Past AP Literature Exam Vocab

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes

Acquiescent

Agreeing, but not really thrilled about it.

Allusive

Referring to literary works, history, etc.

Bemused

Stupified, bewildered, dazed.

Complacent

Satisfied, smug.

Contentious

Quarrelsome.

Depraved

Marked by corruption or evil.

Didactic

Designed or intended to teach; instructive.

Droll

Humorously odd, charmingly amusing, comical.

Ephemeral

Lasting a very short time, transient.

Erudite

Educated, scholarly, learned, possessing or displaying knowledge acquired chiefly from books.

Exultant

Jubilant, triumphant, elated.

Haughty

Blatantly and disdainfully proud.

Inimical

Unfriendly, hostile.

Lofty

Elevated in character and spirit, noble.

Lugubrious

Very sad, mournful, lamenting.

Oratorical

Showy in style.

Pedagogical

Relating to or befitting a teacher or education.

Pedantic

Too narrowly concerned with learned matters; bookish.

Sanguine

Cheerful, optimistic.

Sardonic

Sarcastic, sneering and ironical.

Solicitous

Showing care or concern for another's welfare.

Acerbic

Harsh or corrosive in tone.

Acrimonious

Marked by strong resentment or cynicism.

Admonitory

Expressing reproof or reproach especially as a corrective.

Adroit

Quick or skillful or adept in action or thought.

Adulatory

To praise or admire excessively; fawn on.

Aggrandizing

Attempting to make your business or yourself see more accomplished or grander than reality.

Altruistic

Showing unselfish concern for the welfare of others.

Ambivalent

Characterized by a mixture of opposite feelings or attitudes.

Antithetic

Sharply contrasted in character or purpose.

Ardent

Intense emotion.

Baneful

Deadly or sinister.

Beseeching

Begging.

Brash

Offensively bold.

Bucolic

Used of idealized country life.

Cacophonous

Having an unpleasant sound.

Cajoling

To persuade by flattery or promises; coax.

Capricious

Determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason.

Caustic

Harsh or corrosive in tone.

Censorious

Harshly critical or expressing censure.

Clandestine

Conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods.

Coalesced

Joined together into a whole.

Conciliatory

Overcoming animosity or hostility.

Condemnatory

Containing or imposing condemnation or censure.

Culpable

Deserving blame or censure as being wrong or evil.

Curt

Marked by rude or peremptory shortness.

Derisive

Abusing vocally.

Despotic

Belonging to or having the characteristics of a despot.

Desultory

Marked by lack of definite plan or regularity or purpose.

Dogmatic

Characterized by arrogant assertion of unproved or unprovable principles.

Ebullient

Joyously unrestrained.

Effusive

Uttered with unrestrained enthusiasm.

Elegiac

Expressing sorrow often for something past.

Encumbered

Loaded to excess or impeded by a heavy load.

Enigmatic

Mysterious, inexplicable, puzzling.

Enmity

A state of deep-seated ill-will.

Equivocating

Using vague or ambiguous language to mislead.

Esoteric

Confined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circle.

Exculpatory

Clearing of guilt or blame.

Extolling

Praising highly.

Facetious

Cleverly amusing in tone.

Fallacious

Intended to deceive.

Fervent

Characterized by intense emotion.

Guileless

Free of deceit.

Hallow

To set apart as holy or sacred.

Ignoble

Completely lacking nobility in character or quality.

Ignominious

Deserving or bringing disgrace or shame.

Impudent

Improperly forward or bold.

Ingratiating

Calculated to please or gain favor.

Insalubrious

Detrimental to health.

Laconic

Brief and to the point.

Litigious

Inclined or showing an inclination to dispute or disagree.

Loquacious

Full of trivial conversation.

Lurid

Horrible in fierceness or savagery.

Melancholic

Characterized by or causing or expressing sadness.

Mercurial

Liable to sudden unpredictable change.

Misanthropic

Believing the worst of human nature and motives.

Mitigating

To cause to become less harsh or hostile.

Mollifying

To soothe in temper or disposition; appease.

Multifarious

Having many aspects.

Obdurate

Showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings.

Obsequious

Attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner.

Officious

Intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner.

Penurious

Excessively unwilling to spend.

Phlegmatic

Showing little emotion.

Placating

Tending or intended to pacify by acceding to demands or granting concessions.

Pontifical

Puffed up with vanity.

Proselytizing

To convert from one belief to another.

Pugnacious

Ready and able to resort to force or violence.

Punctilious

Marked by precise accordance with details.

Rapacious

Excessively greedy and grasping.

Recalcitrant

Marked by stubborn resistance to and defiant or authority or guidance.

Rectitudinous

Piously self-righteous.

Reproving

Expressing reproof or reproach especially as a corrective.

Reticent

Reluctant to draw attention to yourself.

Restive

Impatient especially under restriction or delay.

Rueful

Feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins.

Sated

Satisfied.

Scintillating

Brilliantly clever.

Sedulous

Marked by care and persistent effort.