STEMS/ROOTS, DEFINITIONS, AND ASSOCIATION WORDS Vocabulary Unit 15

Phos (light) Phosphorus: a nonmetalic element of the nitrogne family that produces light  Phosphorous is known to be a light-producing element.

Gon (angle) Pentagon: a polygon having 5 angles and 5 sides  The Pentagon, located in Washington, D.C., has very unique architecture.

Lite (mineral) Perlite: a volcanic glass  Melissa brought me a perlite ornament from her trip to Mount Saint Helen’s.

Vor (eat) Voracious: craving or consuming large quantities of food  Margie’s voracious reading caused her to make many trips to the library.

Holo (whole) Caust (burn) Holocaust: a great or complete devastation or destruction; the systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II  During the Holocaust, many Jewish bodies were burned in crematories.

Haplo (single) Haploid: single; simple; pertaining to a single set of chromosomes  Kristen’s biology teacher taught her that haploids only have one set of chromosomes.

Ef (out) Ent (full of) Effluent: flowing out or forth  The wastewater plant malfunctioned, thus allowing the effluent to flow into a stream.

Rub (red) Ium (Element) Rubidium: a silver-white, metallic, active element used in photoelectric cells  If you place rubidium over an open flame, the flame will turn red.

Dicho (in two parts) tomy (cut) Dichotomy: division into two parts; diversion into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups  The teacher said that Ben exhibits a dichotomy between what he tells his mother and his efforts in school, meaning that he says one thing but does another.

Saur (lizard) Dinosaur: any chiefly terrestrial, herbivorous or carnivorous reptile from the Mesozoic Era, some of which are the largest known land animals.  When Johnny was a little boy, he loved dinosaurs, and how he owns seven lizards.

Calli (beauty) graph (writing) Calligraphy: fancy penmanship, especially highly decorative handwriting with many flourishes  Most wedding invitations are written in calligraphy.

Macro (large) cephalo (head) Macrocephalic: being or having a large head.  My friend jokes that her son is macrocephalic.

Chiro (hand) Chiromancy: the art or practice of telling fortunes and interpreting character from the lines and configurations of the palm of a person’s hand  I always wanted to have my fortune told, so I finally visited a chiromancy shop.

Terr (land) Territorial: of or pertaining to territory or land; restricted to a particular district or land; defending an area against intruders  Colonizers were often very territorial people, which led them to acquiring lots of land.

Jur (Swear) Jurisdiction: the right, power, or authority to administer justice by hearing and determining controversies; power, authority, or control; the extent or range of judicial law enforcement or other authority; territory over which authority is exercised  The police officer was sworn in and agreed to protect the people in his jurisdiction.

Flu (flow) Fluency: spoken or written with ease  Mr. French, the French teacher, asked his students to work on their fluency by practicing outside of class.

Sine (without) Sinecure: an office or position requiring little or no work, especially one yielding profitable returns  Many students wish to find a sinecure position in order to study at work.

Here (stick) Incoherent: without logical or meaningful connection; disjointed; rambling  Jamie’s mother argues that Jamie’s arguments are incoherent and should be better organized.

Counter (against) pos (put) Counterpose: to offer or place in opposition, response, or contrast  Political debates often depend on each opponent’s ability to counterpose the other’s opinions.

Mund (world) Mundane: common, ordinary, banal, or unimaginative  The football team thought that last year’s plays were too mundane, making it easy for other teams to figure them out quickly.

cracy (government) Democracy: government by the people; a form of government which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system  Although the USA is a democracy, it has many characteristics of a republic.

Assignment Choose five association words and complete the following activity – it is due on Friday, when you take your test:  Sentences: You will write five sentences each using one association word and both of the following:  the grammar concept  a topic from any piece of literature we have studied *In the end, your sentences will contain vocabulary, grammar, and literature. Example (my vocab term is “retribution”): In the play Medea, Medea gains retribution for Jason’s betrayal by killing their children. *All work must be neat and the association words must be used correctly!