|
SLAVE TO VANITY | ESSAYS
Essayists:
Vanity
Pronunciation [van-i-tee]noun, plural -ties, adjective
–noun
| 1. |
excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc.; character or quality of being vain; conceit: Failure to be elected was a great blow to his vanity. |
| 2. |
an instance or display of this quality or feeling. |
| 3. |
something about which one is vain. |
| 4. |
lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness: the vanity of a selfish life. |
| 5. |
something worthless, trivial, or pointless. |
–adjective
| 8. |
produced as a showcase for one's own talents, esp. as a writer, actor, singer, or composer: a vanity production. |
| 9. |
of, pertaining to, or issued by a vanity press: a spate of vanity books. |
Origin:
1200–50; ME vanite < OF < L vānitās, equiv. to vān- (see vain ) + -itās- -ity 
Related forms:
vanitied, adjective
Synonyms:
1. egotism, complacency, vainglory, ostentation. See pride. emptiness, sham, unreality, folly, triviality, futility.
Antonyms:
1. humility.
Slave
Pronunciation [sleyv]noun, verb, slaved, slaving.
–noun
| 1. |
a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; a bond servant. |
| 2. |
a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person: a slave to a drug. |
| 3. |
a drudge: a housekeeping slave. |
| 5. |
Photography. a subsidiary flash lamp actuated through its photoelectric cell when the principal flash lamp is discharged. |
| 6. |
Machinery. a mechanism under control of and repeating the actions of a similar mechanism. Compare master . |
–verb (used without object)
| 7. |
to work like a slave; drudge. |
| 8. |
to engage in the slave trade; procure, transport, or sell slaves. |
–verb (used with object)
| 9. |
to connect (a machine) to a master as its slave. |
Origin:
1250–1300; ME sclave < ML sclāvus (masc.), sclāva (fem.) slave, special use of Sclāvus Slav, so called because Slavs were commonly enslaved in the early Middle Ages; see Slav
Related forms:
slaveless, adjective
slavelike, adjective
Synonyms:
7. toil, labor, slog, grind.
|
|
