AP Eng Lit Vocab Review
Terms
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- Obsequious
- : marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness
- Salient
- 1: moving by leaps or springs : jumping b: standing out conspicuously : prominent
- Iconoclast
- a rebel
- Heinous
- hatefully or shockingly evil : abominable
- Calumny
- 1 : a misrepresentation intended to harm another's reputation 2 : the act of uttering false charges or misrepresentations maliciously calculated to harm another's reputation
- Meander
- 1: a winding path or course
- Penurious
- given to or marked by extreme stinting frugality
- Libido
- sexual drive
- Sedulous
- 1 : involving or accomplished with careful perseverance 2 : diligent in application or pursuit
- Garrulous
- given to prosy, rambling, or tedious loquacity : pointlessly or annoyingly talkative 2 : wordy
- Proselytize
- 1 : to induce someone to convert to one's faith 2 : to recruit someone to join one's party, institution
- atavism
- a: recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination b: recurrence of or reversion to a past style, manner, outlook, approach, or activity
- a posteriori
- 1: inductive 2: relating to or derived by reasoning from observed facts
- prevarication
- : to deviate from the truth : equivocate
- Fetters
- 1 : a chain or shackle for the feet 2 : something that confines : restraint
- Nebulous
- indistinct, vague
- Vapid
- lacking liveliness, tang, briskness, or force : flat, dull
- Expatiate
- 1 : to move about freely or at will : wander 2 : to speak or write at length or in detail
- Peripatetic
- pedestrian, movement or journeys hither and thither
- parsimonious
- frugal to the point of stinginess
- Avaricious
- greedy
- Tenuous
- 1: not dense : not thick : having little substance or strength : flimsy, weak
- Cache
- 1 : a hiding place especially for concealing and preserving provisions or implements 2 : something hidden or stored in a hiding place
- Congenital
- 1 a: existing at or dating from birth
- Inundate
- 1 : to cover with a flood : overflow 2 : overwhelm
- admonish
- 1 a: to indicate duties or obligations to b: to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner2: to give friendly earnest advice or encouragement to
- Diffident
- 1: hesitant in acting or speaking through lack of self-confidence; reserved
- Orthodox
- 1 a: conforming to established doctrine especially in religion b: conventional
- Odious
- : arousing or deserving hatred or repugnance : hateful
- Penchant
- : a strong and continued inclination; broadly : liking
- Esoteric
- 1 a: designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone
- plethora
- excess, superfluity; also : profusion, abundance
- cognizant
- : knowledgeable of something especially through personal experience; also : mindful
- Impunity
- : exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss
- Eclectic
- 1: selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles2: composed of elements drawn from various sources
- Pensive
- 1 : musingly or dreamily thoughtful 2 : suggestive of sad thoughtfulness
- Staid
- : marked by settled sedateness and often prim self-restraint : sober, grave
- unctuous
- 1 a: fatty, oily b: smooth and greasy in texture or appearance; revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, and false earnestness or spirituality
- antipathy
- 1 : opposition in feeling 2: settled aversion or dislike : distaste
- Miasma
- 1: a vaporous exhalation formerly believed to cause disease; also : a heavy vaporous emanation or atmosphere
- Neophyte
- 1 : a new convert
- Potpourri
- 1 : a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent 2 : a miscellaneous collection : medley
- facile
- a (1): easily accomplished or attained
- Meticulous
- : marked by extreme or excessive care in the consideration or treatment of details
- Opprobrium
- 1: something that brings disgrace2 a: public disgrace or ill fame that follows from conduct considered grossly wrong or vicious b: contempt, reproach
- Litotes
- : understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary (as in "not a bad singer" or "not unhappy")
- Emanate
- to come out from a source
- Impeccable
- 1 : not capable of sinning or liable to sin 2 : free from fault or blame : flawless
- Taciturn
- : temperamentally disinclined to talk
- Hirsute
- hairy
- Petulant
- 1 : insolent or rude in speech or behavior 2 : characterized by temporary or capricious ill humor : peevish
- Avocation
- 1 : diversion, distraction, hobby
- Nepotism
- : favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship
