Unit 2

Roots & Words

IM- / IN- / IL- / IR-        NOT

Incompatible (adj) – Unable to exist together peacefully; not easy to combine harmoniously

Synonym: antagonistic

Antonyms: compatible, harmonious

Helpful Hint: When describing people, this word indicates personality conflicts. When describing objects, it suggests that the items cannot be used together – they will not function together

SAMPLE SENTENCE: Even though the musicians were wonderfully talented together, the band had to break up, because their personalities were incompatible.

Indiscriminate (adj) – Done at random without careful thought; careless

Synonyms: nonselective, haphazard; thoughtless, unthinking

Antonyms: selective; thoughtful

SAMPLE SENTENCE: The city was stunned by the rise in indiscriminate violence; no single group or subsection of the student population was targeted specifically.

AD-     TOWARD

Advent (n) – A coming in to view, use, or being; an arrival

Synonyms: arrival, birth, dawn, appearance, onset

Antonyms: departure, end

Helpful Hint: An advent calendar gives a countdown to the arrival of Christmas

SAMPLE SENTENCE: The advent of the mobile phone created a new social system in which it became much easier to be in contact with friends and family.

Advocate (v) – To speak or write in favor of; to support or urge by argument; to recommend publicly

Synonyms: champion, promote, endorse, espouse

Antonyms: oppose

SAMPLE SENTENCE: After the rise in motorcycle injuries, many advocated for the mandatory use of helmets.

ANTI-     AGAINST

Antipathy (n) – Disgust, abhorrence, detestation, hatred

Synonyms: aversion, loathing, repulsion, antagonism

Antonyms: admiration, appreciation, approval, esteem

SAMPLE SENTENCE: The fan in the Yankees hat at Fenway Park could sense the antipathy that most of his neighbors in his section felt toward him, based on the insults and the shower of peanut shells from every direction.

Antithesis (n) – The direct opposite

Synonyms: contrast, converse

Antonyms: same

SAMPLE SENTENCE: Even though they were identical twin sisters, Maud was Belle’s antithesis, and their personalities could not have been further apart.

-IC     HAVING TO DO WITH

Bombastic (adj) – Using impressive-sounding but mostly meaningless words to try to seem important

Synonyms: overblown, pompous, pretentious, highfalutin

Antonyms: humble, quiet, reserved

SAMPLE SENTENCE: Many voters were put off by the senator’s bombastic speech, in which he seemed to think that his fancy talk would make him seem intelligent.

apathetic (adj) – having or showing little or no emotion or concern

Synonyms: indifferent

Antonyms: concerned

Helpful Hint: Apathetic is especially used to describe people with a lack of interest or concern about things, especially those that others find exciting or important

SAMPLE SENTENCE: The once enthusiastic crowd became apathetic after the home team's fifth consecutive loss.

-MENT     CONDITION OF

Embodiment (n) – An example, representation, or expression of something

Synonyms: manifestation, encompassment, symbol

Antonyms: original; exclusion

SAMPLE SENTENCE: The soccer team was the embodiment of sportsmanship, as they voluntarily congratulated the team that defeated them after the long, grueling game.

Enhancement (n) – A raising of quality, value or degree

Synonyms: improvement, increase

Antonym: reduction

SAMPLE SENTENCE: The car salesman tried to increase the price of the car by adding enhancements that the customer didn’t necessarily want.

NEO-    NEW

Neologism (n) – 1. A new word, meaning, usage, or phrase  2. The introduction or use of new words, or new senses of existing words

Synonyms: buzzword, coinage

Antonyms: archaism

SAMPLE SENTENCE: With the advent of Twitter, hashtags became a neologism that oozed its way into America’s vocabulary.

Neophyte (n) – A beginner or novice

Synonyms: amateur, fledgling, rookie

Antonyms: expert, veteran

SAMPLE SENTENCE: Most people presumed that Dale was a neophyte when they watched him golf, but in fact, he had simply been a terrible golfer for a long, long time.

POST     AFTER

Posterity (n) – the people who will exist in the future; all future generations collectively

Synonyms: offspring, progeny, descendants

Antonyms: ancestors, forebears

SAMPLE SENTENCE: When we plant trees, recycle, or take care of our environment, it's not just for our benefit but for the well-being of posterity.

Posterior (adj) – 1. Situated behind or at the rear of  2. Coming in after time; later; subsequent

Synonyms: hind, hindmost, dorsal

Antonyms: front, anterior

SAMPLE SENTENCE: In the battle, the front lines took heavy casualties, while the posterior companies lost hardly any soldiers.

VER     TRUTH

Aver (v) – To assert or affirm as true

Synonyms: avouch, avow, profess

Antonyms: contradict, deny, repudiate

Helpful Hints: Do not be tricked by the A-/AN- prefix from Unit 1 – In this case, the A- prefix is a shortened form of AD- from this unit; to aver is to literally “go toward the truth”

SAMPLE SENTENCE: The sincerity with which Donna averred her innocence made her parents believe that she actually hadn’t broken the vase.

Veracity (n) – 1. Complete honesty, truth 2. An assumption that something is true, usually on reasonable grounds or probable evidence

Synonyms: credibility, integrity, accuracy, authenticity

Antonyms: falsehood, falsity

Helpful Hints: With any VER word, you might use your foreign language study to help you. The common French, Spanish, and Italian words for “True” all stem from this Latin root

SAMPLE SENTENCE: A good English teacher always checks the veracity of the essays that he or she receives. Don’t plagiarize.