacification of an area meant using armed force to neutralize the enemy there and to quiet the local people who may have been supporting them.
pacifist A person opposed to war or violence, especially someone who refuses to bear arms or to fight, on moral or religious grounds.
eg. Always a strong pacifist, in later life he took to promoting actively the cause of peace and nonviolence.
Pacifists have not always met with sympathy or understanding. Refusing to fight ever for any reason, or even just in a particular situation when the reasons for fighting seem clear to many others, calls for strong faith in one's own moral or religious convictions, since it has often resulted in persecution by those who disagrre. The Quakers and the Jehovah's Witnesses are pacifist religious groups; Henry D. Thoreau and Martin Luther King are probably the most famous American pacifists.
pact An agreement between two or more people or groups; a treaty or formal agreement between nations to deal with a problem or to resolve a dispute.
eg. The girls made a pact never to reveal whta had happened on that terrifying night in the abandoned house.
Since a pact often ends a period of unfriendly relations, the word has "peace" at its root. Pact is generally used in the field of international relations, where we often speak of an "arms pact" or a "fishing-rights pact". But it may also be used for a solemn agreement or promise between two people.
appease To make peaceful and quiet; to calm, satisfy.
eg. The Aztecs offered mass human sacrifices - of 80,000 prisoners on one occasion! - in order to appease their gods.
When the European nations agreed to let Adolf Hilter take over part of Czechoslovakia in 1938, in a vain attempt ot prevent a larger war, their opponents shouted that they were practicing a foolish appeasement that was doomed to fail. (They were right - within months Hilter had violated the pact). A child's anger may be appeased with a little effort; an angry god or goddess may demand something extreme. We may speak of hunger being appeased by food. Appeasing usually involves giving something, whereas pacifying can refer to anything from stroking a baby to using armed force to stop an uprishing.
[ Last edited by cupidamor on 2006-6-26 at 07:00 PM ]
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2006-6-26 06:42 PM |
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cupidamor
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#3
HOSP/HOST comes from the Latin word hospes and its stem hospit- meaning both "host" and "guest". Many words based on it came to English through French, which often dropped the -pi-, leaving host-.Hospitality is what a good host or hostess offers to a guest. A hospital was once a house for religious pilgrims and other travelers, or a home for the aged.
hostage A person given or held to ensure that an agreement, demand, or treaty is kept or fulfilled.
eg. The kidnappers released their hostage unharmed once all their demands were met.
Opponents in war sometimes exchange hostages to ensure that a truce or treaty remains unbroken. Hostages may also be taken by kidnappers or terrorists or rebels to use in bargaining for money or concessions. It may seem strange that the word hostage is connected with host and in fact with guest as well, since hostages are now unwilling guests, at the mercy of their hostile hosts.
hospice A place or program to help care for the terminally ill.
eg. Uncle Harold was moved to the hospice only after my aunt had almost collapsed with exaustion while caring for him.
In the middle ages, hospices run by monks and nuns gave shelter and food to travellers and the poor. Now, hospices are institutions that take care of people who are too ill to be at home but whose lives cannot be saved by hospital care - often those with incurable cancer or AIDS, for example. More and more American are relying on "home hospice care" - care by visiting nurses and volunteers for terminally ill patients who have decided to live their last months at home.
hostel An inexpensive, supervised place for young travellers to stay overnight.
eg. Generations of American college students have travelled through Europe cheaply by staying at hostels instead of hotels.
Throughout Europe and in some other parts of the world, a network of youth hostels provides cheap, safe(although not always quiet) overnight shelter for younger bicyclists, and canoeists. The United States has over 200 youth hostels, many of them in New England. Worldwide, there are more than 5,000.
inhospitable (1)Not welcoming or generous; unfriendly. (2) Providing no shelter or food (such as a desert).
eg. Shot down by government agents, the smuggler struggled for survival on the rocky, inhospitable island.
An inhospitable host fails to make his guests comfortable, in order to show them they are unwelcome. An inhospitable territory, such as Death Valley or Antarctica, may be barren and harsh in its climate. In a similar way, a country may be called inhospitable to democracy, just as a company may be called inhospitable to new ideas.
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2006-6-27 08:14 PM |
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2006-6-27 10:05 PM |
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cupidamor
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2006-6-27 10:12 PM |
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网普科技
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2006-6-27 10:19 PM |
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celn
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2006-6-29 05:20 PM |
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cupidamor
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#8
AM/IM comes from the Latin word amare, "to love" Amiable means "friendly or good-natured", and amigo is Spanish for "friend".
amicable Friendly, peaceful
eg. Their relations with their in-laws were generally amicable, despite some bickering during the holidays.
Amicable often describes relations between two groups or especially two nations - for example, the United States and Canada, which are proud of sharing the longest ungurarded border in the world. When amicable describes personal relations, it tends to indicate a rather formal friendliness.
enamored Charmed or fascinated; inflamed with love.
eg. Rebecca quickly became enamored of the town's rustic surroundings, its slow pace, and its eccentric characters.
