AP Lit and Comp: Handmaid's Tale Vocab

Acquisitive

Eager to possess or obtain things

Abdicate

To give up a position of power

Abasement

Humiliation or degradation

Absolve

To free someone from guilt

Approbation

Approval or praise

Archaic

Very old-fashioned

Atrocity

An extremely cruel or violent act

Audacity

Boldness or daring

Barren

Unable to produce offspring; infertile

Bereaved

Having lost someone through death

Benevolent

Kind or charitable

Blasphemy

Disrespect toward religious beliefs

Complicity

Involvement in wrongdoing

Decorum

Proper behavior or manners

Deferential

Respectfully submissive

Demure

Modest or reserved

Disconsolate

Extremely unhappy

Eccentric

Unconventional or unusual

Emaciated

Extremely thin or weakened

Equivocal

Ambiguous or uncertain

Fervor

Intense enthusiasm

Futility

The quality of being pointless

Heretical

Contrary to accepted religious beliefs

Ignominious

Shameful or humiliating

Implore

To beg urgently

Incredulous

Unwilling or unable to believe

Indignation

Anger caused by injustice

Insatiability

An inability to be satisfied

Inscrutable

Difficult to understand

Irreverent

Showing disrespect toward authority or religion

Jaunty

Cheerful and confident

Jocularity

Joking or humor

Languid

Lacking energy

Lethargic

Sluggish or inactive

Lugubrious

Excessively gloomy

Macabre

Disturbingly related to death

Munificent

Extremely generous

Obscurity

The state of being unknown

Obstinately

Stubbornly

Opaque

Difficult to understand

Ornate

Elaborately decorated

Palpable

Easily felt or perceived

Paranoid

Excessively suspicious

Penance

An act of religious punishment or repentance

Perfunctory

Done mechanically without genuine effort

Pervade

To spread throughout

Platitude

An overused, unoriginal statement

Precarious

Uncertain or unstable

Procure

To obtain something

Querulous

Complaining or irritable

Ravenous

Extremely hungry

Reproach

Criticism or disapproval

Relinquish

To give up something

Repentance

Regret for wrongdoing

Revile

To criticize or insult harshly

Sardonic

Mocking or cynical

Servile

Excessively submissive

Sibilant

Having a hissing sound

Solemn

Serious and formal

Subversive

Undermining established authority

Superfluous

Unnecessary

Surly

Bad-tempered or unfriendly

Tactile

Related to touch

Treachery

Betrayal

Tremulous

Shaking or trembling

Trivial

Unimportant

Uncouth

Crude or socially inappropriate

Undulate

To move in waves

Vindictive

Seeking revenge

Volition

The power to make choices

Wary

Cautious or suspicious

Whimsical

Playfully unusual

Wistful

Longing or melancholy

Zeal

Great enthusiasm

Handmaid

Fertile woman assigned to bear children for an elite household

Martha

Woman assigned domestic household labor

Econowife

Wife of a lower-status man who performs multiple roles

Unwoman

Woman rejected by Gilead's social system

Unbaby

Baby considered unacceptable by Gilead

Particicution

Collective execution in which citizens participate

Salvaging

Public execution presented as religious justice

Prayvaganza

Public religious gathering

Birthmobile

Vehicle transporting Handmaids to births

Compubite

Punishment involving biting

Gender Traitor

Gilead's derogatory term for homosexual people

Eyes

Gilead's secret police

Angels

Soldiers in Gilead

Guardians

Lower-ranking male security personnel

Jezebel's

Secret establishment where elite men access prohibited entertainment

Ceremony

Ritualized reproductive assault presented as religious duty

Colonies

Places where marginalized people perform dangerous labor

Mayday

Distress signal associated with rescue and resistance

Under His Eye

Religious expression implying surveillance

Blessed Be the Fruit

Greeting associated with fertility

Praise Be

Religious response

Milk and Honey

Biblical expression associated with abundance

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum

Mock-Latin phrase meaning approximately "Don't let the bastards grind you down"

Palimpsest

Represents layers of history and traces of the past

Fraternize

To associate socially, especially with men

Sororize

Invented counterpart to fraternize, suggesting female solidarity