Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus Vocab Words

Abhor

regard with disgust or hatred

Amiable

having or displaying a friendly and pleasant reminder

Brazen

 shameless, bold, and unashamed of one’s actions

Buttress

a projecting support of stone or brick built against a wall

Chaplets

a form of Christian prayer

Concussive

 temporary unconsciousness or confusion caused by a blow to the head

Consummation

the point at which something is complete or finalized

Contagion

the spreading of a disease by someone touching another person who is already affected by the disease

Epithalamion

a song or poem celebrating a marriage

Execrable

extremely bad or unpleasant

Extenuation

the act of presenting partial excuses to lessen the perceived seriousness of a fault, offense, or punishment

Flinty

(of a person or their expression) very hard and unyielding

Foreboding

fearful apprehension; a feeling that something bad will happen

Haughtiness

the appearance or quality of being arrogantly superior and disdainful

Impious

not showing respect or reverence, especially for a god

Incarnate

(especially of a deity or spirit) embodied in flesh; in human form

Lamentation

 the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping

Laurel

any of several shrubs and other plants with dark green, glossy leaves

Libations

a drink poured out as an offering to a deity

Littoral

a region lying along a shore

Lustration

a formal process of removing public officials, particularly those associated with a previous oppressive regime, to “purify” the state

Maundering

talk in a rambling manner

Marauding

going about in search of things to steal or people to attack

Nightingales

a small European bird with brownish plumage, noted for the rich song of the male, heard especially at night in breeding season

Obdurate

 stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or course of action

Parricide

the killing of a parent or other near relative

Pasturage

land used for pasture

Perquisites

a thing regarded as a special right or privilege enjoyed as a result of one’s position

Pilgrimage

a pilgrim’s journey

Portents

a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen

Prerogative

a right or privilege exclusive to a particular individual or class

Profanation

the act of saying or doing something barbarous or terribly offensive

Prudence

the quality of showing care and thought for the future; cautiousness

Reprisal

an act of retaliation

Shroud

a thing that envelopes or obscures something

Sepulcher

 a small room or monument, cut in rock or built of stone, in which a dead person is laid or buried

Suppliant

a person making a humble plea to someone in power or authority

Supplication

the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly

Vigil

a period of keeping awake during the time usually spent asleep, especially to keep watch or pray

Wheedle

to try to persuade someone to do something or give you something by using flattering, coaxing, or beguiling words and actions