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AP English Language Vocabulary Words

Terms

undefined, object
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Acquisitive
Fond of acquiring, or eager, to get wealth, power, knowledge, etc., rapacious, greedy, desirous, eager
Acquisitiveness (n), acquisitive (adj), acquisitively (adv)
Arrogate
Definition: To take claim for oneself without right. Confiscate, take, seize.
Arrogation (n), arrogate (v), arrogative (adj)
Asseverate
To declare seriously or affirmatively; to acclaim
Asseveration (n), asseverative (adj)
Banal
Definition: commonplace
Banalize (v), banally (adj)
Belabor
To attack with blows; to discuss repeatedly or at length, criticize, ridicule, scold, attack
Carping
Naggingly critical or complaining. Particular, overcritical, nagging, overcritical
Carper (n), carpingly (adj), carped (verb)
Coherent
Marked by an orderly, logical, and aesthetically consistent relation of parts, lucid, understandable, logical, rational
Coherently (adj), coherence (verb), coherent (adj), coherently (adv)
Congeal
To coagulate, stiffen, solidify, harden, clot; to stiffen or make solid by cold
Congealment (n), congeal (verb), congealable (adj)
Emulate
To imitate the achievements or qualities of an admired person
Emulator (n), Emulate (v), Emulative (adj), emulatively (adv)
Ecomium
An elaborate expression of praise, compliment, praise, panegyric, tribute
Eschew
To avoid

I eschewed eating mink.

Eschewer (noun)
Excorciate
To tear or wear off the skin, to censure strongly, denounce
Excoriation (n)
Germane
Closely connected; to the point, appropriate, relevant, fitting, apropos
Germane (adj)
Incendiary
Causing or capable of causing fire, causing anger or excitement.

Several cities...drove them out as incendiaries.

The parents were upset when the cult gave incendiary literature to their teenagers.
Insatiable
That desires or craves immoderately or unappeasably, exigent (demanding), greedy, wanting, yearning
Insatiability, insatiableness (n), insatiably (adv)
Invidious
Tending to rouse ill will, animosity or resentment, containing or implying a slight; discriminatory, envious

Commentators made invidious comparisons between Chinese decisiveness and Japan's inability to confront is economic problems.

The laws against the combination of laborers...were seen to be unjust and invidious.

Invidiousness, invidiously
Intransigent
Refusing to moderate a position, especially an extreme position; refusing to change position, uncompromising; stubborn, obstinate, uncompromising, pigheaded
Intransigency (n), intransigent (n), intransigent (adj), intransigently (adv)
Largesse
Generous giving, a generous gift, philanthropy, beneficence, charity, generosity
Ramify
To divide or spread out into branches or parts resembling branches. Extend, fork, branch off

"The bus system ramified so widely that it became possible to travel to Athens in a single day from a very large proportion of the villages of Greece. . . ."
Reconnaissance
Examination or inspection of an area, especially for military purposes, inspection, examination, exploration, probe
Substantiate
To establish by evidence, to make firm or solid, corroborate, back up, validate, affirm
Substantiation (n)
Taciturn
Not fond of talking, quiet, laconic, reserved, withdrawn
Tenable
Able to be held or defended, justifiable, reasonable, sound, viable
Tenability (n), tenably (adv)
Temporize
To avoid doing or deciding something to gain time
Animadversion
Criticism

He dismissed their commissioners with severe and sharp animadversions.
avid
Greedy, enthusiastic

Avid of gold, yet greedier of demand.

Global Exchange, for instance, is an avid believer in street protest.
Brackish
salty, distateful, unpalatable

Springs in deserts found seem sweet, all brackish though they be.

You could cut the brackish winds with a knife/here in Nantucket.

A brackish, cold gruel.
celerity
Swiftness of action or motion; speed.

Time, with all its celerity, moves slowly to him whose whole employment is to watch its flight.

