Unit 1: Vocabulary from Readings 1

This list covers "Veterans Day: Never Forget Their Duty," Address on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, and "I Hear America Singing."
10 words 104 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. commission
    document conferring the rank of officer in the armed forces
    He later earned a commission. He became a naval flying officer and was shot down and captured in 1967.
  2. keen
    intense or sharp
    Mike had a keen and deep appreciation for the opportunities this country—and our military—provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.
  3. strain
    exert much effort or energy
    I like to think of the men and women who, with the break of dawn off Sandy Hook, have strained their eyes to the west for a first glimpse of the New World.
  4. steerage
    the cheapest accommodations on a passenger ship
    They came to us—most of them—in steerage. But they, in their humble quarters, saw things in these strange horizons which were denied to the eyes of those few who traveled in greater luxury.
  5. devotion
    commitment to some purpose
    They not only found freedom in the New World, but by their effort and devotion, they made the New World's freedom safer, richer, more far-reaching, more capable of growth.
  6. retain
    keep in one's mind
    We take satisfaction in the thought that those who have left their native land to join us may still retain here their affection for some things left behind—old customs, old language, old friends.
  7. affection
    a positive feeling of liking
    We take satisfaction in the thought that those who have left their native land to join us may still retain here their affection for some things left behind—old customs, old language, old friends.
  8. destiny
    a course of events that will inevitably happen in the future
    Looking to the future, they wisely choose that their children shall live in the new language and in the new customs of this new people. And those children more and more realize their common destiny in America.
  9. blithe
    carefree and happy and lighthearted
    I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
    Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong
  10. mason
    a craftsman who works with stone or brick
    The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work
Created on Thu Jan 21 10:39:18 EST 2021 (updated Thu Jan 21 14:13:41 EST 2021)

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