Lesson 5: Feelings

Let's explore words that come from the Latin roots for "love" (AMO) and "friend" (AMICUS), which describe relationships from friendly to harmful.

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• Their deep, unspoken hostility replaced what was once an instinctive amity.
• The judge's surprisingly friendly decision was a relief, as everyone expected an inimical verdict.

🧠Memory Trick

• The once amicable neighbors, who lived in amity, became inimical to each other after one became enamored of the other's prize-winning rose bush.

Brace yourself for a word rooted in pure hatred, from the Latin root ODIUM.

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• What she thought would be an odious chore turned out to be a surprisingly desirable task.

🧠Memory Trick

• The villain's most odious task was a hateful one he truly despised.

These words use the Greek roots for "love" (PHILEIN) and "friend" (PHILOS) to describe a love for books and for humanity itself.

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• A dedicated bibliophile, she couldn't resist buying at least one book from the quaint little shop.
• His selfishness and general dislike of people was the opposite of his family's well-known philanthropy.

🧠Memory Trick

• A true bibliophile showed his philanthropy by donating his rare book collection to the public library.

Get ready to face your fears with these words, all stemming from the Greek root PHOBOS, meaning "fear" or "fright."

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• After being bitten by a stray animal, the patient began to show signs of hydrophobia (also known as rabies).
• A window washer on a skyscraper cannot suffer from acrophobia.
• As an open-minded world traveler, she was the opposite of a xenophobe; she was an appreciator of new cultures.

🧠Memory Trick

• My friend, who has xenophobia, developed a specific phobia about heights, known as acrophobia, after a frightening experience on a tall bridge over a river, which nearly gave him hydrophobia.

Find your inner calm with these words derived from the Latin root for "peace," PAX.

Key Words

📝Example Usage:

• The negotiator's first job was to pacify the angry crowd before the protest escalated.
• The nation's attempt to appease the aggressor by giving up territory was seen by many as a weak policy.

🧠Memory Trick

• To pacify the crying child and restore a pacific atmosphere, the babysitter tried to appease him with a favorite toy.