Chapter

3 Word List
Here is an alphabetical list of the most important words you learned in this chapter.

ANACHRONISM (uh NAK ruh ni zum) n something out of place in time or history; an
incongruity
• In this age of impersonal hospitals, a doctor who remembers your name seems
like an anachronism.

ANALOGY (uh NAL uh jee) n a comparison of one thing to another; similarity

• To say having an allergy feels like being bitten by an alligator would be to make
or draw an analogy between an allergy and an alligator bite.
• Analogy usually refers to similarities between things that are not otherwise very
similar. If you don’t think an allergy is at all like an alligator bite, you might say,
“That analogy doesn’t hold up.”
• To say that there is no analogy between an allergy and an alligator bite is to say
that they are not analogous (uh NAL uh gus).
• Something similar in a particular respect to something else is its analog (AN uh
lawg), sometimes spelled analogue.

ANTHROPOMORPHIC (an thruh puh MOHR fik) adj ascribing human characteristics
to nonhuman animals or objects
• This word is derived from the Greek word anthropos, which means man or
human, and the Greek word morphos, which means shape or form.
• To speak of the “hands” of a clock, or to say that a car has a mind of its own, is to
be anthropomorphic.
• To be anthropomorphic is to engage in anthropomorphism.

ANTIPATHY (an TIP uh thee) n firm dislike; a dislike

• I feel antipathy toward bananas wrapped in ham. I do not want them for dinner. I
also feel a certain amount of antipathy toward the cook who keeps trying to force
me to eat them. My feelings on these matters are quite antipathetic (an tip uh
THET ik).
• I could also say that ham-wrapped bananas and the cooks who serve them are
among my antipathies.
APATHY (AP uh thee) n lack of interest; lack of feeling
• The members of the student council accused the senior class of apathy because
none of the seniors had bothered to sign up for the big fundraiser.
• The word apathetic is the adjective form of apathy.

CHRONIC (KRAHN ik) adj occurring often and repeatedly over a period of time;
lasting a long time
• DJ’s chronic back pain often kept him from football practice, but the post-game
internal bleeding lasted only a day.
• Chronic is usually associated with something negative or undesirable: chronic
illness, chronic failure, chronic depression. You would be much less likely to
encounter a reference to chronic success or chronic happiness, unless the writer
or speaker was being ironic.
• A chronic disease is one that lingers for a long time, doesn’t go away, or keeps
coming back. The opposite of a chronic disease is an acute disease. An acute
disease is one that comes and goes very quickly. It may be severe, but it doesn’t
last very long.

CHRONICLE (KRAHN uh kul) n a record of events in order of time; a history

• Sally’s diary provided her mother with a detailed chronicle of her daughter ’s
extracurricular activities.
• Chronicle can also be used as a verb: The reporter chronicled all the events of
the revolution.
• Chronology and chronicle are nearly synonyms: Both provide a chronological list
of events. Chronological means “in order of time.”

EMPATHY (EM puh thee) n identification with the feelings or thoughts of another
• Shannon felt a great deal of empathy for Bill’s suffering; she knew just how he
felt.
• To feel empathy is to empathize (EM puh thyze), or to be empathic (em PATH ik):
Samuel’s tendency to empathize with creeps may arise from the fact that Samuel
himself is a creep.
• This word is sometimes confused with sympathy, which is compassion toward
someone or something, and apathy (AP uh thee), which means indifference or
lack of feeling.
• Empathy goes a bit further than sympathy; both words mean that you understand
someone’s pain or sorrow, but empathy indicates that you also feel the pain
yourself.
EULOGY (YOO luh jee) n a spoken or written tribute to a person, especially a person
who has just died
• The eulogy Michael delivered at his father’s funeral was so moving that it brought
tears to the eyes of everyone present.
• To give a eulogy about someone is to eulogize (YOO luh jyze) that person. Don’t
confuse this word with elegy, which is a mournful song or poem.

MISANTHROPIC (mis un THRAHP ik) adj hating mankind

• A misogynist (mis AH juh nist) hates women.
• The opposite of a misanthrope (MIS un throhp) is a philanthropist (fuh LAN thruh
pist).

NEOLOGISM (nee OL uh ji zum) n a new word or phrase; a new usage of a word

• Some people don’t like neologisms. They like the words we already have. But at
one time every word was a neologism. Someone somewhere had to be the first
to use it.

PATHOLOGY (puh THAHL uh jee) n the science of diseases

• Pathology is the science or study of diseases, but not necessarily in the medical
sense.
• Pathological means relating to pathology, but it also means arising from a
disease. So if we say Brad is an inveterate, incorrigible, pathological (path uh
LAHJ uh kul) liar, we are saying that Brad’s lying is a sickness.

PATHOS (PA thos) n that which makes people feel pity or sorrow
• Laura’s dog gets such a look of pathos whenever he wants to go for a walk that
it’s hard for Laura to turn him down.
• There was an unwitting pathos in the way the elderly shopkeeper had tried to
spruce up his window display with crude decorations cut from construction paper.
• Don’t confuse pathos with bathos (BAY thahs). Bathos is trite, insincere,
sentimental pathos.

PHILANTHROPY (fi LAN thruh pee) n love of mankind, especially by doing good
deeds
• His gift of one billion dollars to the local orphanage was the finest act of
philanthropy I’ve ever seen.
• A charity is a philanthropic (fi lun THRAH pik) institution. An altruist is someone
who cares about other people.

SOPHOMORIC (sahf uh MOHR ik) adj juvenile; childishly goofy

• The dean of students suspended the fraternity’s privileges because its members
had streaked through the library wearing togas, soaped the windows of the
administration building, and engaged in other sophomoric antics during Parents’
Weekend.
• “I expect the best man to be sophomoric—but not the groom. Now, give me that
slingshot, and leave your poor fiancée alone!” the minister scolded Andy at his
wedding rehearsal.