Vocab Level G Unit 4

Atrophy

n. the wasting away of a body organ or tissue any progressive decline or failure; v. to waste away SYN: n. degeneration, deterioration; v. wither ANT: growth, development v. mature, develop

Bastion

n. fortified place, stronghold SYN: citadel, rampart, bulwark, parapet

Concord

n. a state of agreement, harmony, unanimity; a treaty, pact, covenant ANT: disagreement, strife, discord

Consummate

adj. complete or perfect in the highest degree; v. to bring to a state of completion SYN: adj. masterful; v. clinch, conclude ANT: v. launch, initiate, begin, kick off

Disarray

n. disorder, confusion; v. to throw into disorder SYN: disorganization, dishevel, mess up ANT: organization, order, tidiness

Exigency

n. urgency, pressure; urgent demand, pressing need, emergency SYN: requirement, crisis

Flotsam

n. floating debris, homeless, impoverished people SYN: floating wreckage

Frenetic

adj. frenzied, highly agitated SYN: frantic, overwrought ANT: calm, collected, relaxed, leisurely

Glean

v. to gather bit by bit; to gather small quantities of grain left in a field by the reapers SYN: collect, cull, pick up

Grouse

n. a type of game bird; a complaint; v. to complain, grumble SYN: v. gripe, kvetch, bellyache

Incarcerated

v. to imprison, confine, jail SYN: intern, immure ANT: liberate, release, free

Incumbent

adj. obligatory, required; n. one who hold a specific office at the time spoken of SYN: adj. mandatory, necessary ANT: adj. optional unnecessary

Jocular

adj. humorous, jesting, jolly, joking SYN: waggish, facetious, droll, witty ANT: humorless, solemn, grave earnest, grim

Ludicrous

adj, ridiculous, laughable, absurd SYN: risible, preposterous ANT: heartrending, poignant, pathetic

Mordant

adj, biting or caustic in thought, manner, or style; sharply or bitterly harsh SYN: acrimonious, acidulous, sardonic, scathing ANT: bland, mild, gentle, soothing

nettle

(n.) a prickly or stinging plant; (v.) to arouse displeasure, impatience, or anger; to vex or irritate severely Synonyms: (v.) peeve, annoy, incense, gall, irk Antonyms: (v.) please, delight, soothe, pacify

pecuniary

(adj.) consisting of or measured in money; of or related to money Synonyms: monetary, financial

Pusillanimous

(adj.) contemptibly cowardly or mean-spirited Synonyms: craven, lily-livered Antonyms:southhearted, courageous, daring

Recumbent

(adj.) in a reclining position, lying down, in a posture of one sleeping or resting Synonyms: prone, prostrate, supine, inactive Antonyms: erect, upright, energetic, dynamic

stratagem

(n.) a scheme to outwit or deceive an opponent or to gain an end Synonyms: ruse, trick, ploy, subterfuge

aphorism

a brief saying embodying a moral, a concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words. ex: Ben Franklin’s aphorisms

Apostrophe

when an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important obeject is directly addressed. ex: Juliet addressing Romeo even though he was not there, “Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo”

Appositive

a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it. ex: “John Proctor, a farmer…..”

Assonance

the repition of vowel sounds but not consonant sounds. ex: “The rain in Spain stays mostly in the plain”

Asyndeton

conjunctions are omitted, producing a fast-paced and rapid prose. ex: Veni, Vidi, Vici

Atmosphere

the mood or pervasive feeling insinuated by a literary work. ex: the mood of the crucible is nervous and tense

audience

part of your rhetorical situation (speaker, subject, audience), the person or persons whom comments are directed, affects the tone, meaning.

bildungsroman

this genre of literature denotes the story of a single individual’s gowth and development within the context of a defined social order. The growth process, at its roots a quest of story, has been described as both “an apprenticeship to life” and a “search for meaningful existence within society” ex: Jane Eyre

Cacophony

harsh, discordant sounds, opposite of euphony. ex: Edgar Allen Poe - “In the clamor and the clangor of the bell!”

Chiasmus

repetition of ideas in inverted order. ex: JFK - ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country

Climax

writer arranges ideas in teh order of importance, ex: Veni, vidi, vici

Colloquialism

characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech. ex: Y’all

Concrete

opposite of abstract; identifes things perceived through the senses, such as soft, stench, red, loud, or bitter

connotation

the set of associations implied by a word in addition to its literal meaning consonance - the repetition of consonant counds, but not vowels. ex: affordable - positive connotation, cheap - negative connotation

denotation

the literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning, opposite of connotation

detail

the quote is strictly detail, creating an image, with NO connotation at all, ex: “turned a little to watch what I would do”

dialect

a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabular, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language

diction

word choice used by the author to persuade or to convey tone, purpose, or effect. could be described as technical and abstruse, loft and learned, pedestrian, colloquial, scientific, etc