Though not in the best of physical form, he was capable of moving with celerity.
Covenant
binding agreement, a contract

I will establish my covenant between me and thee....

Let there be a covenant drawn between us.

covenant, convenate, convenantal, covenantally

syn: stipulate
Devious
Not straightforward, shifty, tricky

The so-called national youth service is nothign more than a devious plot by the State to recruit a free workforce for the farms they have taken over.

Malicious viruses that use devious tricks to infect computers are set to become more common in the future.
Gambit
Opening tactic in chess, a maneuver, stratagem, or ploy, especially one used at an initial stage, a remark intended to open a conversation.

The businessman's gambit is to say that his investment will double in value.
Histrionic
Of or relating to actors or acting, excessively dramatic or emotional; affected

Rose does have too many repetitive, histrionic fits.
Maelstrom
A violent or turbulent situation, A whirlpool of extraordinary size or violence

Always at the center of a maelstrom of activitiy and contention, he provided good columns for the press.

Suddenly, the Serb cause was thrust into the maelstrom of the Napoleonic Wars.
Myopic
A visual defect in which distant objects appear blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina rather than on it; nearsightedness, lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or planning.

The building's owner is myopic; he will only make small repairs while the building is slowly falling apart.

He is myopic but can see well with glasses.
Overt
Open and observable; not hidden, concealed or secret, of, relating to, or being military or intelligence operations sanctioned or mandated by congress.

Two politicians who hated each other shook hands as an overt act of showing they are now friendly.

They provided overt aid to the rebels.

Overtness, overtly
Pejorative
Tending to make or become worse, disparaging, belittling. Expressing a critical or negative judgement.

In Senate rhetoric, evidently nut is far less pejorative than freak.

In this poem by Yuan Zhen, the term alien was used in the pejorative sense of "uncivilized."

This term is the pejorative word for....
Propound
To put forward for consideration; set forth

He uses demonstrations to propound his design philosophy.

When Paul Samuelson first propounded this potentially radical idea, it was greeted with astonishment, bordering on outrage.
Propriety
The quality of being proper; appropriateness, conformity to prevailing customs and usages.

The children observed the propriety of the church service and behaved themselves.
Sacrilege
Desecration, profonation, misuse or theft of something sacred.
Summarily
Presenting the substance in a condensed form; concise, performed speedily and without summary.

without delay, in a summary manner; "the suspected spy was summarily executed."

The civilians were summarily expelled from Israeli-Occupied South Lebanon.

Summariness, summary, summarily
Suppliant
Asking humbly and earnestly; beseeching

"a suppliant sinner seeking for forgiveness"

The rich grow suppliant, and the poor grow proud.

suppliance (n), suppliant (adj), suppliantly (adv)
Talisman
An object marked with magic signs and beleived to confer on its bearer supernatural powers or protection.

The tribal chief wears a talisman on a chain around his neck.
Halcyon
A fabled bird, identified with the kingfisher, that was supposed to have had the power to calm the wind and the waves while it nested on the sea during the winter solstice; calm and peaceful; tranquil; prosperous, golden.

It was a halcyon life, cocktails and bridge at sunset, white jackets and long gowns at dinner, good gin and Gershwin under the stars.
Undulate
To cause to move in a smooth wavelike motion, to have a wavelike appearance or form, to increase and decrease in volume or pitch as if in waves.

The actor's hands quiver and the poles undulate in the wind.

Rather than tuna, several hundred white-sided dolphins come into focus, undulating crisply through the sea surface below.

Undulation, undulate, undulatory
Accost
To approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request; to solicit for sec.

The shores which to the sea accost.

A man accosted a woman on the street, asking her for her name and phone number.
Articulate
Characterized by the use of clear, expressive language.

Our local vicar is an inspiring and articulate preacher.

Many people are opposed to the new law, but have had no opportunity to articulate their opposition.

articulacy, articulated, articulate, articulately
Cavort
To have lively of boisterous fun; romp

The children cavorted in the water, splashing and ducking each other.

