ap lit - winter exam

acquisitive

(adj)

__**greedy; good at getting/ keeping info**__

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syn: grasping, avaricious, retentive

ant: altruistic, unretentive

banal

(adj)

__**common; stale**__

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syn: insipid

ant: fresh, novel, original, new

belabor

(v)

__**to overwork**__

coherent

(adj)

__**connected**__

\
syn: unified, consistent, cohesive

ant: muddled, chaotic, disjointed

emulate

(v)

__**to copy to surpass**__

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syn: mimic, rival, match, measure up to

eschew

(v)

__**to shun**__

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syn: abstain from, steer clear of, forgo

ant: embrace, adopt

germane

(adj)

__**relative, fitting**__

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syn: pertinent

ant: irrelevant, extraneous, inappropriate

insatiable

(adj)

__**unquenchable**__

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syn: ravenous, voracious

substantiate

(v)

__**to prove**__

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syn: verify, confirm, validate, authenticate

ant: refute, disprove, invalidate

tenable

(adj)

__**defensible**__

\
syn: justifiable, maintainable

ant: indefensible, unjustifiable

accost

(v)

__**to approach; challenge**__

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syn: buttonhole, confront

ant: evade, avoid, shun

brackish

(adj)

__**unpleasant to drink**__

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syn: briny, saline

ant: fresh, clear, sweet

celerity

(n)

__**swiftness; rapid action**__

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syn: proptness, alacrity, speed

ant: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

gambit

(n)

__**risky chess move**__

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syn: ploy, stratagem, ruse, maneuver

halcyon

__**(n) legendary bird**__

__**(adj) peaceful; affluent**__

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syn: tranquil, serene, placid, palmy

ant: turbulent, chaotic, tumultuous

incendiary

__**(adj) setting fires**__

__**(n) arsonist**__

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syn: inflammatory, provocative, firebrand

ant: soothing, quieting, peacemaker

myopic

(adj)

__**shortsighted; closed-minded**__

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ant: farsighted

overt

(adj)

__**open; easily recognized**__

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syn: clear, obvious, manifest, patent

ant: secret, clandestine, covert, concealed

sacrilege

(n)

__**disrespectful to sacred people/ objects**__

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syn: desecration, profanation, defilement

undulate

(v)

__**to move in a wavelike motion**__

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syn: ripple, fluctuate, rise and fall

credence

(n)

__**trust; credit**__

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syn: confidence, belief

ant: disbelief, skepticism, incredulity

decry

(v)

__**denounce**__

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syn: condemn, depreciate, censure, devalue

ant: tout, commend, extol, laud, praise

distraught

(adj)

__**upset**__

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syn: frantic, distracted, agitated

ant: calm, composed, collected

evince

(v)

__**to exhibit**__

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syn: display, manifest, occasion, provoke

feckless

(adj)

__**lacking in spiritual strength**__

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syn: feeble, helpless, incompetent, ineffectual, unreliable

ant: competent, capable, effective

nefarious

(adj)

__**wicked**__

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syn: iniquitous, reprehensible

ant: virtuous, honorable, praiseworthy, meritorious

primordial

(adj)

__**beginning/ original**__

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syn: primeval, primal, fundamental, basic

propinquity

(n)

__**proximity/ similarity**__

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syn: kinship ant: remoteness, distance

verbiage

(n)

__**wordy**__

\
syn: verbosity, prolixity, diction, jargon

viscous

(adj)

__**thick**__

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syn: gummy, sticky, gelatinous

ant: runny, watery, aqueous

atrophy

(n) (v)

__**to waste away**__

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syn: degeneration, deterioration, wither

ant: growth, development, mature, develop

bastion

(n)

__**fortified place**__

\
syn: citadel, rampart, bulwark, parapet, stronghold

consummate

(adj) (v)

__**to complete; to perfect**__

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syn: masterful, clinch, conclude

ant: launch, initiate, begin, kick off

exigency

(n)

__**urgency**__

\
syn: requirement, crisis, pressure, demand, pressing need, emergency

glean

(v)

__**gather bit by bit**__

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syn: collect, cull, pick up

incumbent

(adj) (n)

__**required; holds a specific office**__

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syn: mandatory, necessary, obligatory

ant: optional, unnecessary

ludicrous

(adj)

__**ridiculous**__

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syn: risible, preposterous, laughable, absurd

ant: heartbreaking, poignant, pathetic

mordant

(adj)

__**harsh; bitterly sarcastic**__

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syn: acrimonious, acidulous, sardonic, scathing, caustic

ant: bland, mild, gentle, soothing

pusillanimous

(adj)

__**cowardly; mean**__

\
syn: craven, lily-livered

ant: stouthearted, courageous, daring

stratagem

(n)

__**scheme to outwit/ decieve**__

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syn: ruse, trick, ploy, subterfuge

acuity

(n)

__**sharpness of mind/ senses**__

\
syn: keenness, acuteness

ant: dullness, obtuseness

depraved

(adj)

__**evil; corrupt; immoral**__

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syn: perverted, degenerate, vicious

ant: moral, virtuous, upright, uncorrupted

fecund

(adj)

__**prolific in offspring or ideas**__

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syn: fertile, teeming

ant: infertile, barren, unproductive

figment

(n)

__**fabrication of the mind; unreasonable thought**__

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syn: creation, invention, fancy

garner

(v)

__**to receive from effort; to store for future use**__

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syn: collect, accumulate, accrue

ant: scatter, squander, waste, dissipate

hallow

(v)

__**to deem as holy/ sacred**__

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syn: sanctify, consecrate, revere, venerate, bless

ant: desecrate, defile, profane

idiosyncrasy

(n)

__**serves to distinguish/ identify**__

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syn: eccentricity, quirk, mannerism

mundane

(adj)

__**earthly; practical affairs; ordinary**__

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syn: prosaic, humdrum, routine, sublunary

ant: heavenly, unworldly, spiritual, transcendental

nuance

(n)

__**slight variation in color, meaning, or quality**__

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syn: shade, nicety, refinement

penchant

(n)

__**strong attraction/ inclination**__

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syn: proclivity, propensity, predilection

ant: disinclination, aversion

simile

comparison using “like” or “as”

“it is with words, as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn”

simile

metaphor

comparison

“life the hound / equivocal / comes at a bound / either to rend me / or to befriend”

metaphor

personification

giving the attributes of a human being to an animal, object, or concept

“those guns will fire”

metonymy

apostrophe

addressing someone absent, dead, or non-human as if that person or thing was present

“tiger! tiger! burning bright / in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye / could frame thy fearful symmetry”

apostrophe

overstatement

exaggeration that holds some semblance of truth

“o, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! / it seems she hangs upon the cheek of night / like a rich jewel in an ethiope’s ear”

overstatement

metonymy

something closely related to the thing actually meant

“joy and temperance and repose / slam the door on the doctor’s nose”

personification

synecdoche

part of a whole

“malt does more than milton can / to justify god’s ways to man”

synecdoche

imagery

the representation through language of sense experience

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* Tactile appeals to *touch* 
* Organic appeals to what we *feel inside*
* Kinesthetic appeals to *body movements*

“the air was soft the ground still cold”

“and rocks to twitch, and all to blur”

“as when a set mind, blessed by doubt”

tactile, kinesthetic, and organic imagery

symbol

something that represents or stands for another thing

understatement

saying less than one means

“and the silent nights” (in the inner city)

understatement

denotation

the literal meaning of a word

connotation

the abstract meaning of a word

allusion

a reference to something in past literature, history, pop culture, or people

“so eden sank to grief, / so dawn goes down to day”

allusion

juxtaposition

placing two or more things side by side to create a contrast

“it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”

juxtaposition

irony

text that means the opposite of what is directly said

"son, we want you to tell us everything!"

"today I killed a man. yesterday I helped drap napalm on women and children”

"please don't write us such depressing letters"

irony