English 11 AP Midterm Vocab

dont fail

abut

(v.) border on; adjoin

baleful

(adj.) deadly; sinister

bestial

(adj.) savage; like an animal

bravado

(n.) pretended courage

carnivorous

(adj.) flesh eating

deign

(v.) to think it beneath one’s dignity; condescend; give

draconian

(adj.) harsh or vigorous; a law or code of extreme severity

elfin

(adj.) fairylike; delicate; small and charmingly merry or mischievous

equine

(adj.) a horse; of like, or characteristic of a horse

exhume

(v.) to dig out of the earth; disinter; reveal. From the Latin humus “ground”

gossamer

(adj.) soft, sheer, gauzy fabric; fine film of cobwebs seen in autumn; anything delicate, light or insubstantial

incommunicado

(adj.) without the means or right of communication with others, as one held in solitary confinement

moot

(noun/adj.) discussion or argument of a hypothetical law case; debatable; so hypothetical as to be meaningless

picayune

(adj.) of little value or account; petty or prejudiced

predator

(n.) an animal that preys on others; one who abuses others for his own gain

rigamarole

(n.) confused, incoherent, foolish talk; a complicated and petty procedure

roil

(v.) to make a liquid cloudy or muddy; to stir up or agitate; to make angry; rile

teeming

(adj.) swarming; prolific or fertile

thrall

(n.) a person under the moral, physical, or psychological domination of something or someone

titanic

(adj.) of enormous size, strength, or power