Source
Ben Frankllin
Reveal Word
diplomat
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
noun
person who
manages
international
relations
“He was, during his eighty-four-year-long life, America's best
scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he
At Grade Level
was also one of its most practical, though not most profound, political
thinkers.
Ben Frankllin
strategist
noun
skillful planner
“He was, during his eighty-four-year-long life, America's best
scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he
At Grade Level
was also one of its most practical, though not most profound, political
thinkers.
Ben Frankllin
devised
verb
designed
He devised bifocal glasses and clean-burning stoves, charts of the
Across Grade
Gulf Stream and theories about the contagious nature of the common
Level
cold.
Ben Frankllin
unbiased
adjective
well knowing that it was the most suitable time to make deep and
Across Grade
without prejudice lasting impressions on the mind, while it was yet untainted with vice,
Level
free and unbiased.
Ben Franklin
contagious
adjective
spread through
contact
He devised bifocal glasses and clean-burning stoves, charts of the
Gulf Stream and theories about the contagious nature of the common At Grade Level
cold.
Ben Franklin
attained
verb
achieved
He endeavored that I might be instructed in all that knowledge and
learning which is necessary for our sex, and denied me no
accomplishment that could possibly be attained in a country place;
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
schemes
noun
plans
He launched various civic improvement schemes, such as a lending
library, college, volunteer fire corps, insurance association, and
matching grant fund-raiser.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
homespun
adjective
simple or plain
He helped invent America's unique style of homespun humor and
philosophical pragmatism.
At Grade Level
1
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
Ben Franklin
epistle
noun
letter
It may not be improper in the first place to inform your readers, that I
intend once a fortnight to present them, by the help of this paper, with
At Grade Level
a short epistle, which I presume will add somewhat to their
entertainment.
Ben Franklin
commend
verb
praise
And since it is observed, that the generality of people, now a days,
are unwilling either to commend or dispraise what they read,
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
dispraise
verb
find fault with
And since it is observed, that the generality of people, now a days,
are unwilling either to commend or dispraise what they read,
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
scholar
noun
learned person
until they are in some measure informed who or what the author of it
is, whether he be poor or rich, old or young, a scholar or a leather
At Grade Level
apron man, etc.
Ben Franklin
frivolous
adjective
unimportant
I will not abuse your patience with a tedious recital of all the frivolous
accidents of my life, that happened from this time until I arrived to
At Grade Level
years of discretion,
Ben Franklin
austere
adjective
stern
George Washington's colleagues found it hard to imagine touching
the austere general on the shoulder, and we would find it even more At Grade Level
so today.
adjective
But Ben Franklin, that ambitious urban entrepreneur, seems made of
flesh rather than of marble, addressable by nickname, and he turns Across Grade
eager to achieve
to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind those
Level
newfangled spectacles.
Ben Franklin
ambitious
2
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Ben Franklin
tedious
adjective
boring
I will not abuse your patience with a tedious recital of all the frivolous
Across Grade
accidents of my life, that happened from this time until I arrived to
Level
years of discretion,
noun
But Ben Franklin, that ambitious urban entrepreneur, seems made of
flesh rather than of marble, addressable by nickname, and he turns
business person
At Grade Level
to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind those
newfangled spectacles.
adjective
ridiculously new
or modern
But Ben Franklin, that ambitious urban entrepreneur, seems made of
flesh rather than of marble, addressable by nickname, and he turns
At Grade Level
to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind those
newfangled spectacles.
Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin
entrepreneur
newfangled
Word Level
Ben Franklin
confine
verb
limit
I will not tire your readers with tedious particulars of no consequence,
but will briefly, and in as few words as possible, relate the most
Across Grade
material occurrences of my life, and according to my promise, confine Level
all to this letter.
Ben Franklin
rhetoric
noun
methods for
writing and
speaking
He speaks to us, through his letters and hoaxes and autobiography,
Across Grade
not with orotund rhetoric but with a chattiness and clever irony that is
Level
very contemporary, sometimes unnervingly so.
Ben Franklin
Junto
noun
political group
“In a witty newspaper piece called ‘On Conversation,’ which he wrote
shortly after forming the Junto, Franklin stressed the importance of
At Grade Level
deferring, or at least giving the appearance of deferring, to others.
3
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
Ben Franklin
unnervingly
adverb
He speaks to us, through his letters and hoaxes and autobiography,
in an intimidating
Across Grade
not with orotund rhetoric but with a chattiness and clever irony that is
way
Level
very contemporary, sometimes unnervingly so.
