Set 4 HONORS Supplemental
Vocabulary Words

Mnemonic – adj
(pronounced like
KNEE-mon-ic)
• Memory assistance
• To spell environment correctly, use this
mnemonic trick – there’s IRON in environment.
• From Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory

Narcissism- noun
• egoism, egocentrism (self-centered)
• That girl has severe narcissism; she spends most of the day looking at herself in the mirror.
• from Narcissus, a beautiful youth in Greek mythology who pines away for love of his own reflection and is turned into the narcissus flower
(daffodil)

• Amethyst – noun a clear purple or bluish violet variety of crystallized quartz
I have a lovely amethyst ring that I wear with purple outfits.
Amethyst was a beautiful nymph changed into a gemstone to save her from Dionysus, who then gave the stone its purple to preserve the wearer from the effects of wine

Somnambulate - verb
• To walk while sleeping
• My brother has been known to
somnambulate, but he never remembers anything after sleepwalking.
• From Somnus, the ancient Roman god of sleep

Venerate - verb
• to honor with a ritual act of devotion
• Every year, to venerate my mother, I plant 500 spring-flowering bulbs.
• From venus love; assoc. with Venus, the
Roman goddess of love and beauty (the Greek
Aphrodite)