AP Literature Vocabulary

Abject

w/o pride

Adomonition

gentle criticism

Aloofness

withdrawn/ cold/ distant

Ambivalence

mixed feelings

Anecdotal

unreliable/ based on personal accounts

Anitquated

discredited because of age

Ascetic

practicing self discipline

Assail

to launch an attack

Astuteness

cunning/clever

Capricious

always changing/variable

Churlishly

lacking in civility

Classicim

a movement in literature that refers to reformity (17th and 18th century)

Deluded

believing in something untrue

Discursive

rambling/ unorganized

Disparate

contrasting

Dissipation

Disolution

Duplicitous

two-faced

Elegiac

referring to an elegy

Entreaty

a request

Enumerate

to itemize/ call out individually

Fatalistic

inevitable

Foreboding

Apprehension

Funereal

mournful

Futility

uselessness

Hackneyed

overused/ unoriginal

Impassive

no emotion

Impish

inclined to do naughty things

Facetious

treating serious issues with inappropriate humor

Indignant

annoyance at unfair treatment

Industriousness

diligence

Laudatory

complimentary/ giving praise

Lustrous

reflecting light

Malevolent

evil or malicious

Mock heroic

imitating heroism

Monotony

tedious repetition

Opulence

richness

Perverse

deliberate desire to rebel

Plight

problem or unfortunate situation

Pragmatic

practical

Mercurial

subject to change/ volatile

Reproof

disapproval of/ to reprimand

Ruefully

expressing sorrow

Sanctimonious

holier-than-though attitude

Sardonic

mocking

Secular

non-religous

Serendipitous

occuring by chance/ miraculously

Stoic

Dealing with hardship without complaining

Supercilious

feeling superior

Surreptitious

clandestine/ secretive

Transience

temporary

Unabashed

unashamed

weary

tired

wry

using dry humor