Set 1 Precision Vocab

Wistful

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Adjective

Definition

Gentle longing for something past or unattainable

Example

The old sailor watched the ships leave the harbor with a wistful half-smile, remembering voyages he would never make again.

Plaintive

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Adjective

Definition

Mournful and sorrowful; expressing suffering or longing

Example

The plaintive whistle of the night train echoed across the empty fields

Melancholic

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Adjective

Definition

Marked by deep, settled, reflective sadness

Example

The novel’s melancholic narrator describes even sunny afternoons in muted, weary language.

Brooding

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Adjective

Definition

Darkly contemplative; heavy with unspoken feeling or threat

Example

The brooding castle loomed over the village, its dark windows seeming to watch the traveller.

Visceral

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Adjective

Definition

Raw and instinctive; felt in the body rather than the mind

Example

The poet’s visceral images of hunger, cracked lips and an aching stomach, make the reader feel the famine rather than simply understand it.

Elegiac

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Adjective

Definition

Mournful and lamenting; marked by a sense of loss

Example

The final chapter turns elegiac as the narrator walks through the empty rooms of her late grandmother’s home.

Regionalism

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Noun

Definition

Writing rooted in the landscape, dialect, customs, and people of a specific place, where the setting shapes lives rather than serving as backdrop

Example

The story’s regionalism comes through in its mountain dialect, its coal-mining families, and the harsh winters that shape every decision.

Sublime

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Noun

Definition

Awe-inspiring to the point of overwhelming ordinary feeling; both beautiful and terrifying

Example

Facing the vast, frozen glacier, the explorer felt the sublime: wonder so intense it bordered on fear

Poignant

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Adjective

Definition

Sharply moving; a mix of tenderness and sorrow

Example

The ending is poignant: an elderly man still sets out two teacups each morning, though his wife died a year ago.

Ephemeral

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Adjective

Definition

Lasting only a brief moment; fleeting

Example

The poem compares youth to a soap bubble: bright, beautiful, and ephemeral.