Vocab 1, 2, & 3 - English 10

Alchemist

person who transforms or creates something through a seemingly magical process called alchemy

Abashed

made to feel uncomfortable, disconcerted, or embarrassed by something that has happened or been done or said

Parable

simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson

Zenith

the time at which something is most powerful or successful

Infidel

person who does not believe in religion or who adheres to a religion other than one’s one

Trajectory

the path followed by an object moving under the action of given forces

Teem

be full of or swarming with

Omen

sign regarded as an indicator of something good or evil to come

Marvel

be willed with wonder or astonishment

Intonation

manner of utterance; specifically: the rise and fall in pitch of the voice in speech

Capricious

given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior

Intuitive

using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive

Balk

hesitate or be unwilling to accept an idea or undertaking

Obligation

something by which a person is bound to do certain things, and which arises out of a sense of duty or results from custom, law, etc.

Immense

extremely large or great, especially in scale or degree

Descend

move or fall downward

Vanity

excessive pride in or admiration of one’s own appearance or achievements

Vow

a solemn promise

Discern

detect with senses

Penitent

feeling regret for one’s sins; repentant

Stanza

grouped set of lines in a poem, often seperated by a space

Couplet

two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

Quatrain

stanza of four lines, often with a specific rhyme scheme

Meter

the rhythmic structure of a poem, determined by the number and pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Verse

single line of poetry or a section of a poem with a specific rhythm or meter

Free Verse

poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme

Enjambment

the continuation of a sentence or clause across a line break

Sonnet

a 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme, often written in iambic pentameter

Caesura

a strong pause within a line of poetry, often marked by punctuation (e.g, comma or dash) but sometimes implied by natural speech patterns

Anaphora

form of repetition where a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive lines or clauses for emphasis