#10 Bi-Weekly Vocab Study

Word #1: Microcosm

Context you found it in: (copy down the sentence/phrase and cite):
“At present, their penthouse apartment was a microcosm of the capitol itself, bearing the
scars of the relentless rebel attacks” (5 Suzanne Collins- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes).
Definition and part of speech:
Noun, a little world/community/race/unity.
Your own sentence that uses it:
Jay had found that her experience of staring at the bright stars upon the luscious grass
was but a microcosm to what her entire life, or everyone’s life felt like.
Words with similar Latin/Greek roots (i.e. laudable applaud) and/or synonyms:
Medieval Latin, microcosmus & Greek, mikros - small, kosmos - world.

Word #2: Tesserae

Context you found it in: (copy down the sentence/phrase and cite):
“The tesserae she pried from the interior of the maid’s bathroom” (10).
Definition and part of speech:
Noun, a small tablet of ivory/wood/bone used as a voucher/ID in ancient Rome, or as a
small piece of marble/tile/glass used in a mosaic.
Your own sentence that uses it:
I had been meaning to make a masterpiece, but despite loving art, she wanted
something abstract- a mosaic of tesserae in a 3D fashion.
Words with similar Latin/Greek roots (i.e. laudable applaud) and/or synonyms:
Latin, tessera - a die, cube, square tablet with writing on it (used as a token or ticket) & Greek,
tessera/neuter of tesseres - the numeral four.

Word #3: Dilapidated

Context you found it in: (copy down the sentence/phrase and cite):
“As in the past, the tributes would be dumped into the Capitol Arena, a now-dilapidated
ampitheature that had been used for sports and entertainment events before the war, along with
some weapins to murder one another” (14).
Definition and part of speech:
Adjective, Decayed/Deteriorated/In ruins due to neglect or misuse.
Your own sentence that uses it:
Father did not care about his Dilapidated appearance despite utterance from Mother.
Though he looked almost bedraggled, he decided to go into work and only because the
bathroom was being renovated.
Words with similar Latin/Greek roots (i.e. laudable applaud) and/or synonyms:
1806 - in ruins, broken down.
Word #4: Rheumy
Context you found it in: (copy down the sentence/phrase and cite):
“Dean Highbottom’s eyes were rheumy, but they had lost the glazed look of the morning”
(34).
Definition and part of speech:
Adjective, full of tears/water discharge from eyes/nose/mouth/ears.
Your own sentence that uses it:
Emily did not wish to see the rheumy spoilers of her favorite rom-com superhero show,
but as she was thinking- everything clicked; the cinnamon-roll-trope character would die.

Words with similar Latin/Greek roots (i.e. laudable applaud) and/or synonyms:
Old French, reume - a cold & Latin, rheuma, & Greek, rheuma - discharge from the body.

Word #5: Palatial

Context you found it in: (copy down the sentence/phrase and cite):
“Collecting taxes from Sejanus Plinth in his palatial apartment on the Corso while he
lived in some rat hole fifty blocks out?” (36).
Definition and part of speech:
Adjective, suitable for a palace, magnificent.
Your own sentence that uses it:
Julia didn’t mind her isolation even with a lack of luster, she had her palatial tower filled
with maps, a wardrobe, and legends of a heroic knight.
Words with similar Latin/Greek roots (i.e. laudable applaud) and/or synonyms:
French, palatial - magnificent & Latin, palatium.

Word #6: Ad nauseam

Context you found it in: (copy down the sentence/phrase and cite):
“They would play it ad nauseam. Add silly music and captions. Snow’s meltdown!” (48).
Definition and part of speech:
Adverb, to sicken/annoy to an excessive degree
Your own sentence that uses it:
Everything was fine. Exactly fine. Everything was fine…except that just like before she
failed at being cool- her hunchback and glinting braces attracted just about no one.
Words with similar Latin/Greek roots (i.e. laudable applaud) and/or synonyms:
Latin, ad - to, nauseam - to sickness.
Word #7: Tersely
Context you found it in: (copy down the sentence/phrase and cite):
“One nodded tersely, and without a word he followed them from the enclosure to a
respectable applause” (54).
Definition and part of speech:
Adjective, using few words, brusque
Your own sentence that uses it:
“I never meant to be brutal least of all with you,” he started. But she wouldn’t listen, her
jaw sat tersely closed, “I’m sorry, okay! I just didn't think.”
Words with similar Latin/Greek roots (i.e. laudable applaud) and/or synonyms:
French, ters - clean & Latin, tersus - wiped off, clean, neat.