The World of Words: Vocabulary for College Success ... - eLibrary

316 Chapter 10 Word Elements: Thought and BeliefCONFIDANT DEFIES GOVERNMENT’S ORDERSTO RELEASE INFORMATION7. Has the person been told secrets?8. Is the person following government orders?DESPITE WISH TO SHOW FIDELITY TO CREED BY CLIMBINGMOUNTAIN, ACROPHOBIC MAN HELD BACK BY FEARS9. Does the acrophobic wish to be faithful?10. Is the person afraid of basements?PrefixesPart 2Part 2 of this chapter presents two very common prefixes with negativemeanings. De- means “to remove from” or “down”; non- means “not.”Both prefixes are used in thousands of English words.This Words to Learn section also presents several idioms. Thesephrases involve our thoughts, beliefs, and cultural understandings. Manyidioms are the result of common experiences or well-known stories. Theindividual words do not carry their usual meanings, but together theyform one generally understood meaning.de- (removal from, down, worse)The common prefix de- can mean remove from, down, ornegative. When we decontaminate something, we removethe contamination or impurities from it. When peopledeforest land, they remove trees from it. In anothermeaning, when we depress a button, we push it down.When something declines, it goes down, or becomes morenegative. When a currency is devalued, its value goes down,or becomes more negative.non- (not)The prefix non- simply means “not.” Nonsense is somethingthat does not make sense. A nonsmoker person is one whodoes not smoke. Non- often combines with base words (rootsthat can stand alone as English words). Many root words,like smoker, join with non by using a hyphen.Copyright © Cengage Learning. All Right Reserved.