WORD WITHIN A WORD List 4B

MORPH (SHAPE) amorphous (adj.): lacking form  Young children create amorphous drawings when they first learn to use a crayon.

POND (WEIGHT) ponder (v.): consider carefully  The teacher pondered her lesson for the next day because her class didn’t understand the previous lesson.

CORP (BODY) corpulent (adj.): large, fat  The owners of the corpulent cat were scolded by the veterinarian because of the horrible dietary choices they made for their pet.

PATER (FATHER) patriarch (n.): male head of family  Walter Lee strongly desired to be the patriarch of the Younger family, and Mama finally gave him that chance at the end of the play.

PUNCT (POINT) punctual (adj.): on time  Dr. Decker requires all of the teachers who work at Sanderson to be punctual each day and to any meetings which require their attendance.

JECT (THROW) interject (v.): come between; insert  Kanye West very comically interjected during one of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speeches at an award’s show.

-TION (ACT OR STATE) devastation (n.): destroy  The tornado that ripped through this suburb in Illinois completely devastated many homes in its path.

AMPHI (BOTH) amphibious (adj.): both on land and water  Frogs are an amphibians because they are able to survive on land and in water.

EU (GOOD) euphemism (n.): nice way of saying something unpleasant  Instead of telling the employee she was fired, the manager used a euphemism, so she wouldn’t blow up and cause a scene.

ORTHO (STRAIGHT) orthodox (adj.): following traditional doctrine  Many world religions contain orthodox sects, meaning there are people of that faith who strictly follow the traditional beliefs of that religion.

PUT (THINK) reputation (n.): what others think of a person  Depending on your position or job, reputation might be very important, especially if you serve the public.

MEGA (LARGE) megalomaniac (n.): greed for power  On the Netflix series House of Cards, Frank Underwood, the main character, is a megalomaniac because he strongly desires to be president, and he will do anything needed to achieve that goal.

SANGUI (BLOOD) sanguine (adj.): confident; cheerful  Tigger has a sanguine personality, especially when he is happily bouncing around on his tail.