Caesar’s English II

1. Caesar’s English II Lesson XVI

2. incongruousadj.(in-KONG-gru-us): incompatible Spanish: incongruo The English adjective incongruous means incompatible, lacking congruity. Things are incongruous when they don’t go together. Thomas Hardy wrote in The Return of the Native that “The incongruity between the men’s deeds and their environment was great.”

3. malevolencen. (mal-LEV-o-lence): ill will Spanish: malevolencia Malevolence, from the Latin malevolens, is ill (mal)will (vol); it is an evil intention to do harm. Sherlock Holmes, in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, says that “I have not finally made up my mind whether it is a benevolent or a malevolent agency which is in touch with us.” And in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, we read, “What malevolence you must have to wish to convince me that there is no happiness in the world.”

4. ambiguous adj.(am-BIG-yo0-us): uncertain Spanish: ambiguo Our English adjective ambiguous (the noun is ambiguity) refers to the kind of uncertainty we feel when there are multiple possible meanings, and we aren’t sure which one is meant. A very clear meaning is unambiguous. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, we see the request to “Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, ‘til we can clear these ambiguities.”

5. The English noun felicity comes from the Latin felix, happy. The adjective form is felicitous. Felicity is great happiness. One of the clearest uses of felicity comes from Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography: “I grew convinced,” Franklin wrote, “that truth, sincerity, and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life.” felicity n.(feh-LISS-ih-tee): great happiness Spanish: felicidad

6. irrevocable adj.(ir-re-VOKE-able): unalterable Spanish: irrevocable The English adjective irrevocable refers to something that can not (ir) be called (voc) back (re)--can not be revoked. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce wrote that “a definite and irrevocable act of his threatened to end forever, in time and in eternity, his freedom.”

7. Caesar’s English XVI • incongruous: incompatible • malevolence: ill will • ambiguous: uncertain • felicity: great happiness • irrevocable: unalterable

8. Caesar’s Classic Words Challenge • From James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain The cat turned to watch them, with yellow, ___________ eyes. • malevolent • ambiguous • incongruous • irrevocable

9. Caesar’s Classic Words Challenge • From James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain The cat turned to watch them, with yellow, ___________ eyes. • malevolent • ambiguous • incongruous • irrevocable

10. 2. From Robert Penn Warren’s All the Kings Men It was an ____________, speculative look. • malevolent • ambiguous • irrevocable • felicitous

11. 2. From Robert Penn Warren’s All the Kings Men It was an ____________, speculative look. • malevolent • ambiguous • irrevocable • felicitous

12. 3. From Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice They were one of those ______________ and impossible married couples. • ambiguous • irrevocable • incongruous • malevolent

13. 3. From Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice They were one of those ______________ and impossible married couples. • ambiguous • irrevocable • incongruous • malevolent

14. The Grammar of Vocabulary: ambiguous, an adjective. Caesar’s order was not ambiguous; it was clear.