1. aficionado: a fan; devotee. Although this word originally described bull-fighting fans, it is now used to refer to devotees of all sports.
2. barrio: part of the city where Spanish-speaking people live; ghetto.
3. bonanza: rich pocket of ore; any source of wealth. In Spanish it means “fair weather at sea.” A popular television program of the 1960s was entitled “Bonanza”
4. bravado: pretended courage
5. desperado: bold outlaw; dangerous criminal. The relationship to our word “despair” is apparent. One who is without hope can be a dangerous criminal.
6. flotilla: a small fleet. The Spanish word flota means “fleet” Flotilla, then, is a diminutive form of flota.
7. grandee: a nobleman of the highest rank
8. hacienda: large estate; country house. The Old Spanish word facienda meant “estate.” The change from f to h is apparent in many words.
9. lariat: lasso; a rope used for tethering grazing horses. Reata is “rope” in Spanish.
10. machismo: manly self-assurance; masculine drive; virility.
11. manana: tomorrow; at some indefinite time in the future. There is a perjorative twist to manana, suggesting laziness.
12. palmetto: small palm tree
13. renegade: deserter; turncoat; traitor. In Spanish, the word renegado means “to deny.”
14. siesta: midday nap. In Spanish and Latin American countries businesses often close at midday to allow for siesta time.
15. torero: bullfighter on foot. The toreador was a bullfighter on horseback, but that term is no longer used since all bullfighters today are toreros.
Exercises
I. Which word comes to Mind?
In each of the following, read the statement, then circle the word that comes to mind.
1. You go to see a performance of the opera “Carmen”
(lariat, flotilla, torero)
2. The calendar pictures a man asleep under a tree next to a lawn mower.
(barrio, bravado, manana)
3. A young man starts a fight to impress his girlfriend.
(machismo, siesta, renegade)
4. You win the lottery
(aficionado, bonanza, palmetto)
5. There is a wild police chase after the bank robber
(desperado, grandee, hacienda)
6. The FBI arrests a man for selling U.S. secrets to a foreign country
(aficionado, renegade, grandee)
7. Stores in Spain close for two hours after lunch
(siesta, hacienda, palmetto)
8. The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria
(flotilla, barrio, manana)
9. David stands up to Goliath
(desperado, lariat, bravado)
10. A bull-fighting fan shouts, “Ole!”
(bonanza, aficionado, barrio)
II. True or False?
In the space provided, indicate whether each statement is true or false.
III. Fill in the Blank
Insert one of the new words in the proper space in each sentence below.
IV. What’s the Antonym?
Which of the new words is most nearly opposite in meaning to the one provided?
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 |
Powered by Eduhyme.com