Balzac and the Lil Chinese Seamstress Vocab

Astute

Clever and quick to understand situations.

Bourgeois

Having middle-class values, especially valuing education, money, and comfort.

Coquetry

Playful behavior used to attract romantic attention.

Dote

To show someone a lot of love and affection.

Foreboding

A feeling that something bad is about to happen.

Furtive

Secretive, especially when hiding something.

Galvanize

To inspire someone to take action.

Languid

Moving slowly because of tiredness or lack of energy.

Macabre

Dark or disturbing, especially involving death.

Neophyte

Someone who is new to an activity or experience.

Picturesque

Beautiful and attractive, like a painting.

Prolific

Producing a lot of stories, writing, or other work.

Prudent

Making careful and sensible decisions.

Risible

So ridiculous that it makes people laugh.

Swagger

Walking or acting with exaggerated confidence.

Zealot

Someone extremely devoted to a belief or cause.

Loquacious

Someone who talks a lot.

Tenacious

Someone who refuses to give up.

Pugnacious

Someone who is quick to argue or fight.

Rapacious

Extremely greedy or eager to take more.

Veracious

Honest and truthful.

Voracious

Having a strong desire for food, books, or knowledge.

Carnage

A scene of great death or destruction.

Carrion

The decaying flesh of dead animals.

Reincarnation

The belief that a person is born again in another body after death.

Coherent

Speaking or writing clearly so others can understand.

Collusion

Secretly working together to deceive someone.

Commemorate

To honor or remember an important event.

Cognizance

Awareness or understanding of something.

Coalesce

To come together and form one group.

Colloquial

Everyday language used in casual conversations.

Contagious

Able to spread from one person to another.

Corrode

To slowly wear away or damage something.

Dispel

To make a fear, doubt, or belief disappear.

Dislodge

To force something out of its place.

Disband

To break up a group.

Disquiet

A feeling of worry or uneasiness.

Embodiment

Someone who represents a certain quality.

Enthrall

To completely capture someone's attention.

Engender

To cause a feeling or situation to develop.

Ensconce

To settle comfortably or securely somewhere.

Envisage

To imagine something happening in the future.

Endemic

Naturally common in a particular place.

Emblematic

Representing an important idea or quality.

Fallacious

Based on false information or incorrect reasoning.

Fallible

Capable of making mistakes.

Falsify

To change information to make it untrue.

Fallacy

A false belief or incorrect way of thinking.

Forgo

To give something up or go without it.

Forlorn

Feeling lonely, sad, or hopeless.

Forsake

To abandon someone or something.

Forbear

To hold back from doing something.

Forswear

To formally give up or reject something.

Sophisticate

Someone with refined tastes and knowledge of the world.

Sophistry

Clever arguments used to trick or mislead others.

Sophomoric

Immature or childish behavior.