Computer hackers are always enamored of their new programs and games. Millions of readers have found themselves enamored with Jane Austen's novels. And Romeo and Juliet were utterly enamored of each other. (Note that both of and with are commonly used after enamored. )
inimical Hostile, unfriendly, or harmful.
eg. This latest report, like so many earlier ones, found that too great a concern with test scores was inimical to a broad education.
The in- with which inimical begins negates the meaning of the root. This word rarely describes a person; instead, it is generally used to describe forces, concepts, or situations. For example, high inflation may be called inimical to economic growth; tolerance of racist comments in an office may be seen as inimical to minorities; and rapid population growth may be inimical to a country's standard of living.
paramour A lover, often secret, not allowed by law or custom.
eg. He was her paramour for many years before she finally divorced her husband.
Paramour includes the prefix par-, " by or through." This implies a relationship based solely on love, often physical love, rather than on a social custom or ceremony. Today it usually refers to the lover of a married man or woman.
[ Last edited by cupidamor on 2006-6-29 at 10:37 PM ]
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2006-6-29 10:31 PM |
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cupidamor
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#9
CRIM comes from the Latin for “fault or crime” or “accusation”, and produces such English words as crime and criminal.
criminologyThe study of crime, criminals, law enforcement, and punishment.
Eg. His growing interest in criminology led him to become a probation officer.
Criminology includes the study of all aspects of crime and law enforcement – criminal psychology, the social setting of crime, prohibition and prevention, investigation and detection, apprehension and punishment. Thus, many of the people involved – legislators, social workers, probation officers, judges, etc. – could possibly be considered criminologists, though the word usually refers to scholars and researchers only.
decriminalize To remove or reduce the criminal status of.
Eg. An angry debate over decriminalizing doctor-assisted suicide raged all day at the statehouse.
decriminalization of various “victimless crimes” – crimes that do not directly harm others, such as private gambling and drug-taking – has been recommended by conservatives as well as liberals, who claim that it would ease the burden on the legal system and decrease the amount of money flowing to criminals. Decriminalization is sometimes distinguished from legalization, since it may still call for a small fine like a traffic ticket, or it may apply only to use or possession, leaving the actual sale of goods or services illegal.
incriminate To show evidence of involvement in a crime or a fault.
Eg. The muddy tracks leading to and from the cookie jar were enough to incriminate them.
We often hear of incriminating evidence, the kind that strongly links a suspect to a crime. Verbal testimony may incriminate by placing the suspect at the scene of the crime or describe behavior that involves him or her in it. We can also say that a virus has been incriminated as the cause of a type of cancer, and that television has been incriminated in the decline in study skills among young people.
recrimination An accusation in retaliation for an accusation made against oneself; the making of such an accusation.
Eg. Their failure to find help led to endless and pointless recriminations over the responsibility for the accident.
Defending oneself from a verbal attack by means of a counterattack is almost as natural as physical self-defense. So a disaster often brings recriminations among those connected with it, and divorces and battles over child custody usually involve recriminations between husband and wife.
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2006-6-30 08:14 PM |
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cupidamor
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#10
PROB/PROV comes from the Latin words for "prove or proof" and "honest or integrity". To prove a statement is to "make it honest", and probate court is where the genuineness of the wills of deceased people must be proved.
approbation A formal or official act of approving; praise, usually given with pleasure or enthusiasm.
eg. The senate signaled its approbation of the new plan by voting for it unanimously.
Approbatoin indicates both formal recognition of an accomplishment and happy acceptance of it. An official commendation for bravery is an example of approbation. Getting reelected to office usually indicates public approbation. The social approbation that comes from being a star quarterback in high school makes all the pain worthwhile.
disprove To show that something is not what it has veen claimed to be; refute.
eg. A week before the election he was still struggling to disprove his opponent's lies about his connections to organized crime.
Disprove, which includes the negative prefix dis-, is clearly the opposite of prove. One may have to disprove something for which the evidence has already been accepted, so the disprover often encounters violent objections to the new evidence that weakens the old. Galileo was forced to deny the new findings with which he and Copernicus had disproved the old conception of the earth's being at the center of the planetary system.
probity Absolute honesty and uprightness.
eg. Her unquestioned probity helped win her the respect of her fellow judges.
Probity is a quality the American public generally hopes for in its elected officials but doesn't always get. Bankers, for example, have traditionally been careful to project an air of probity; the savings-and-loan scandal of the 1980s has made it even more necessary. An aura of probity surrounds such public figures as Walter Cronkite and Bill Moyers, men to whom many Americans would entrust their children and their finances.
reprobate A person of thoroughly bad character.
eg. Finally, on the verge of physical and financial ruin, the reprobate dropped his lowlife friends, joined AA, and begged his wife to come back.
Reprobate(which includes the prefix re, "back or backward") is often said in a tone of joshing affection. The related verb is reprove or "scold", since the reprobate deserves a constant scolding. Shakespeare's great character Falstaff - a lazy, lying, boastful, sponging drunkard - is the model of an old reprobate.
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2006-7-2 02:41 PM |
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