Ben Franklin
assumed
adjective
alias
They were written under an assumed name.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
alter-ego
noun
second self or
identity
He created an alter-ego named Silence Dogood.
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
labor
noun
work
It was a common form of labor back in the 1700s – in between being Across Grade
a completely free man and being a slave or indentured servant.
Level
Ben Franklin
indentured
participle
(verb
acting like contracted
an
adjective)
Ben Franklin
tyrannical
adjective
cruel and
controlling
‘I fancy his harsh and tyrannical treatment of me,’ Franklin later
speculated, had the affect of ‘impressing me with that aversion to
arbitrary power that has stuck to me through my whole life.
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
speculated
verb
guessed
‘I fancy his harsh and tyrannical treatment of me,’ Franklin later
speculated, had the affect of ‘impressing me with that aversion to
arbitrary power that has stuck to me through my whole life.
Across Grade
Level
It was a common form of labor back in the 1700s – in between being
At Grade Level
a completely free man and being a slave or indentured servant.
4
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
Ben Franklin
aversion
noun
strong dislike
‘I fancy his harsh and tyrannical treatment of me,’ Franklin later
speculated, had the affect of ‘impressing me with that aversion to
arbitrary power that has stuck to me through my whole life.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
fruitless
adjective
unsuccessful
and having made several unsuccessful fruitless attempts on the more
At Grade Level
topping sort of our sex,
Ben Franklin
pseudonym
noun
false name
So one night he invented a pseudonym, disguised his handwriting,
and slipped an essay under the printing house door.
Across Grade
Level
verb
praised
His brother’s friends who gathered the next day lauded the
anonymous submission, and Franklin had the ‘exquisite pleasure’ of
listening as they decided to feature it on the front page of the next
issue.
At Grade Level
adjective
with author
unnamed
His brother’s friends who gathered the next day lauded the
anonymous submission, and Franklin had the ‘exquisite pleasure’ of
listening as they decided to feature it on the front page of the next
issue.
Across Grade
Level
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin
lauded
anonymous
Ben Franklin
exquisite
adjective
intense
His brother’s friends who gathered the next day lauded the
anonymous submission, and Franklin had the ‘exquisite pleasure’ of
listening as they decided to feature it on the front page of the next
issue.
Ben Franklin
prudish
adjective
overly modest
and proper
‘Silence Dogood’ was a slightly prudish widowed woman from a rural
area, created by a spunky unmarried Boston teenager who had never At Grade Level
spent a night outside of the city.
5
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Ben Franklin
rural
adjective
in the country
‘Silence Dogood’ was a slightly prudish widowed woman from a rural
Across Grade
area, created by a spunky unmarried Boston teenager who had never
Level
spent a night outside of the city.
Ben Franklin
impropriety
noun
rudeness
...made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting one's self as the
proposer of any useful project,
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
soliciting
gerund
(verb
asking for
acting like
a noun)
“The objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the
subscriptions,
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
augmented
adjective
expanded
The libraries were augmented by donations;
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
manifested
verb
showed
The institution soon manifested its utility,
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
dissolve
verb
break down
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them
At Grade Level
with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth,
position
the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of
Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
At Grade Level
drive
the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of
Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin
station
impel
noun
verb
Word Level
6
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
Ben Franklin
endowed
verb
provided
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
Across Grade
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit Level
of Happiness.
Ben Franklin
deriving
verb
drawing
...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
alter
verb
change
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
abolish
verb
do away with
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
dictate
verb
command
will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed
At Grade Level
for light and transient causes;
Ben Franklin
transient
adjective
temporary
will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed
At Grade Level
for light and transient causes;
Ben Franklin
invariably
adverb
constantly
pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them Across Grade
under absolute Despotism,
Level
threatening
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and
formidable to tyrants only.
Ben Franklin
formidable
adjective
At Grade Level
7
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his
Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly
neglected to attend to them.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
suspended
verb
indefinitely
stopped
Ben Franklin
benefactor
noun
supporter
As he had been a great benefactor (and in a manner a father to me) I
could not well deny his request, when I once perceived he was in
At Grade Level
earnest.
