Please don’t let certain words in question stems trip you up. Knowing the definitions of the following terms will greatly help you. Plus, if you can incorporate them into Short Answer Questions or Essays, they will strengthen your writing!
- Abridge – to shorten, or curtail
- Example of Abridge in a Sentence – The rights of African Americans were abridged in many areas of Antebellum America
- Autonomy – self government, independent.
- Example of Autonomy in a Sentence – Native Americans and Africans sought to preserve their autonomy after contact with Europeans
- Advocate – to favor, or to support
- Example of Advocate in a Sentence – William Lloyd Garrison advocated the immediate and uncompensated end to slavery
- Ambivalent – to have mixed feelings about an issue
- Example of Ambivalent in a Sentence – Mexicans immigrants faced ambivalent United States government policies during the Great Depression
- Sedentary – Inactive, not mobile
- Example of Sedentary in a Sentence – Some Native American societies developed permanent, sedentary lifestyles
- Sentiments – idea, opinion, or view.
- Example of Sentiments in a Sentence – Thomas Jefferson’s sentiments regarding the Missouri Compromise warned of danger for the United States
- Subjugation – to gain control of, or to conquer
- Example of Subjugation in a Sentence – Native Americans and Africans were often subjugated by Europeans in the 16th – 19th centuries
- Waning – to decrease, or become weaker (Note, the word waning is specifically mentioned in the curriculum)
- Example of Waning in a Sentence – The North’s resolve towards Reconstruction began to wane in the 1970s
- Watershed – a turning point
- Example of Watershed in a Sentence – The Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education was a watershed moment in Civil Rights History
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