Senior Year Lit Vocab

Onus (n)

Burden

Wont (n)

"As is my wont" Custom (I did this thing...as is my wont)

Scuttlebutt (n)

The word on the street

Dichotomy (n)

A split between two related concepts (di-two)

Tenuous (adj)

Unstable

Mot Juste (n)

Precise word needed in that precise moment (mo-word juste-exact)

Philistine (n)

A person who rejects culture/high cultured things

On tenterhooks (prep phrase)

On the edge of your seat in expectation for something (used to stretch fabric)

Elucidate (v)

To bring into the light/shed light on/to make clear (lux-light)

Edification (n)

The building up of intellect (For your/my own edification) (latin-aedificio/spanish-edificio-building)

Lothario (n)

A 'ladies man'

Charlatan (n)

An illegitimate person

Bane (n)

Enemy, something extremely annoying

Soporific (adj)

Something producing a sleepy or drowsy effect (greek-sopor-sleep)

Hackneyed (adj)

Clichéd or overused

Tête-à-tête (n)

A conversation between two people (french-head to head)

Sinecure (n)

A job that requires little to no work

Disavow (v)

To deny knowledge of, claim a lack of involvement

Red tape (n)

Bureaucracy, many steps to get through

Schadenfreude (n)

Enjoyment of others pain or suffering, sadism (german)

Wanderlust (n)

The desire to travel to new places

Wary (adj)

You're on alert and guarded/skeptical

Apropos (adj)

Appropriate or fitting for the occasion

Nom De Plume (n)

Name of pen/pen name that an author would use

Divulge (v)

To spill/to share

Squalor (n)

Filth

Lore (n)

The stories/the background

Grapple (v)

To wrestle with the idea of something

Commiserate (v)

To empathize, to understand (miser-suffer/com-with)

Deus ex machina (n)

The plot device that solves a problem/ends the scene/convenient end (latin-god from the machine)

Goad (v)

To pressure or urge someone to do something they don't want to do

Brass Tacks (n)

To get down to the most essential details

Nascent (adj)

Just coming into being (nacere-latin-naître-french-nacer-spanish: to be born)

Erstwhile (adj)

former

Self-deprecating (adj)

Poking fun at oneself to appear humble

Nebulous (adj)

Unclear in meaning

Subterfuge (n)

Schemes and plots that are secret (you engage in____)

Contrite (adj)/contrition (n)

Remorseful

Hirsute (adj)

Hairy

Existential crisis (n)

Crisis of existence

Insipid (adj)

bland

Callous (adj)

unfeeling, heartless

De facto (adj)

determined by practice and not by law or rule/unofficial (of fact: latin, opposite of de jure-of law)

Mano a mano (adj)

Going "toe to toe" with someone

Savoir Faire (n)

Know-how, street smarts (You have the savoir faire, french for to know how)

Magnanimous (adj)/Magnanimity(n)

Generous of spirit (-Latin, Magn-great, Anim-soul

Reprieve (n)

a break but there is mercy involved

Pique (v)

To spark (French for to sting/spark)

Et tu,...?

even you? (-comes from Shakespeare Julius caesar, the ... is someones name)

Bildungsroman (n)

coming of age story (-German, Bildung: building, Roman: novel)

Languish (v)

To waste away

Gravitas (n)

Intellectual weight, latin

Furtive (adj)

Quick and Sneaky

Elicit (v)

To draw out

Unorthodox (adj)

unconventional

Sedentary (adj)

inmobile

Ad hoc (adj)

for a specific purpose (committee)

Red herring (n)

A plot device that is a distraction

Mazel tov! (exp)

Congratulations! (Yiddish)

Raison d'être (n)

Your reason for living

Hoi Polloi (n)

The masses, greek, the little people

Schmooze (v)

To chat up for the sake of networking

Tome (n)

A big, heavy book.

Brazen (adj)

Shameless

Complicit (adj)

Involved, knowingly allowing something bad to happen

Disdain (n)

A scornful look

Trifecta (n)

Three things that complete a set

Peruse (v)

To read very carefully

Imminent (adj)

About to happen

Phrrhic Victory (n)

a win that comes at too high of a cost

I.e. (exp)

In other words

Wishy-washy (adj)

Unable to make a decision

Quagmire (n)

A tough situation

Disingenuous (adj)

knowingly insincere or dishonest

Pedestrian (adj)

Mundane

Paradigm shift (n)

A shift in the way we perceive something cultural or societal

Coup de grâce (n)

A thing that puts you out of your misery

Infringe (v)

To encroach

Panache (n)

Flair

Oy Vey! (exp)

Expression of acceptance of frustration

Vindicate (v)

to prove right, to clear from suspicion

Effusive (adj)

Over the top in a good way

Pièce de résistance (n)

A masterpiece or crowning achievement

Illicit (adj)

Illegal, shady in a scandalous way

Jaded (adj)

Weary of the world

To cast aspersions (verb phrase)

to throw shade on someone's character

Pithy (adj)

concise but packing a punch, referring to writing

Ilk “of that ilk” (n)

Kind, nature

Kvetch (v)

Complain

Veni, Vidi, Vici (exp)

I came, I saw, I conquered

Albeit (conj)

Though

Plight (n)

An extended struggle

Belie (v)

To make false

Kitsch (n)

Knick-Knacks

Dearth (n)

A scarcity of something

Untoward (adj)

Improper/inappropriate

Erudite (adj)

Scholarly

Brouhaha (n)

commotion that dies down quickly

Motif (n)

A recurring symbol that connects to a theme

Spoonerism (n)

when you accidentally flip-flop the first two letters of two words