The Century Vocabulary Builder Part 34

O! reason not the _need_; our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life is cheap as beast's.

The Christian inhabitants of Thessaly would be reduced to _dest.i.tution_.

It is the care of a very great part of mankind to conceal their _indigence_ from the rest.

Chill _penury_ repress'd their n.o.ble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.

Chill _penury_ weighs down the heart itself; and though it sometimes be endured with calmness, it is but the calmness of despair.

Where _penury_ is felt the thought is chain'd, And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few.

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_Regrets_ over the past should chasten the future.

He acknowledged his disloyalty to the king with expressions of great _compunction_.

Through no disturbance of my soul, Or strong _compunction_ in me wrought, I supplicate for thy control.

G.o.d speaks to our hearts through the voice of _remorse_.

To err is human; but _contrition_ felt for the crime distinguishes the virtuous from the wicked.

Christian _penitence_ is something more than a thought or an emotion or a tear; it is action.

_Repentance_ must be something more than mere _remorse_ for sins; it comprehends a change of nature befitting heaven.

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For fools are _stubborn_ in their way, As coins are harden'd by th' allay; And _obstinacy's_ ne'er so stiff As when 'tis in a wrong belief.

They may also laugh at their _pertinacious_ and incurable obstinacy.

He who is _intractable_, he whom nothing can persuade, may boast himself invincible.

There is a law in each well-order'd nation To curb those raging appet.i.tes that are Most disobedient and _refractory_.

He then dissolved Parliament, and sent its most _refractory_ members to the Tower.

If he were _contumacious_, he might be excommunicated, or, in other words, be deprived of all civil rights and imprisoned for life.

EXERCISE E

The following list of synonyms is given for the convenience of those who wish additional material with which to work. This is a selected list and makes no pretense to completeness. It is suggested that you discriminate the words within each of the following groups, and use each word accurately in a sentence of your own making.

Abettor, accessory, accomplice, confederate, conspirator.

Acknowledge, admit, confess, own, avow.

Active, agile, nimble, brisk, sprightly, spry, bustling.

Advise, counsel, admonish, caution, warn.

Affecting, moving, touching, pathetic.

Agnostic, skeptic, infidel, unbeliever, disbeliever.

Amuse, entertain, divert.

Announce, proclaim, promulgate, report, advertise, publish, bruit, blazon, trumpet, herald.

Antipathy, aversion, repugnance, disgust, loathing.

Artifice, ruse, trick, dodge, manoeuver, wile, stratagem, subterfuge, finesse.

Ascend, mount, climb, scale.

a.s.sociate, colleague, partner, helper, collaborator, coadjutor, companion, helpmate, mate, team-mate, comrade, chum, crony, consort, accomplice, confederate.

Attach, affix, annex, append, subjoin.

Attack, a.s.sail, a.s.sault, invade, beset, besiege, bombard, cannonade, storm.

Begin, commence, inaugurate, initiate, inst.i.tute, originate, start, found.

Belief, faith, persuasion, conviction, tenet, creed.

Belittle, decry, depreciate, disparage.

Bind, secure, fetter, shackle, gyve.

Bit, jot, mite, particle, grain, atom, speck, mote, whit, iota, t.i.ttle, scintilla.

Bluff, blunt, outspoken, downright, brusk, curt, crusty.

Boast, brag, vaunt, vapor, gasconade.

Body, corpse, remains, relics, carca.s.s, cadaver, corpus.

Bombastic, soph.o.m.oric, turgid, tumid, grandiose, grandiloquent, magniloquent.

Boorish, churlish, loutish, clownish, rustic, ill-bred.

Booty, plunder, loot, spoil.

Brittle, frangible, friable, fragile, crisp.

Building, edifice, structure, house.

Call, clamor, roar, scream, shout, shriek, vociferate, yell, halloo, whoop.

Calm, still, motionless, tranquil, serene, placid.

Care, concern, solicitude, anxiety.

Celebrate, commemorate, observe.

Charm, amulet, talisman.

Charm, enchant, fascinate, captivate, enrapture, bewitch, infatuate, enamor.

Cheat, defraud, swindle, dupe.

Choke, strangle, suffocate, stifle, throttle.

Choose, pick, select, cull, elect.

Coax, wheedle, cajole, tweedle, persuade, inveigle.

Color, hue, shade, tint, tinge, tincture.

Combine, unite, consolidate, merge, amalgamate, weld, incorporate, confederate.

Comfort, console, solace.

Complain, grumble, growl, murmur, repine, whine, croak.

Confirmed, habitual, inveterate, chronic.

Connect, join, link, couple, attach, unite.

Continual, continuous, unceasing, incessant, endless, uninterrupted, unremitting, constant, perpetual, perennial.

Contract, agreement, bargain, compact, covenant, stipulation.

Copy, duplicate, counterpart, likeness, reproduction, replica, facsimile.

Corrupt, depraved, perverted, vitiated.

Costly, expensive, dear.

Coterie, clique, cabal, circle, set, faction, party.