ms c midterm

Assuage

(v.) to make easier or milder, relieve; to quiet, calm; to put an end to, appease, satisfy, quench

Expostulate

to attempt to dissuade someone from some course or decision by earnest reasoning

Intercede

(v.) to plead on behalf of someone else; to serve as a third party or go-between in a disagreement

Meritorious

worthy, deserving recognition and praise

Unctuous

(adj.) Excessively smooth or smug; trying too hard to give an impression of earnestness, sincerity, or piety; fatty, oily; pliable

Ameliorate

to improve

Exhort

(v.) to urge strongly, advise earnestly

Ingratiate

(v.) to make oneself agreeable and thus gain favor or acceptance by others (sometimes used in a critical or derogatory sense)

Inveigh

(v.) to make a violent attack in words, express strong disapproval

Stringent

(adj.) strict, severe; rigorously or urgently binding or compelling; sharp or bitter to the taste

Abominate

to have an intense dislike or hatred for

Adventitious

(adj.) resulting from chance rather than from an inherent cause or character; accidental, not essential; (medicine) acquired, not congenital

Expiate

(v.) to make amends, make up for; to avert

Tenuous

(adj.) thin, slender, not dense; lacking clarity or sharpness; of slight importance or significance; lacking a sound basis, poorly supported

Vitriolic

(adj.) bitter, sarcastic; highly caustic or biting (like a strong acid)

Aggrandize

(v.) to increase in greatness, power, or wealth; to build up or intensify; to make appear greater

Archetype

a very typical example of a certain person or thing

Erudite

(adj.) scholarly, learned, bookish, pedantic

Inscrutable

(adj.) incapable of being understood; impossible to see through physically

Remonstrate

(v.) to argue or plead with someone against something, protest against, object to

Axiomatic

self-evident, expressing a universally accepted principle or rule

Blazon

to adorn or embellish; to display conspicuously; to publish or proclaim widely

Extricate

(v.) to free from entanglements or difficulties; to remove with effort

Scathing

(adj.) bitterly severe, withering; causing great harm

Straitlaced

(adj.) extremely strict in regard to moral standards and conduct; prudish, puritanical

Aspersion

(n.) a damaging or derogatory statement; the act of slandering or defaming

Brusque

(adj.) abrupt, blunt, with no formalities

Cajole

(v.) to coax, persuade through flattery or artifice; to deceive with soothing thoughts or false promises

Disabuse

(v.) to free from deception or error, set right in ideas or thinking

Surreptitious

(adj.) stealthy, secret, intended to escape observation; made or accomplished by fraud

Concoct

(v.) to prepare by combining ingredients, make up (as a dish); to devise, invent, fabricate

Debase

(v.) to lower in character, quality, or value; to degrade, adulterate; to cause to deteriorate

Grandiose

(adj.) grand in an impressive or stately way; marked by pompous affectation or grandeur, absurdly exaggerated

Mitigate

to make milder or softer, to moderate in force or intensity

Reprove

to find fault with, scold, rebuke

Tone

Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character, ONE WORD

Theme

Central idea of a work of literature, overall idea

Topic

the subject treated in a paragraph or work

Metaphor

A comparison without using like or as

Simile

A comparison using "like" or "as"

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event

Hyperbole

exaggeration

Personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

characterization (direct)

information provided by narrator about character(s)

Characterization (indirect)

implied from what others say about the character

Imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste), MORE DESCRIPTION

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Dramatic Irony

when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

Loaded language

words that imply a value judgement, used to persuade a reader without having made a serious argument

Ethos

credibility

Pathos

Appeal to emotion

Logos

Appeal to logic

Foil

A character who acts as a contrast to another character

Symbols

anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture