Lesson 14: Good and Bad

Let's start with words from the root MALE, which means "body" or "ill." These words describe feelings of sickness, whether real or pretended.

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• A continuing malaise throughout the winter left her feeling tired and unmotivated. (This indicates a general sense of ill health, not a specific sickness.)
• The manager suspected the employee was malingering because he always called in sick on Fridays.

🧠Memory Trick

• A student feeling a general malaise might be tempted to malinger on the day of a big test, hoping to avoid it by faking a worse illness.

Now for the root MALUS, meaning "bad." This group of words covers everything from bad actions and evil intentions to simple clumsiness.

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• His attempt to fix the delicate watch was maladroit, and he ended up breaking it completely. (This highlights his clumsiness.)
• The mayor was impeached for malfeasance after using city funds for a personal vacation.

🧠Memory Trick

• The maladroit malefactor's malevolent plan to malign the hero with a speech full of malapropisms was exposed as an act of public malfeasance.

The root MENDUM means "fault" or "defect." These words relate to flaws, falsehoods, and the process of correcting them.

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• The politician's mendacious promises were quickly forgotten after the election.
• The final manuscript was sent to the publisher after a lengthy series of emendations.

🧠Memory Trick

• After the editor's emendation revealed the author's mendacious statements, the disgraced writer became a poor mendicant.

From the root PECCATUM, meaning "sin," "crime," or "fault," we get words that describe flaws, from tiny mistakes to the state of being flawless.

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• She had impeccable taste in music, and her playlists were always perfect for the occasion.
• The chef considered using stale bread a minor peccadillo, but the food critic disagreed.

🧠Memory Trick

• To maintain his impeccable reputation, the celebrity made sure that even the smallest peccadillo was never made public.

Our final root is LICENTLA, meaning "freedom." These words describe freedom that crosses the line into lawlessness or a lack of restraint.

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• The diary detailed the king's licentious private life, which stood in stark contrast to his public image.
• The company was investigated for engaging in illicit trading practices.

🧠Memory Trick

• The politician's licentious behavior led to his involvement in an illicit affair that ended his career.