Honors American Literature - Bucher - Vocab: Unit 14

beatific

(adj.) blissful; rendering or making blessed

behemoth

(n.) a creature of enormous size, power, or appearance

beatific

(adj.) blissful; rendering or making blessed

behemoth

(n.) a creature of enormous size, power, or appearance

blandishment

(n., often plural) anything designed to flatter or coax; sweet talk, apple-polishing

cacophonous

(adj.) harsh-sounding, raucous, discordant, dissonant

chicanery

(n.) trickery, deceptove practices or tactics, double-dealing

consign

(v.) to give over to another’s care, charge, or control; to entrust, deliver; to set apart for a special use

coup

(n.) a highly successful stroke, masterstroke, tour de force, act, plan, or stratagem; a sudden takeover of power or leadership

euphemism

(n.) a mild or inoffensive expression used in place of a hasrh or unpleasant one; a substitute

febrile

(adj.) feverish; pertaining to or marked by fever; frenetic

gainsay

(v,) to deny, contradict, controvert; to dispute, oppose

imminent

(adj.) about to happen, threatening

innate

(adj.) natural, inborn, inherent; built-in

loath

(adj.) unwilling, reluctant, disinclined

manifest

(adj.) clear, evident to the eyes or mind

(v.) to show plainly, exhibit, evince

(n.) a list of cargo and/or passengers

minutiae

(plural n.) small or trivial details, trifiling matters

moratorium

(n.) a suspension of activity; an official waiting period; an authorized period of delay

nostrum

(n.) an alleged cure-all; a remedy or scheme of questionable effectiveness

pariah

(n.) one who is rejected by a social group or organization

visionary

(adj.) not practical, lacking in realism; having the nature of a fantasy or dream

(n.) one given to far-fetched ideas; a dreamer or seer characterized by vision or foresight

wizened

(adj. participle) dry, shrunken, and wrinkled (often as a result of aging)