- Cathartic
- emotionally purging
- Whimsical
- subject to erratic behavior or unpredictable change; resulting from or characterized by caprice; especially : lightly fanciful
- Trenchant
- 1: keen, sharp, caustic, penetrating
- Opus
- : work; especially : a musical composition or set of compositions usually numbered in the order of its issue
- Exhortation
- language intended to incite and encourage
- Tenable
- : capable of being held, maintained, or defended : defensible, reasonable
- Maudlin
- 1 : drunk enough to be emotionally silly 2 : weakly and effusively sentimental
- adamant
- 1 : an unbreakable or extremely hard substance 2 : impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason
- facetious
- 1 : joking or jesting often inappropriately
- Hiatus
- a gap or break (from a program or activity)
- Paramour
- : an illicit lover
- Mendacity
- a lie
- auspicious
- 1 : affording a favorable auspice : propitious
- magnanimous
- 1 : showing or suggesting a lofty and courageous spirit
- Cupidity
- 1 : inordinate desire for wealth : avarice, greed
- Orthography
- 1 a: the art of writing words with the proper letters according to standard usage
- Supercilious
- : coolly and patronizingly haughty
- Punctilious
- : marked by or concerned about precise accordance with the details of codes or conventions
- Billingsgate
- coarsely abusive language
- Fortuitous
- 1: occurring by chance 2 a: fortunate, lucky
- Fastidious
- difficult to please
- Egregious
- conspicuously bad
- verbose
- 1: containing more words than necessary : wordy
- scrupulous
- 1 : having moral integrity : acting in strict regard for what is considered right or proper 2 : punctiliously exact : painstaking
- Panacea
- : a remedy for all ills or difficulties : cure-all
- Boorish
- exhibiting crude insensitivity
- Propitious
- 1 : favorably disposed : benevolent 2 : being a good omen : auspicious
- Surreptitious
- 1 : done, made, or acquired by stealth : stealthy
- Volition
- 1: an act of making a choice or decision; will
- Motley
- 1 : variegated in color 2 : composed of diverse often incongruous elements
- Halcyon
- calm, peaceful
- apotheosis
- 1 : elevation to divine status : deification 2 : the perfect example : quintessence
- Vagary
- : an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action, or notion
- Incipient
- beginning to come into being or to become apparent
- Inimical
- 1: being adverse often by reason of hostility or malevolence; [HOSTILE]
- Didactic
- 1 a: designed or intended to teach b: intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment
- Literati
- the educated class; also : intelligentsia
- Contiguous
- 1: being in actual contact : touching along a boundary or at a point
- Guile
- deceitful cunning
- Impugn
- 1: to assail by words or arguments : oppose or attack as false or lacking integrity
- Vicarious
- 1 a: serving instead of someone or something else [substitutionary]
- Bowdlerize
- 1 : to expurgate (as a book) by omitting or modifying parts considered vulgar 2 : to modify by abridging, simplifying, or distorting in style or content
- Desultory
- 1 : marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose
- Cerebral
- of or relating to the brain or the intellect
- Panoply
- 1 a: a full suit of armor b: ceremonial attire 2: something forming a protective covering 3 a: a magnificent or impressive array
- Obtuse
- blunt, lacking sharpness or quickness of sensibility or intellect : insensitive, stupid b: difficult to comprehend : not clear or precise in thought or expression
- Spurious
- of falsified or erroneously attributed origin; of a deceitful nature or quality [SOUNDS PLAUSIBLE, BUT ISN'T]
- Laconic
- : using or involving the use of a minimum of words : concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious
- Polemic
- 1 a: an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another b: the art or practice of disputation or controversy —usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction 2: an aggressive controversialist : disputant
- Fecund
- 1 : fruitful in offspring or vegetation : prolific 2 : intellectually productive or inventive to a marked degree
- Disparity
- 1 : containing or made up of fundamentally different and often incongruous elements 2 : markedly distinct in quality or character [A DIFFERENCE]
- Misanthrope
- : a person who hates or distrusts humankind
- Dilettante
- 1 : an admirer or lover of the arts 2 : a person having a superficial interest in an art or a branch of knowledge : dabbler
- Ribald
