Ap Lit Vocab Unit 5

Aficionado

• Noun

  • An enthusiastic and usually expert follower or fan

• I have been an aficionado of football since my youth.

Browbeat

• Verb

  • To intimidate by a stern or overbearing manner

  • To bully

• The dissatisfied customer had to browbeat the store manager into refunding his money.

Commensurate

• Adjective

  • Equal in size, extent, duration, or importance

  • Proportionate, measurable by the same standards

• All employees got raises commensurate with their efforts.

Diaphanous

• Adjective

  • Very sheer and light

  • Almost completely transparent

• We were asked to use a diaphanous material like gauze to make the costumes

Emolument

• Noun

  • Profit derived from an office or position or from employment

  • A fee or salary

• Choosing an equitable emolument for the mayor was the latest of the city council’s acts.

Foray

• Noun

  • A quick raid, especially for plunder

  • A venture into some field of endeavor

• Verb

  • To make such a raid

• The cavalry’s foray behind enemy lines was a great success.

• Counting on the element of surprise, the general ordered the troops to foray before dawn.

Genre

• Noun

  • A type, class, or variety, especially a distinctive category of literary composition

  • A style of painting in which everyday scenes are realistically depicted

• The science fiction genre has produced several classics

Homily

• Noun

  • A sermon stressing moral principles; a tedious moralizing lecture or discourse

• The topic of this week’s homily is respect for diversity.

Immure

• Verb

  • To enclose or confine within walls

  • To imprison

  • To seclude or isolate

• The criminal was immured for life in a narrow cell.

Insouciant

• Adjective

  • Blithely indifferent or unconcerned

  • Carefree

  • Happy-go-lucky

• After months of worrying about the fate of his new project, the man was determined to lead a more insouciant life thereafter.

Matrix

• Noun

  • A mold

  • The surrounding situation or environment

• Scientists discovered a tiny prehistoric creature fossilized in a matrix of amber.

Obsequies

• Noun

  • Funeral rites or ceremonies

• The nation held somber obsequies for its beloved leader.

Panache

• Noun

  • A confident and stylish manner, dash

  • A strikingly elaborate or colorful display

• In the film The Adventures of Robin Hood, the actor Errol Flynn captures the panache of the bandit.

Persona

• Noun

  • A character in a novel or play; the outward character or role that a person assumes

• The comic persona of Charlie Chaplin is recognizable the world over.

Philippic

• Noun

  • A bitter verbal attack

• The senator delivered a philippic against the proposed law and those who supported it.

Prurient

• Adjective

  • Having lustful desires or interests

• Considered a prurient novel by some, Ulysses, was once banned from sale in the United States.

Sacrosanct

• Adjective

  • Very sacred or holy

  • Inviolable

  • Set apart or immune from questioning or attack

• Members of the clergy felt privileged to be entrusted with guarding the sacrosanct relic.

Systemic

• Adjective

  • Of or pertaining to the entire body

  • Relating to a system or systems

• The singer suffered a systemic breakdown after the long and demanding season.

Tendentious

• Adjective

  • Intended to promote a particular point of view, doctrine, or cause

  • Biased or partisan

• The candidate’s supporters heartily applauded her tendentious arguments.

Vicissitude

• Noun

  • A change, variation, or alteration

  • Plural

    • Successive or changing phases or conditions

• The inevitable vicissitude of life affects us all.