AP Lit Vocab (List 1/2/3, Prose Passage + The Awakening + Gatsby)

austere

austere

Grave, serious, sober (sober = serious or solemn)

benevolent

Suggestive of goodwill, kindness, generosity

bitter

Exhibiting strong animosity as a result of pain or grief

compassionate

Sympathetic and showing concern for others

derisive

Ridiculing, mocking

disdainful

Scornful, feeling or belief that something or someone is worthless or despicable

didactic

speaker or author attempts to educate or instruct the reader

funereal

Having the mournful, somber character of a funeral; sepulchral; gloomy

jovial

happy

lamentable

Mournful; marked by regret

learned

Scholarly; erudite

malevolent

Having or showing a desire to harm another; arising from intense and vicious ill will, spite, or hatred; malicious

melancholic

sorrowful

morose

Gloomy, sullen, surly, despondent

pedantic

1. Unimaginative and dull; 2) Narrowly or stodgily (Very old-fashioned) or often very ostentatiously learned

reverent

Treating a subject with honor and respect

solemn

sad and serious; somber

woeful

wretched, unhappy

Apathetic

indifferent due to lack of energy or concern

Bantering

Playful or witty

Condescending

Possessing a feeling of superiority

Conventional

Lacking originality, spontaneity, and individuality

Earnest

Intense, sincere state of mind

Elegiac

Mournful, lamenting, sorrowful

Lyrical

Expressing a poet's inner feelings; emotional; full of images; song-like

Melodramatic

Emotional or dramatic in a way that is very extreme or exaggerated

Obsequious

Polite and obedient in order to gain something

Oppressive

Overwhelming or depressive to the spirit or senses; unreasonably burdensome or severe

Poignant

1. Painfully affecting the feelings; emotionally cutting, piercing, touching; 2) designed to make an impression

Quizzical

Odd, eccentric, amusing

Romantic

Fanciful, impractical, unrealistic; dominated by idealism

Sentimental

1. Weakly emotional; 2) expressive of tender emotions, such as nostalgia, love, pity

Vexed

Annoyed or worried

bombastic

Marked by pretension; speech or writing meant to sound important or impressive but which is not meaningful or sincere; pompous

burlesque

Involving ludicrous or mocking treatment of a solemn subject

cynical

Questioning the basic sincerity and goodness of people

detached

Aloof and objective

erudite

learned, polished, scholarly

haughty

proud and vain to the point of arrogance

hollow

Meaningless, without significance, empty

lugubrious

Full of sorrow or sadness; sad in an exaggerated or insincere manner

moralistic

Characterized by strong feelings of what is right and what is wrong; can be narrow sense of morality (comes off as judgmental)

objective

an unbiased view-able to leave personal judgments aside

ostentatious

Displaying knowledge or wealth that is meant to attract attention, admiration, or envy

petulant

Ill-humored; having or showing the attitude of people who get angry and annoyed when they do not get what they want

pretentious

having or showing the unpleasant quality of people who want to be regarded as more impressive, successful, or important than they really are

satiric

ridiculing to show weakness in order to make a point, teach

turgid

excessively ornate or complex in style or language, pompous, bombastic

wry

Slightly sarcastic in a humorous way; clever with a bit of irony