- someone who uses vulgar and offensive language (also the quality of such)
- Loquacious
- 1 : full of excessive talk : wordy 2 : given to fluent or excessive talk : garrulous
- Fatuous
- : complacently or inanely foolish : silly
- Sententious
- 1 a: given to or abounding in aphoristic expression b: given to or abounding in excessive moralizing 2: terse, aphoristic, or moralistic in expression
- Encomium
- glowing and warmly enthusiastic praise
- Ineffable
- 1 a: incapable of being expressed in words : indescribable b: unspeakable
- Expatiate
- 1 : to move about freely or at will : wander 2 : to speak or write at length or in detailedy of gain
- Pastoral
- 1 a of, relating to, or composed of shepherds or herdsmen b: of or relating to the countryside : not urban d: pleasingly peaceful and innocent : idyllic
- Malapropism
- 1: the usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; especially : the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in the context
- abate
- to put an end to, nullify, reduce in value or amount
- Recondite
- 1 : hidden from sight : concealed 2 : difficult or impossible for one of ordinary understanding or knowledge to comprehend : deep
- Puerile
- 1 : juvenile 2 : childish, silly
- Flaccid
- 1 a: not firm or stiff
- Inscrutable
- : not readily investigated, interpreted, or understood : mysterious
- Virulent
- 1 a: marked by a rapid, severe, and destructive course; malignant
- Capricious
- impulsive, unpredictable
- acrimonious
- caustic, biting, or rancorous especially in feeling, language, or manner
- a priori
- 1 a: deductive b: relating to or derived by reasoning from self-evident propositions; c: presupposed by experience2 a: being without examination or analysis : presumptive b: formed or conceived beforehand
- Ruminate
- : to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly; [REFLECT]
- Irascible
- : marked by hot temper and easily provoked anger
- antediluvian
- 1: of or relating to the period before the flood described in the Bible 2 a: made, evolved, or developed a long time ago b: extremely primitive or outmoded
- Meretricious
- 1: of or relating to a prostitute : having the nature of prostitution 2 a: tawdrily and falsely attractive
- Blasé
- 1 : apathetic to pleasure or excitement as a result of excessive indulgence or enjoyment; unconcerned
- Enigma
- 1 : an obscure speech or writing 2 : something hard to understand or explain 3 : an inscrutable or mysterious person
- Lugubrious
- 1: mournful; especially : exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful
- Solicitous
- full of concern or fears : apprehensive : meticulously careful : full of desire : eager
- Officious
- a: kind, obliging b: dutiful 2: volunteering one's services where they are neither asked nor needed
- Platonic
- of, relating to, or being a relationship marked by the absence of romance or sex
- Lexicon
- the vocabulary of a language, an individual speaker or group of speakers, or a subject
- Propinquity
- nearness in place or time : proximity
- Jingoistic
- : extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy
- asyndeton
- : omission of the conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words or clauses (as in "I came, I saw, I conquered")
- apposition
- 1 a: a grammatical construction in which two usually adjacent nouns having the same referent stand in the same syntactical relation to the rest of a sentence (as the poet and Burns in "a biography of the poet Burns")
- Somnambulist
- 1 : an abnormal condition of sleep in which motor acts (as walking) are performed
- Bellicose
- favoring or inclined to start quarrels or wars
- Malign
- 1 a: evil in nature, influence, or effect
- Sartorial
- : of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes; broadly : of or relating to clothes
- Salubrious
- : favorable to or promoting health or well-being
- Nefarious
- : flagrantly wicked or impious : evil
- Bucolic
- 1: of or relating to shepherds or herdsmen : pastoral 2 a: relating to or typical of rural life b: idyllic
- Indigenous
- 1 : having originated in and being produced, growing, living, or occurring naturally in a particular region or environment
- Ornithology
- a branch of zoology dealing with birds
- Ennui
- : a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction : boredom
- Vituperate
- : to abuse or censure severely or abusively : berate
- tractable
- 1 : capable of being easily led, taught, or controlled : docile 2 : easily handled, managed, or wrought : malleable
- Inexorable
- : not to be persuaded, moved, or stopped : relentless