Set 11 Flashcards
(12 cards)
aesthetic
The adjective aesthetic (also spelled esthetic) comes in handy when subject is beauty or the arts. A velvet painting of dogs playing poker might have minimal aesthetic appeal.Aesthetic, from a Greek word meaning “perception,” comes to us from German philosophers who used it for a theory of the beautiful. From this technical sense, it soon came to refer to good taste and to artistry in general; if something has “aesthetic value,” it has value as a work of art (even if nobody will pay much for it). It does not, however, refer to the objects themselves; do not talk about an “aesthetic painting.”
appellation
Appellation means the name or title by which someone is known. Mark Twain is the famous appellation by which everyone remembers author and humorist Samuel Clemens.An appellation is what people call a person or thing — essentially, its name or title. George Herman Ruth’s parents may have known him as George, but the rest of the world knew this famous slugger by his appellation, Babe. If you use the word appellation in a discussion of wine, you’d mean the name of the region or vineyard where the wine originated. Champagne is an appellation for the bubbly white wine that comes from the Champagne region of France.
attenuate
Attenuate is a verb that means to make or become weaker. The effects of aging may be attenuated by exercise. (Or by drinking from the fountain of youth.)The versatile word attenuate denotes a weakening in amount, intensity, or value. As a verb, attenuate is usually transitive, meaning it needs an object to be complete, such as in the sentence: “This tanning process tends to attenuate the deer hide, making it softer.” The word can be intransitive in past tense, as in “The rain attenuated, ending the storm.” And it can even be used as an adjective to describe something weakened: “Even an attenuated solution will remove the stain.”
bathos
f something starts out serious and then turns trivial, that’s bathos. If you’re watching a serious drama about Poland’s transition to capitalism and it suddenly ends in a giddy car chase, you might remark on the film’s unexpected bathos.The word bathos came into English in the 17th century from the Greek word bathos, which literally means “depth.” In the 18th century English poet Alexander Pope gave the word its current meaning of a descent from lofty to trite. We often use it for movies or books. Bathos is usually unintentional — which means you can laugh at it. Bathos can also be used more broadly for something that’s trite or overly sentimental.
cadence
The word cadence has its own lovely cadence — rhythm of sound as it’s spoken.Cadence has come to mean “the rhythm of sounds” from its root cadere which means “to fall.” Originally designating falling tones especially at the end of lines of music or poetry, cadence broadened to mean the rhythms of the tones and sometimes even the rhythm of sounds in general. Think of the cadence of the marching band at a football game or the cadence of the crickets on a warm spring night. You can remember the “fall” idea by thinking of one of the only words that contains it — decadence — which has the prefix de- at the front to mean down, or downfall.
dragoon
compel by coercion, threats, or crude means; to cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means :”She forced him to take a job in the city”
fete
A fête is a party, often one thrown in someone’s honor. You’ll find fête used as both a verb and a noun. If you want to fête someone, throw them a fête.Fête is a word taken directly from French. In fact, sometimes in English you’ll see a circumflex accent over the first “e” in fête. This makes it especially easy to remember, because this accent looks almost like a party hat.
hegemony
Hegemony is political or cultural dominance or authority over others. The hegemony of the popular kids over the other students means that they determine what is and is not cool.Hegemony comes from the Greek hegemon “leader.” Wealthy lender nations hoping to determine political outcomes and trade decisions have established hegemony over the debtor nations they lend to. As well as the dominance of one group or nation over others, hegemony is also the term for the leading group or nation itself. During the American Revolution, colonists fought to throw off the British hegemony.
paramour
A paramour is a lover, and often a secret one you’re not married to. So it’s best not to kiss and make eyes at your paramour in public, unless you want to be the center of a lot of gossip.The noun paramour evolved from the French phrase par amour, meaning “passionately” or “with desire.” If you break it down, you get par, meaning “by,” and amour, the French word for love. Once upon a time, women used this word to describe Christ, and men would use it to refer to the Virgin Mary. But eventually, paramour shed its religious connotations and came to mean “darling” or “sweetheart,” and later “mistress” or “clandestine lover.”
subjugate
If you say you won’t be kept down by the man, you are saying that you won’t let the man subjugate you. To subjugate is to repress someone, or to make them subservient to you.In subjugate you see the word subject. In this word, it’s not talking about the subject of a sentence, rather it’s talking about the kind of subjects that Kings have serving them. Subjugate is to reduce someone’s status to that of a subject. It’s a royal demotion, often brought by force or intimidation.
thrall
When you’re in thrall to someone, you are under their control in some way. If you’re being held as a hostage, you’re in thrall to your captor.You can be in thrall to anything that holds you captive or controls your thoughts or actions, like an addiction, a disease, or a cult leader. The Old English word that thrall comes from literally means “slave” or “servant.” Another word with the same root as thrall is enthrall, which is sort of a friendlier version of the same idea. If you’re enthralled by someone, you’re captivated or fascinated, rather than “held in bondage.”
tyranny
Tyranny is a noun that describes a repressive and arbitrarily cruel regime. Don’t accuse your mother of tyranny just because she won’t let you play video games all weekend long.One of the root words of tyranny is the Latin tyrannia which means the “rule of a tyrant” and a tyrant is a “cruel master.” Today, it can mean the repressive regime of a dictator or it can also mean being controlled by something metaphorically harsh like time or work. Maybe the oldest example of a tyranny is that of Tyrannosaurus Rex, or “king of the giant lizards,” who many of us grew up thinking was the largest, most predatory and frightening of the dinosaurs who supposedly ruled over the rest of the dinosaur world with its huge, sharp teeth and claws.
