VCR List 6
Abby Scheper
What's the Word?
After a long day at work, Joe wanted nothing more than to come home to his dog and wife _______________________ on the couch so he could relax with them for the rest of the evening.
Recumbent (adj)
Definition
- reclining; lying down
Roots
- re (L): back, again
- cubo, cubare, cubui, cubitum (L): to lie down
- incumbo, incumbere, incubui, incumbitum (L): to recline
Parts of Speech
- recumbent (adj): as an adjective, describes something or someone who is lying down or reclining
- recumbence (noun): being in a state of repose or being in the position of lying down (ex: When the child got home from school, his mother was in a state of recumbence on the couch.)
- recumbency (noun): also the state of being in repose or lying down, so it is a judgement call on whether to use recumbent or recumbency (ex: George had worked all day at school to resume his recumbency when he got home)
How to Find It
- synonyms: repose, resting, reclining
- antonyms: standing, sitting, rigid, any state of a body or object that is not conducive of rest or lying down
- context clues: if a person is being active, recumbent is probably not the smart answer choice because activity would suggest they are not lying down. If and object or person in stationary, however, and the sentence hints that the person is in some way resting, recumbent might be the best answer choice.
Time To Practice
Decide which of the following sentences uses recumbent incorrectly and what about it is incorrect. Keep in mind the various forms of the word.
- Jenny always dreaded the days that her coach made her soccer team do Burpees for conditioning, an exercise where you move from a recumbent position to your feet, jump into the air, and then immediately repeat the steps.
- Luke had not been recumbent for more than ten minutes when his younger sister came barging in the door whining for a snack, forcing him to get up out of bed and feed her before he could take his nap.
- Mary hated spending extended periods of time in recumbency, as she much preferred to be outside running around over wasting her life away as a couch potato.
- Jamal's teacher told him that he needed to pick his head up off the desk unless he preferred to leave his desk and stand recumbent in the back of the room.