Ben Franklin
civic
adjective
community
He launched various civic improvement schemes, such as a lending
library, college, volunteer fire corps, insurance association, and
matching grant fund-raiser.
adjective
city-based
But Ben Franklin, that ambitious urban entrepreneur, seems made of
flesh rather than of marble, addressable by nickname, and he turns Across Grade
to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind those
Level
newfangled spectacles.
Ben Franklin
urban
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
federal
adjective
involving an
agreement
And in politics, he proposed seminal plans for uniting the colonies
between different
and creating a federal model for a national government.
states to work
together
Ben Franklin
discretion
noun
I will not abuse your patience with a tedious recital of all the frivolous
mature judgment accidents of my life, that happened from this time until I arrived to
At Grade Level
years of discretion,
At Grade Level
8
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
diversion
noun
fun
only inform you that I lived a cheerful country life, spending my
leisure time either in some innocent diversion with the neighboring
females, or in some shady retirement, with the best of company,
books.
Ben Franklin
consent
verb
agree
Whether it was love, or gratitude, or pride, or all three that made me
consent, I know not;
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
defer
verb
put off
As I would not engross too much of your paper at once, I will defer
the remainder of my story until my next letter.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
pragmatism
noun
practical attitude
He helped invent America's unique style of homespun humor and
philosophical pragmatism.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
idealism
noun
living up to high
standards
In foreign policy, he created an approach that wove together idealism Across Grade
with balance-of-power realism.
Level
Ben Franklin
proposed
verb
suggested
And in politics, he proposed seminal plans for uniting the colonies
and creating a federal model for a national government.
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
seminal
adjective
important and
influential
And in politics, he proposed seminal plans for uniting the colonies
and creating a federal model for a national government.
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
amiss
adjective
wrong
it may not be amiss to begin with a short account of my past life and
present condition, that the reader may not be at a loss to judge
whether or no my lucubrations are worth his reading.
Across Grade
Level
9
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
Ben Franklin
reprieve
noun
temporary
escape
for as he, poor man, stood upon the deck rejoicing at my birth, a
merciless wave entered the ship, and in one moment carried him
beyond reprieve.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
disconsolate
adjective
unhappy
and thus was my disconsolate mother at once made both a parent
and a widow.
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
pious
adjective
religious
My master was a country minister, a pious good-natured young man,
and a bachelor: he labored with all his might to instill virtuous and
At Grade Level
godly principles into my tender soul,
Ben Franklin
instill
verb
introduce
My master was a country minister, a pious good-natured young man,
and a bachelor: he labored with all his might to instill virtuous and
At Grade Level
godly principles into my tender soul,
Ben Franklin
virtuous
adjective
good
My master was a country minister, a pious good-natured young man,
Across Grade
and a bachelor: he labored with all his might to instill virtuous and
Level
godly principles into my tender soul,
Ben Franklin
untainted
adjective
unpolluted
well knowing that it was the most suitable time to make deep and
lasting impressions on the mind, while it was yet untainted with vice, At Grade Level
free and unbiased.
Ben Franklin
vice
noun
well knowing that it was the most suitable time to make deep and
Across Grade
wicked behavior lasting impressions on the mind, while it was yet untainted with vice,
Level
free and unbiased.
verb
It may not be improper in the first place to inform your readers, that I
intend once a fortnight to present them, by the help of this paper, with Across Grade
a short epistle, which I presume will add somewhat to their
Level
entertainment.
Ben Franklin
inform
tell
10
Source
Ben Franklin
Reveal Word
intend
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
verb
plan
It may not be improper in the first place to inform your readers, that I
intend once a fortnight to present them, by the help of this paper, with Across Grade
a short epistle, which I presume will add somewhat to their
Level
entertainment.
Ben Franklin
fortnight
noun
It may not be improper in the first place to inform your readers, that I
period of fourteen intend once a fortnight to present them, by the help of this paper, with
At Grade Level
nights
a short epistle, which I presume will add somewhat to their
entertainment.
Ben Franklin
spunky
adjective
spirited
‘Silence Dogood’ was a slightly prudish widowed woman from a rural
area, created by a spunky unmarried Boston teenager who had never At Grade Level
spent a night outside of the city.
Ben Franklin
reprove
verb
express
disapproval of
I have likewise a natural inclination to observe and reprove the faults Across Grade
of others, at which I have an excellent faculty.
