Learn on PengiVocabulary for the College Bound Student (Grade 8)Chapter 3: Building Vocabulary Through Central Ideas

Lesson 4: Age, Sobriety-Intoxication, Sea, Cleanliness-Uncleanliness, Nearness

In this Grade 8 lesson from Vocabulary for the College Bound Student, students build advanced vocabulary through five central ideas: Age, Sobriety-Intoxication, Sea, Cleanliness-Uncleanliness, and Nearness. Students learn precise terms such as antediluvian, adolescent, callow, inveterate, obsolescent, and nonagenarian, along with their meanings, pronunciations, and usage in context. The lesson is part of Chapter 3's thematic approach to expanding college-level word knowledge through grouped, related concepts.

Section 1

Age

Key Words

Let's explore words that describe the journey from youth to old age, from the new to the ancient.

adolescent (adj., n.)antediluvian (adj.)archaic (adj.)callow (adj.)
contemporary (adj., n.)crone (n.)decrepit (adj.)defunct (adj.)
forebear (n.)hoary (adj.)infantile (adj.)inveterate (adj.)
juvenile (adj.)longevity (n.)matriarch (n.)mature (adj.)
nonage (n.)nonagenarian (n.)obsolescent (adj.)obsolete (adj.)
patriarch (n.)posthumous (adj.)prelapsarian (adj.)primeval (adj.)
primordial (adj.)pristine (adj.)puberty (n.)puerile (adj.)
senile (adj.)superannuated (adj.)venerable (adj.)veteran (n.)
yore (n.)

Explanation

This group of words covers the entire spectrum of life and time. It includes terms for youthfulness, like callow and juvenile, and words for old age, such as decrepit and senile. It also has words for things that are old-fashioned, like archaic, or ancient, like primeval. These words help us talk about age in people, objects, and ideas.

Section 2

Sobriety—Intoxication

Key Words

This set of words deals with the contrast between being clear-headed and being under the influence.

abstemious (adj.)carousal (n.)
dipsomania (n.)inebriated (adj.)
sober (adj.)sobriety (n.)
sot (n.)teetotaler (n.)

Explanation

This vocabulary group explores the concepts of drinking and abstaining from alcohol. Words like inebriated describe a state of drunkenness, while terms like abstemious and sober refer to moderation and self-control. This group also includes nouns for people, such as a sot (a drunkard) or a teetotaler (one who never drinks).

Section 3

Sea

Key Words

All aboard! These words will help you navigate the language of the high seas.

bow (n.)brine (n.)
doldrums (n.)flotsam (n.)
jetsam (n.)jettison (v.)
leeward (adj.)marine (adj.)
mariner (n.)starboard (n., adj.)

Explanation

These terms are all related to the sea, sailing, and ships. You'll find words for parts of a ship like the bow and starboard side, as well as terms for things found in the water, such as flotsam (floating wreckage) and jetsam (items thrown overboard). This vocabulary is essential for understanding nautical stories and descriptions.

Section 4

Cleanliness—Uncleanliness

Key Words

Get ready to tidy up your vocabulary with words that describe everything from spotless to sordid.

carrion (n.)contaminate (v.)dross (n.)
expurgate (v.)immaculate (adj.)offal (n.)
purge (v.)slatternly (adj.)sloven (n.)
sordid (adj.)squalid (adj.)squalor (n.)
sully (v.)

Explanation

This group focuses on the contrast between purity and filth. Words like immaculate describe a state of being perfectly clean, while terms like squalid and sordid paint a picture of dirt and degradation. It also includes verbs for cleaning, such as purge and expurgate (to purify a text), and for making things dirty, like contaminate.

Section 5

Nearness

Key Words

Get up close and personal with these words that all relate to proximity and being next to something.

adjacent (adj.)approximate (adj.)
contiguous (adj.)environs (n.)
juxtapose (v.)juxtaposition (n.)
propinquity (n.)

Explanation

This set of words all relate to the concept of nearness or closeness. Some, like adjacent and contiguous, describe things that are physically next to or touching each other. Others, like juxtapose, refer to the act of placing things side-by-side for comparison. Propinquity can mean nearness in place or nearness in kinship (family relationship).

Book overview

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Chapter 3: Building Vocabulary Through Central Ideas

  1. Lesson 1

    Lesson 1: Joy, Pleasure, Sadness, Stoutness, Thinness, Flattery

  2. Lesson 2

    Lesson 2: Animal, Health and medicine, Praise, Defamation, Jest

  3. Lesson 3

    Lesson 3: Willingness-Unwillingness, Height, Lowness and depth, relatives, Smell

  4. Lesson 4Current

    Lesson 4: Age, Sobriety-Intoxication, Sea, Cleanliness-Uncleanliness, Nearness

  5. Lesson 5

    Lesson 5: Reasoning, Shape, Importance-Unimportance, Modesty, Vanity

Lesson overview

Expand to review the lesson summary and core properties.

