Brave New World - Cultural Literacy and Vocabulary List #2

coquettish

coquettish

flirtatious

oblique

slanting, indirectly (literal and figurative)

queue

line; to line up

strumpet

women with low moral character; prostitute

impudent

boldly disrespectful

moribund

dying

sedulous

persistent; dedicated/diligent to a cause

propitiate

to win the will of; appease

turpitude

moral corruption

abstemious

moderation of food and drink

abject

miserable; wretched

promiscuous

someone with multiple sexual partners

The English social scientist who theorized that people would not have enough food soon because of overpopulation

Thomas Malthus

Something you shouldn’t talk about

Sacred cow

Karl Marx’s partner, helped write the Communist Manifesto

Friedrich Engels

Turkish World War I war hero; leader of Turkey; aligned Turkey with the West; adopted secularism throughout Turkey

Mustafa Kemal

Camaraderie of a group

Esprit de corps

An adult behaving like a terrible baby

Enfant terrible

To suffer a humiliating experience; to talk a big game, then that game falls apart

“Eat crow”

Aldous Huxley’s 1954 book detailing experiences with mescaline, derived from peyote

The Doors of Perception

To add unnecessarily to something already good, ruining it

“Gild the lily”

Wealth/fame without freedom

(Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do, reputation)

“A bird in a gilded cage”