Level
Ben Franklin
provoked
participle
(verb
acting like angered
an
adjective)
I am courteous and affable, good humored (unless I am first
Across Grade
provoked,) and handsome, and sometimes witty, but always, sir, your
Level
friend and humble servant,
Ben Franklin
vie
verb
compete
’ His secret for how to win friends and influence people read like an
early Dale Carnegie course: ‘Would you win the hearts of others, you At Grade Level
must not seem to vie with them, but to admire them.
Ben Franklin
indulged
verb
given in to
Give them every opportunity of displaying their own qualifications,
and when you have indulged their vanity, they will praise you in turn
and prefer you above others…
At Grade Level
11
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
Ben Franklin
catalog
verb
list
Franklin went on to catalog the most common conversational sins
‘which cause dislike,’ the greatest being ‘talking overmuch…which
never fails to excite resentment.
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
shunned
verb
avoided
(‘old folks are most subject to this error, which is one chief reason
their company is so often shunned’)
At Grade Level
saying the
opposite
...contradicting or disputing someone directly, ridiculing or railing
against things except in small witty doses
Across Grade
Level
arguing against
...contradicting or disputing someone directly, ridiculing or railing
against things except in small witty doses
Across Grade
Level
complaining
bitterly
...contradicting or disputing someone directly, ridiculing or railing
against things except in small witty doses
Across Grade
Level
gerund
(verb
acting like
a noun)
gerund
(verb
acting like
a noun)
participle
(verb
acting like
an
Ben Franklin
contradicting
Ben Franklin
disputing
Ben Franklin
railing
Ben Franklin
dogmatical
adjective
inflexible
‘For these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical
expression escape me,’ he recalled when writing his autobiography.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
passive
adjective
unresisting
This velvet-tongued and sweetly passive style of circumspect
argument would make him seem sage to some, insinuating and
manipulative to others, but inflammatory to almost nobody.
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
circumspect
adjective
cautious
This velvet-tongued and sweetly passive style of circumspect
argument would make him seem sage to some, insinuating and
manipulative to others, but inflammatory to almost nobody.
At Grade Level
12
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
Ben Franklin
sage
adjective
wise
This velvet-tongued and sweetly passive style of circumspect
argument would make him seem sage to some, insinuating and
manipulative to others, but inflammatory to almost nobody.
At Grade Level
Ben Franklin
insinuating
participle
(verb
acting like sly
an
adjective)
This velvet-tongued and sweetly passive style of circumspect
argument would make him seem sage to some, insinuating and
manipulative to others, but inflammatory to almost nobody.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
manipulative
adjective
This velvet-tongued and sweetly passive style of circumspect
able to influence argument would make him seem sage to some, insinuating and
manipulative to others, but inflammatory to almost nobody.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
inflammatory
adjective
causing
excitement
This velvet-tongued and sweetly passive style of circumspect
argument would make him seem sage to some, insinuating and
manipulative to others, but inflammatory to almost nobody.
second one
While I was intent on improving my language, I met with an English
grammar, at the end of which there were two little sketches of the arts Across Grade
of rhetoric and logic, the latter finishing with a specimen of a dispute Level
in the Socratic method;
example
While I was intent on improving my language, I met with an English
grammar, at the end of which there were two little sketches of the arts
At Grade Level
of rhetoric and logic, the latter finishing with a specimen of a dispute
in the Socratic method;
Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin
latter
specimen
noun
noun
At Grade Level
13
Source
Reveal Word
POS
Definition
Contextual Sentence
Word Level
Ben Franklin
procured
verb
obtained
and soon after I procured Xenophon's Memorable Things of
Socrates, wherein there are many instances of the same method.
Across Grade
Level
Ben Franklin
doctrine
noun
And being then, from reading Shaftesbury and Collins, become a real
doubter in many points of our religious doctrine, I found this method
system of beliefs
At Grade Level
safest for myself and very embarrassing to those against whom I
used it;
Ben Franklin
foresee
verb
expect
therefore I took a delight in it, practiced it continually, and grew very
Across Grade
artful and expert in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into
Level
concessions, the consequences of which they did not foresee,
Ben Franklin
extricate
verb
untangle
entangling them in difficulties out of which they could not extricate
themselves, and so obtaining victories that neither myself nor my
cause always deserved.
Ben Franklin
diffidence
noun
distrust
I continued this method some few years, but gradually left it, retaining
At Grade Level
only the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence;
Ben Franklin
conceive
verb
imagine
but rather say, ‘I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so,’ ‘it
appears to me,’ or ‘I should think it so or so, for such and such
reasons’;
Across Grade
Level
At Grade Level
14