1. acrophobia: abnormally intense fear of being in high places.
2. bibliophile: one who loves books; a book collector. The opposite is a biblioclast.
3. claustrophobia: an abnormal dread of being in closed or narrow spaces. One who has a fear of open spaces suffers from agoraphobia.
4. Francophile: an admirer of France, its people, and its customs. It may also be used as an adjective.
5. hydrophobia: feat of water; rabies. One of the symptoms of the disease caused by the bite of a rabid animal is an inability to swallow; hence, the name hydrophobia for the disease itself.
6. misanthropy: hatred of or distrust of mankind. The misanthropist has his opposite in the philanthropist, that is, one who loves mankind—and has the means to support worthy causes.
7. misogyny: hatred of women
8. paranoid: showing unreasonable distrust, suspicion, or an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance. Paranoia is usually a chronic condition characterized by delusions of persecution or of grandeur that the afflicted strenuously defends with apparent logic and reason.
9. philately: the collection and study of postage stamps, post marks, and related materials. The derivation, from the Greek philo. (“loving”), and ateles (“without charge”) reminds us that the original stamp indicated a tax-free shipment.
10. Philistine: a sumg, ignorant, especially middle-class person who is held to be indifferent or antagonistic to artistic and cultural values; boorish or barbarous; an ignoramus or outsider.
11. phylogeny: love of or fondness for women.
12. philology: historical and comparative linguistics; the study of human speech, especially as the vehicle of literature; literary or classical learning. The philologist is known by other related labels, the philologer and the philologue.
13. Russo phobia: dislike or fear of Russia or its policies
14. triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13. Though the word is long, the arithmetic etymology from Greek is simple: treis (“three”), kai (“and”), and deka (“ten”)
15. xenophobia: an unusual fear or contempt of strangers or foreigners, especially as reflected in one’s political or cultural views.
Exercises
I. Which Word Comes to Mind
In each of the following, read the statement, then circle the word that comes to mind.
1. Bats and beavers are prone to this
(claustrophobia, hydrophobia, phylogeny)
2. No member of the famous trapeze artist, The Flying Valencias, ever had this
(Francophilism, misanthropy, acrophobia)
3. Jack the Ripper must have been one
(misogynist, philatelist, philologist)
4. Beware of Friday the 13th
(bibliophile, triskaidekaphobia, Philistine)
5. Many U.S. citizens like anything that is American and detest anything else
(xenophobe, Russophobe, paranoid)
6. In an elevator, invariably I grow nervous
(phylogeny, claustrophobia, philology)
7. My uncle spends every vacation in Paris
(Francophile, xenophobia, bibliophile)
8. Our neighbors trust nobody, absolutely nobody!
(acrophobia, Philistine, paranoid)
9. Franklin D. Roosevelt was a noted stamp collector
(philately, misanthropy, phylogeny)
10. At the start of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge hates everybody.
(bibliophile, misanthropy, triskaidekaphobia)
II. True or False?
In the space provided, indicate whether each statement is true or false.
Home |
1 |
Jingoist, Lothario, Maverick, Nemesis, Philanderer, Philippic, Procrustean, Protean, Pyrrhic victory, Quixotic, Saturnine, Solecism, Spoonerism, Sybarite, Tawdry | |
2 |
Acidulous, Baleful, Bellicose, Bilious, Bumptious, Captious, Churlish, Complaisant, Contrite, Convivial, Craven, Debonair, Dyspeptic, Lachrymose, Neurasthenic | |
3 |
cabal, camaraderie, caste, cortege, detente, echelon, ecumenical, elite, esprit de corps, freemasonry, genealogy, hierarchy, hobnob, liaison, rapprochement | |
4 |
adagio, andante, arpeggio, bravura, contralto, crescendo, falsetto, fortissimo, imbroglio, intaglio, largo, libretto, salvo, staccato, vendetta | |
5 |
alienist, amanuensis, beadle, cosmetologist, dermatologist, entomologist, farrier, graphologist, internist, lapidary, ophthalmologist, ornithologist, osteopath, pharyngologist, physiologist | |
6 |
Adonis, Bacchanal, Cassandra, Cornucopia, Erotic, Herculean, Hermetic, Hydra, Hymeneal, Iridescent, Narcissism, Odyssey, Olympian, Palladium, Phoenix | |
7 |
aberrant, anthropomorphism, archetype, authoritarian, cathedrals, demography, epidemiology, euthanasia, extrovert, psychic, psychopath, psychotherapy, schizophrenia, subliminal, traums | |
8 |
aficionado, barrio, bonanza, bravado, desperado, flotilla, grandee, hacienda, lariat, machismo, manana, palmetto, renegade, siesta, torero | |
9 |
anachronism, anon, antebellum, antediluvian, atavism, augury, betimes, biennial, diurnal, eon, ephemeral, epoch, generation, score, tercentenary | |
10 |
bane, deign, eke, knell, mete, moot, mulct, plumb, quail, roil, ruck, shunt, svelte, thrall, tryst | |
11 |
abscess, aphasia, arteriosclerosis, biopsy, cadaver, carcinogen, comatose, etiology, malingerer, mastectomy, prosthesis, simian, therapeutic, tumescence, vasectomy | |
