English II Honors Sem 2 Vocabulary

Façade

A false front, a masking of unpleasantness.

Nostalgia

Remembrance, reminiscence, regret.

Wistful

A feeling of regretful longing, yearning.

Pine

To long for.

Degenerate

Someone who lacks moral qualities.

Adversity

Opposition, obstacles.

Sanctimonious

Pretending to be morally superior to others.

Epitaph

A phrase written in memory of someone who has died.

Provincial

Narrow minded, restricted to your area of growth or birth.

Specious

Superficially plausible, but wrong; misleading.

Resilience

The ability to overcome adversity.

Pragmatic

Practical.

Transactional

Doing something to get something back; 'strings attached'.

Genteel

Polite, refined, respectable.

Recalcitrant

Being resistant to authority.

Devout

Having intense commitment to a belief, usually religious.

Gullible

Easily fooled.

Foil

To prevent something from succeeding or happening.

Escapist

A person who seeks distraction from unpleasant realities.

Philistine

Someone uncultured or uneducated.

Seismic

Something big or profound; used in context with earthquakes.

Jocular

Fond of or characterized by humor.

Stifle

To suffocate, choke, asphyxiate.

Skeptic

A person inclined to doubt accepted opinions.

Fiscal

Relating to government revenue, especially taxes.

Vicinity

The area near or surrounding a place.

Quotidian

Daily or everyday in a mundane fashion.

Matrimony

The state or ceremony of being married.

Acquiescence

The reluctant acceptance of something without protest.

Elixir

A magical potion or medicinal potion.

Delusional

Believing things that could not possibly be true.

Maternal

Relating to motherhood.

Paternal

Relating to fatherhood.

Gravitas

Dignity, seriousness, importance of manner.

Scapegoating

Blaming someone else for your own faults.

Arbitrary

Lacking consistency, unusual.

Alias

A fake name.

Sophomoric

Relating to sophomore years; juvenile, immature.

Oblivious

Unaware, lacking awareness of surroundings.

Jingoism

Extreme patriotism.

Benign

Mild, harmless.

Edification

Furthering of knowledge.

Chicanery

Deception, trickery.

Tomfoolery

Ridiculousness, shenanigans.

Casualty

A death or injury in war.

Stoic

Unchanging emotions.

Acerbic

Speaking sharply and sarcastically.

Paradox

In a seeming absurd or self-contradicting way.

Tabula rasa

A fresh start, blank slate.

Phoenix

Symbolizes immortality and renewal.

Crying wolf

Someone who exaggerates or raises false alarms.

Boomer

A term referring to the baby boomer generation.

Quid pro quo

This for that; I'll do something for you if you do something for me.

Glass ceiling

An artificially imposed limit on something.

Glass houses

Don't criticize others for their faults.

The Golden Rule

Treat everyone as you want to be treated.

Pontius Pilate

Washing hands of a situation.

Suffrage/19th amendment

Voting rights for women.

Half full

Optimistic.

Half empty

Pessimistic.

In for a penny, in for a pound

Commit fully and don't do it half-heartedly.

One fell swoop

Doing something all at once.

Groupthink

Thinking or decision-making as a group that discourages individual responsibility.

Low hanging fruit

Picking easy choices for instant results.

Abolitionist

Someone who is against slavery.

Stiff upper lip

Facing difficulties without showing emotion.

PTSD

Post traumatic stress disorder.

Survivor’s guilt

Questioning why you survived when others did not.

Libel vs slander

Libel is written defamation; slander is spoken defamation.

Wary vs. weary

Wary means cautious; weary means tired.

Persecuted vs. prosecuted

Persecuted means attacked, prosecuted means taken to court.

Jail vs. prison

Jail is for shorter sentences; prison is for longer sentences.

Shank vs. shiv

Shank is a verb; shiv is a homemade knife.

Peak/peek/pique

Peak is top of a mountain; peek means to look sneakily; pique stimulates interest.

Uncharted vs. Unchartered

Uncharted refers to unknown territory; unchartered means not officially registered.

180 vs. 360

180 is opposite direction; 360 is a full circle.

Static vs. dynamic

Static means unchanging; dynamic means flexible.

Real vs. really

Real is factual; really is an adverb for emphasizing truth.

Sophomore

Relating to second-year students.

Equally as important

Redundant phrase; just say 'equally important'.

Definitely

Guaranteed, without doubt.

Defiantly

To do something against one's will.

Toe the line

To adhere to rules or standards.