Unit 1 Vocabulary

Mal- bad•Malapropism–Ludicrous misuse of words•His malapropisms amused us.

Post- after• Postlude–Concluding sentence• It was a tragic postlude to her long life.

port- carry• Portly– Stout• The portly doorman carried himself gracefully.

dict- saybene-good

• Benediction–Blessing• The grandfather’s benediction made them

happy.

omni- all• Omnibus–Covering many things• The omnibus legislative bill passed.

lith- rockMono-one

• Monolithic–Massive and uniform• The monolithic totalitarian society revolted.

cred- believein- not

• Incredulous–Not believing• Her incredulous face revealed her mistrust.

neo- newphyte- plant

• Neophyte–Beginner• The graduate was a neophyte in the business

world.

uni- onelat-side

• unilateral–One-sided• The unilateral decision required no conference.

Non- not• Nonplussed–Perplexed• He was nonplussed by the unexpected

question.

archy- government• Hierarchy–Ranking• There must be a hierarchy of values.

Inter-between• Interdiction– Prohibition• The judge’s interdiction stopped the construction.

Vid-look• vide– see• Vide Johnson’s definition of politics on page 35.

Pond-weight• Imponderable–Difficult to ponder• He tried to weight the imponderable issue.

Sci-know• Omniscient– All-knowing• The story was told from an omniscient point of view.

It’s your turn!

With a partner, list ALL the words you can think of that contain these roots! You can use a dictionary

if you need it.You and your partner MUST write at least ONE

sentence per root word. Which means you should have TEN sentences, each one containing a

word with a root.You can draw pictures next to your roots to help

you remember their meanings!