Caesar’s English II
Lesson XVI
incongruous adj.(in-KONG-gru-us): incompatible
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.”
Spanish: incongruo
malevolence n. (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.”
ambiguous adj.(am-BIG-yo0-us): uncertain
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.”
Spanish: ambiguo
felicity n.(feh-LISS-ih-tee): great happiness
Spanish: felicidad
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.”
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.”
Caesar’s English XVI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
incongruous: incompatible
malevolence: ill will
ambiguous: uncertain
felicity: great happiness
irrevocable: unalterable
Caesar’s Classic Words Challenge
1. From James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the
Mountain
The cat turned to watch them, with yellow,
___________ eyes.
a. malevolent
b. ambiguous
c. incongruous
d. irrevocable
Caesar’s Classic Words Challenge
1. From James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the
Mountain
The cat turned to watch them, with yellow,
___________ eyes.
a. malevolent
b. ambiguous
c. incongruous
d. irrevocable
2. From Robert Penn Warren’s All the Kings
Men
It was an ____________, speculative look.
a.
b.
c.
d.
malevolent
ambiguous
irrevocable
felicitous
2. From Robert Penn Warren’s All the Kings
Men
It was an ____________, speculative look.
a.
b.
c.
d.
malevolent
ambiguous
irrevocable
felicitous
3. From Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
They were one of those ______________ and
impossible married couples.
a.
b.
c.
d.
ambiguous
irrevocable
incongruous
malevolent
3. From Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
They were one of those ______________ and
impossible married couples.
a.
b.
c.
d.
ambiguous
irrevocable
incongruous
malevolent
The Grammar of Vocabulary:
ambiguous, an adjective.
Caesar’s order was not ambiguous; it was clear.