Rabbits cavort in the paddock at dawn and dusk.

cavorting, cavorted
Credence
Accaptance as true or valid; belief

I'm not appeared to give credence to complaints made anonymously.

His bruises lent credence to his statement that he had been beaten.
Intractable
Difficult to manage or govern; stubborn

The war in the former Yugoslavia was the most intractable conflict in Europe since 1945.

Apparently intractable problems can sometimes be solved when a different person looks at them.

Intractability, intractable, intractably
Decry
To condemn openly.

She decried the appalling state of the British film industry.

decrier, decried
Derogatory
Disparaging; belittling

His language was severly censured by some of his brother peers as derogatory to their other.

She complained that he was always making derogatory comments about her.
DiDissemble
To disguise or conceal behind a false appearance

Politicans frequently have to dissemble so as not to admit that mistakes have been made.

An enemy dissembles when he assumes an air of friendship.

Dissemblance, dissembled, dissemblingly
Distraught
Deeply agitated, as from emotional conflict.

The missing child's distraught parents made an emotional appeal on television for information about where he might be.

He was distraught with grief when his wife died.
Eulogy
A laudatory speech or written tribute, especially one praising someone who has died.

He was the most self-effacing of men--the last thing he would have relished was a eulogy.

The song was a eulogy to the joys of traveling.

Eulogy, eulogistic, eulogistically
Evince
To show or demonstrate clearly; manifest.

They have never evinced any rediness or ability to negotiate.

In all the years I knew her, she never evinced any desire to do such a thing.

Evince, evinced, evincible
Exhume
To remove from a grave; disinter

They exhumed the body after the funeral because of evidence that suggested she may have been murdered.

Cultures are reinvented and dead traditions exhumed for the tourists.
Feckless
Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.

In those days he was a feckless and poverty-striken young drop-out.

Feclessness, feckless, fecklessly
Murky
Dark, dim or gloomy

The river was brown and murky after the storm.

He became involved in the murky world of international drug-dealing.

Murkiness, murkier, murkily
Nefarious
Infamous by way of being extremely interesting

The company seems to have been involved in some nefarious activities.

It was revealed that the investor's savings had been diverted for nefarious purposes.
Piquant
Pleasantly pungent or tart in tast; spicy.

Most traditional food in Thailand is served with a piquant sauce.

I don't enjoy piquant food as it makes me nauseous.

Piquancy, piquant, piquantly
Primordial
Being or happening first in a sequence of time; original.

The trip took us through ancient, primordial rain forest.

As she sensed danger, she was overcome with primordial feelings of panic and terror.

Primodial, primordially.
Propinquity
Proximity, nearness

From his base in San Francisco, the young and hopeful experimenter did not need propinquity to establish rapport wiht a write like Gertrude Stein.

Some people require propinquity to foster bonds between themselves, but I personally don't see the need to.
Verdant
Green with vegetation; covered with green growth.

Much of the region's verdant countryside has been destroyed in teh hurricane.

The colleges have well-kept verdant lawns.
Unwonted
Not habitual or ordinary; unusual.

He sprang to the telephone with unwonted vigor.

When the estranged fatehr came home one day, he was greeted by his children with unwonted happiness.

Unwontedness, unwonted, unwontedly
Utopian
Excellent or ideal but impracticable; visionary

Many people support the idea of a utopian society, yet realistically speaking it is hardly acheivable.

The Utopian States aspire that each person may have his drean fulfilled.
Verbiage
An excess of words for the purpose; wordiness.

His explanation was wrapped up in so much technical verbiage that I simply couldn't understand it.

"Verbiage may indicate observation, but not thinking."
Viscous
Having relatively high resistance to flow.

The oil in its thick and viscous form can kill birds and animals by poisoning them.

Some highly viscous liquids, such as cold molasses, flow so slowly that they seem to retain their size and shape and thus appear to be solids.

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