Expand

Section 1

Age

Key Words

Let's explore words that describe the journey from youth to old age, from the new to the ancient.

adolescent (adj., n.)antediluvian (adj.)archaic (adj.)callow (adj.)
contemporary (adj., n.)crone (n.)decrepit (adj.)defunct (adj.)
forebear (n.)hoary (adj.)infantile (adj.)inveterate (adj.)
juvenile (adj.)longevity (n.)matriarch (n.)mature (adj.)
nonage (n.)nonagenarian (n.)obsolescent (adj.)obsolete (adj.)
patriarch (n.)posthumous (adj.)prelapsarian (adj.)primeval (adj.)
primordial (adj.)pristine (adj.)puberty (n.)puerile (adj.)
senile (adj.)superannuated (adj.)venerable (adj.)veteran (n.)
yore (n.)

Explanation

This group of words covers the entire spectrum of life and time. It includes terms for youthfulness, like callow and juvenile, and words for old age, such as decrepit and senile. It also has words for things that are old-fashioned, like archaic, or ancient, like primeval. These words help us talk about age in people, objects, and ideas.

Section 2

Sobriety—Intoxication

Key Words

This set of words deals with the contrast between being clear-headed and being under the influence.

abstemious (adj.)carousal (n.)
dipsomania (n.)inebriated (adj.)
sober (adj.)sobriety (n.)
sot (n.)teetotaler (n.)

Explanation

This vocabulary group explores the concepts of drinking and abstaining from alcohol. Words like inebriated describe a state of drunkenness, while terms like abstemious and sober refer to moderation and self-control. This group also includes nouns for people, such as a sot (a drunkard) or a teetotaler (one who never drinks).

Section 3

Sea

Key Words

All aboard! These words will help you navigate the language of the high seas.

bow (n.)brine (n.)
doldrums (n.)flotsam (n.)
jetsam (n.)jettison (v.)
leeward (adj.)marine (adj.)
mariner (n.)starboard (n., adj.)

Explanation

These terms are all related to the sea, sailing, and ships. You'll find words for parts of a ship like the bow and starboard side, as well as terms for things found in the water, such as flotsam (floating wreckage) and jetsam (items thrown overboard). This vocabulary is essential for understanding nautical stories and descriptions.

Section 4

Cleanliness—Uncleanliness

Key Words

Get ready to tidy up your vocabulary with words that describe everything from spotless to sordid.

carrion (n.)contaminate (v.)dross (n.)
expurgate (v.)immaculate (adj.)offal (n.)
purge (v.)slatternly (adj.)sloven (n.)
sordid (adj.)squalid (adj.)squalor (n.)
sully (v.)

Explanation

This group focuses on the contrast between purity and filth. Words like immaculate describe a state of being perfectly clean, while terms like squalid and sordid paint a picture of dirt and degradation. It also includes verbs for cleaning, such as purge and expurgate (to purify a text), and for making things dirty, like contaminate.

Section 5

Nearness

Key Words

Get up close and personal with these words that all relate to proximity and being next to something.

adjacent (adj.)approximate (adj.)
contiguous (adj.)environs (n.)
juxtapose (v.)juxtaposition (n.)
propinquity (n.)

Explanation

This set of words all relate to the concept of nearness or closeness. Some, like adjacent and contiguous, describe things that are physically next to or touching each other. Others, like juxtapose, refer to the act of placing things side-by-side for comparison. Propinquity can mean nearness in place or nearness in kinship (family relationship).

Book overview

Jump across lessons in the current chapter without opening the full course modal.

Continue this chapter

Chapter 3: Building Vocabulary Through Central Ideas

  1. Lesson 1

    Lesson 1: Joy, Pleasure, Sadness, Stoutness, Thinness, Flattery

  2. Lesson 2

    Lesson 2: Animal, Health and medicine, Praise, Defamation, Jest

  3. Lesson 3

    Lesson 3: Willingness-Unwillingness, Height, Lowness and depth, relatives, Smell

  4. Lesson 4Current

    Lesson 4: Age, Sobriety-Intoxication, Sea, Cleanliness-Uncleanliness, Nearness

  5. Lesson 5

    Lesson 5: Reasoning, Shape, Importance-Unimportance, Modesty, Vanity