Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ANTEBELLUM
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pronounce
ANTEBELLUM:
Say it "AN tuh BELL um."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
When I see the word antebellum, meaning "before the war," I hear Ray Stevens singing the opening lines of "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival:"
Well, when I was a kid I'd take a trip
Every summer down the Mississip'
To visit my granny in her antebellum world.
I'd run barefooted all day long,
Climbin' trees, free as a song,
And one day I happened to catch myself a squirrel.
Ah, yes, the antebellum world: running barefoot, climbing trees, catching squirrels, and, well, enslaving and oppressing an entire race of people just so you can stay rich on your cotton plantation. The word antebellum sounds wistful in that song, but it can sound absolutely deplorable, too.
Inside the word antebellum, you'll recognize the Latin word for "war," bellum.
The same bellum gave us these terms:
1. Literally a "war case," a c___s bell_ is something that starts a fight.
2. Someone bell____e is eager to fight. (Did you say belligerent? That's correct, but can you think of another?)
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
In Latin, the phrase ante bellum means "before the war." We took that phrase into English around 1801, and eventually we smushed it into a single word and stopped italicizing it: "antebellum."
Something antebellum is related to the time before some specific war, usually the American Civil War (1861-1865). In other words, antebellum things existed before the war, were true before the war, or were popular or acceptable before the war, but not anymore.
Occasionally, we use the word "antebellum" to mean, more loosely, "very old-fashioned, like something you'd expect to see only in the old days, before the Civil War."
grammatical bits:
Part of speech: most often an adjective: "their antebellum costumes," "this attitude is antebellum."
Other forms: None are commonly used. Its exact opposite is "postbellum," meaning "after the war."
how to use it:
This word has a formal, academic tone.
It can sound positive ("a lovely antebellum house"), or neutral ("it was an antebellum tradition"), or negative ("their backwards, antebellum expectations").
Most of the time, we use the stricter meaning ("pre-1861") and talk about antebellum events, conditions, people, places, and things: "the antebellum south," "this antebellum architecture," "life in antebellum Georgia."
But you might also use the looser meaning ("outdated by 159+ years, it seems") and talk about antebellum views, values, mindsets, etc.
examples:
"Set on a college campus in the contemporary American South, where a whitewashed sense of tradition drips with nostalgia for the antebellum past, 'TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever' is not a romance by any stretch."
— Laura Collins-Hughes, New York Times, 16 February 2020
"[Tarantino's] antebellum revenge Western, 'Django Unchained,' almost saw a theatrical run [in Chinese cinemas] in 2012, before one senior Communist Party official reportedly deemed the film's violence too extreme."
— Matthew Phelan, Slate, 18 October 2019
has this page helped you understand "antebellum"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "antebellum" without saying "prewar" or "prior to the war."
try it out:
As this article from the Associated Press notes, antebellum plantations throughout the southern US attract plenty of tourists today, who enjoy soaking in the history and beauty of these places. These antebellum tourist spots have been granted inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, which details their historical significance.
And yet, the AP points out, that register barely speaks a word about the "enslaved people who picked the cotton and tobacco or cut the sugar cane that paid for ornate homes that today serve as wedding venues, bed-and-breakfast inns, tourist attractions and private homes."
Updating the register would take time, work, effort, research, and money. And it needs to be done, in my opinion, because we need to tell the true story about our antebellum past, not sugarcoat it or romanticize it. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Talk about what you think the best way is to deal with the painful truths of our antebellum past.
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
This month, our game is called "Fix the Grand Spell which was Cast by Short Words."
(Or, in monstrously inflated terms, the game is called "Rewrite the Extraordinary Incantation which was Executed by Monosyllabic Vocables.")
In each issue, I'll offer a familiar quote that I've heartlessly hypertrophied with polysyllabic transplants. You'll restore the quote to its original version, with each word just one syllable long.
That is to say, I'll share a fat, fake draft of a famed quote; you'll say the trim real one.
For example, if I say "Exploit an opportunity while the situation allows," then you say, "Make hay while the sun shines." If I say, "Durations remedy every laceration," then you say, "Time heals all wounds."
From the previous issue:
"My bestowal is my musical composition, and this composition’s for you." --> "My gift is my song, and this one's for you."
Try this today: "Senescence should conflagrate and harangue at nightfall."
Say that, but in words of one beat each.
Clues:
Where it's from: a poem.
The year we first heard it: 1951.
review this word:
But a pretty close opposite of ANTEBELLUM is
A. CLEAN.
B. SIMPLE.
C. MODERN.
2. The course, "Antebellum American Literature," covers classics like _____.
A. The Red Badge of Courage (1895)
B. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
C. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
When I see the word antebellum, meaning "before the war," I hear Ray Stevens singing the opening lines of "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival:"
In Latin, the phrase ante bellum means "before the war." We took that phrase into English around 1801, and eventually we smushed it into a single word and stopped italicizing it: "antebellum."
Part of speech: most often an adjective: "their antebellum costumes," "this attitude is antebellum."
This word has a formal, academic tone.
"Set on a college campus in the contemporary American South, where a whitewashed sense of tradition drips with nostalgia for the antebellum past, 'TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever' is not a romance by any stretch."
Explain the meaning of "antebellum" without saying "prewar" or "prior to the war."
As this article from the Associated Press notes, antebellum plantations throughout the southern US attract plenty of tourists today, who enjoy soaking in the history and beauty of these places. These antebellum tourist spots have been granted inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, which details their historical significance.
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
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