HOLT Vocabulary Workshop Fourth Course - Lesson 20
CONTEXT: Civilization
The Industrial Revolution: Machines Make Progress
We take machines for granted most of the time because our lives are so filled with them. If it's difficult to picture life without computers, televisions, and cars, just try to imagine the world before the Industrial Revolution. There were catapults, water wheels, clocks, windmills, and printing presses, but machines that helped people pump water out of mine shafts, supply power to boats, or make textiles did not yet exist. These were all developed during the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
These ten Vocabulary Words will be used.
- ornate
- constituents
- destitute
- prelude
- colloquial
- exultant
- bedlam
- curtail
- consolidate
- emancipate
Each word is provided with its syllables, pronunciation, part of speech, definition, examples, synonyms, and antonyms.
bed·lam
bedləm
noun
a situation or scene of confused disorder and uproar.
The peaceful demonstration turned into bedlam when shots were fired.
It was bedlam in the old dormitory when bats came flying out of the hall closet.
synonyms: chaos, pandemonium
antonyms: calm
col·lo·qui·al
kəlōkwēəl
adjective
characteristic of or suited to informal or familiar conversation or to writing that is imitative of conversational tone.
Some people disapprove of the President using colloquial expressions like "You betcha!" in a formal speech.
antonyms: formal
con·sol·i·date
kənsolidāt
transitive verb
to combine into a whole or mass; unify.
The union leaders are consolidating several small unions.
synonyms: amalgamate, combine, conglomerate, solidify, unify
con·stit·u·ent
kənstichōōənt
adjective
serving as a component or part of something.
Hydrogen is a constituent element of water.
antonyms: accessory
cur·tail
kurtāl
transitive verb
to make shorter; cut off part of.
As time was running short, the speaker curtailed her presentation.
A limited budget forced them to curtail their spending.
synonyms: cut, shorten
antonyms: extend, lengthen, prolong, protract
des·ti·tute
destitōōt
adjective
having no money or other means of living; impoverished.
The closing of the factory left many families destitute.
synonyms: broke, impecunious, impoverished, penniless, penurious, poverty-stricken
antonyms: affluent, opulent, prosperous, rich
e·man·ci·pate
imansəpāt
transitive verb
to free from some external control or constraint, such as enslavement or ignorance.
The prisoner was emancipated when new evidence showed he was not guilty.
The proclamation of 1863 emancipated slaves in the United States.
synonyms: deliver, free, liberate, release, unfetter
antonyms: enslave
ex·ult·ant
igzultint
adjective
exhibiting great joy or triumph; jubilant.
The exultant crowd cheered their new president.
or·nate
ōrnāt
adjective
having much, often excessive, decoration.
synonyms: elaborate, fancy, flamboyant
antonyms: austere, chaste, stark
prel·ude
prālōōd[or]prēlōōd
noun
an introductory event or act; preface; preliminary.
The arrest of these writers was only a prelude to large-scale government oppression.
We thought he'd finished telling the story, but what we'd heard was only a prelude to a very long tale.