12 |
bovine, equine, feline, hircine, leonine, lupine, ophidian, ovine, piscine, porcine, saurian, taurine, ursine, vixen, vulpine | |
13 |
atonement, bicameral, Decalogue, decimate, dichotomy, double-think, millennium, nihilism, penultimate, primeval, protocol, quatrain, quintessence, tessellated, untrammeled | |
14 |
adjudicate, appellate, collusion, deposition, equity, exhume, incommunicado, intestate, ipso facto, lien, litigation, perjury, pettifogger, tort, tribunal | |
15 |
circumspect, demure, dispassionate, dolorous, edacious, effete, feisty, flaccid, flippant, florid, glabrous, imperious, ingenious, intractable, intransigent | |
16 |
alchemy, arcane, conundrum, demonology, exorcise, inscrutable, pallor, phenomenology, polygraph, purloin, ritual, shamus, soothsayer, thaumaturgy, warlock | |
17 |
archaeology, elfin, infinitesimal, Lilliputian, megalopolis, minimize, minutiae, palatial, peccadillo, picayune, simulacrum, soupcon, teeming, titanic, vista | |
18 |
accolade, conclave, dirge, draconian, epicurean, gossamer, immolate, juggernaut, junket, ostracism, proletariat, rigmarole, rubric, Socratic, sycophant | |
19 |
acrophobia, bibliophile, claustrophobia, Francophile, hydrophobia, misanthropy, misogyny, paranoid, philately, Philistine, phylogeny, philology, Russo phobia, triskaidekaphobia, xenophobia | |
20 |
archaeology, cardiology, ecology, endocrinology, gerontology, gynecology, morphology, necrology, neurology, paleontology, pathology, rhinology, seismology, speleology, toxicology | |
21 |
jejune, libidinous, licentious, mercurial, meretricious, minatory, mutable, niggardly, nonchalant, noxious, obdurate, obtuse, officious, omniscient, pusillanimous | |
22 |
amicus curiae, arson, barrister, embezzle, extradition, habeas corpus, immaterial, incarcerate, indeterminate, larceny, litigious, miscreant, perpetrator, plagiarism, probation | |
23 |
avant-garde, bete noire, bot mot, coup de grace, cul-de-sac, dues ex machina, fait accompli, fin de siecle, gauche, junta, laissez-faire, mot juste, non compos mentis, non sequitur, sine qua non | |
24 |
coiffure, demarche, denouement, éclat, élan, entrepreneur, impasse, ingénue, malaise, mélange, repartee, sangfroid, tete-a-tete, tour de force, vignette | |
25 |
acrid, addle, ado, alms, amulet, aperture, askew, bauble, bevy, bilk, blithe, careen, chary, nabob, onus | |
26 |
antaean, argonaut, calliope, cyclopean, gorgon, harpy, Homeric, myrmidon, oracular, paean, plutonian, Promethean, stygian, terpsichorean, thespian | |
27 |
pedantic, pertinacious, pontifical, pretentious, prolix, puerile, quiescent, recalcitrant, restive, ribald, sardonic, sedulous, sleazy, supercilious, voluptuous | |
28 |
a cappella, ad hoc, bon vivant, de facto, gemutlich, leitmotif, nolo contendere, per excellence, parvenu, piece de resistance, postprandlal, quid pro quo, qui vive, savoir faire, sub rosa, vis-à-vis | |
29 |
ambivalent, bucolic, crotchety, dilatory, disconsolate, dudgeon, froward, genteel, jocund, loquacious, splenetic, tendentious, truculent, vacuous, venal | |
30 |
amorphous, gargantuan, iota, lissome, macrocosm, magnitude, magnum opus, microcosm, micrometer, scabrous, scintilla, serpentine, sinuous, smidgen, tenuous | |
31 |
bathos, malapropism, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, panegyric, paradigm, paralipsis, pleonasm, polyglot, semantics, simile, synecdoche, threnody | |
32 |
argot, aspersion, badinage, bombast, braggadocio, censure, countermand, gainsay, gobbledegook, guttural, harangue, jargon, mellifluous, resonant, sententious | |
33 |
canon, hegemony, oligarchy, peonage, pharisaical, plebiscite, plenipotentiary, proxy, recession, regicide, renascent, reprisal, subversion, surrogate, votary | |
34 |
antipodal, cartography, concierge, hegira, hustings, landmark, peripatetic, portmanteau, safari, tandem, transmigrate, traverse, trek, wanderlust, wayfarer | |
35 |
a la carte, assuage, comestible, condiment, cuisine, culinary, gastronomic, gourmand, manna, palatable, piquant, refection, repast, subsistence, viands | |
36 |
antic, beguile, bonhomie, dalliance, divertissement, euphoria, guffaw, insouciance, japery, regale, risible, roguish, roister, squib, waggish | |
37 |
anarchy, bourgeois, bureaucracy, demagogue, ethos, gerrymander, imperialism, Machiavellian,. martial, muckraker, partisan, reactionary, schism, suffrage, totalitarian | |
38 |
abnegation, abscond, affidavit, altercation, battery, bequest, cause celebre, caveat emptor, codicil, contiguous, contraband, contumacious, disenfranchise, injunction, jurisprudence | |
39 |
aphorism, dogma, empirical, epistemology, eschatology, fallacy, hedonism, pragmatism, predestination, ratiocination, syllogism, teleology, tenet, theosophy, utilitarian | |
40 |
agnostic, apocalyptic, apocryphal, apostate, apotheosis, benediction, blasphemy, deist, infidel, mantra, ontology, pantheism, sacrilegious, syncretism, theodicy |
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