Vocabulary from Prose and West Essays

Vocabulary flashcards covering the 30 words featured in Francine Prose's essay 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read' and Ana West's essay 'This Caged Bird Can Read, Thanks'.

Appalled

Greatly dismayed, shocked, or horrified.

Sentient

Able to perceive or feel things; conscious and responsive to sensations.

Allegiances

Loyalties or commitments to a person, group, cause, or country.

Idiosyncratic

Peculiar, individual, or distinctive in character or manner.

Percolate

To filter gradually through a porous surface or spread gradually through an environment.

Treacly

Excessively sentimental, cloying, or sweet in tone.

Sententious

Given to moralizing in a pompous, self-righteous, or affected manner.

Turgid

Excessively complex, bombastic, or pompous in language or style; swollen.

Felicitous

Well-chosen, suited to the circumstances, pleasing, or apt.

Soporific

Tending to induce drowsiness, tiredness, or sleep.

Ballast

Heavy material used to stabilize a ship; figuratively, something that provides stability, balance, or security.

Overwrought

Excessively agitated or emotional, often due to stress or anxiety.

Adversarial

Characterized by conflict, opposition, or hostility between opposing sides.

Agoraphobic

Having an extreme or irrational fear of entering open, crowded, or unfamiliar public spaces.

Prognosis

A forecast of the likely outcome of a situation or the course of a disease.

Multilayered

Having many different levels, complexities, or dimensions.

Cantankerous

Bad-tempered, argumentative, irritable, and uncooperative.

Posthumously

Occurring, published, or awarded after the death of the originator or person concerned.

Alchemically

In a manner characteristic of alchemy; magically, mysteriously, or transformatively changing something ordinary into something precious.

Convoluted

Extremely complex, intricate, and difficult to follow.

Dearth

A scarcity, shortage, or lack of something.

Canon

A recognized body or collection of literary or artistic works accepted as authoritative and of high quality.

Lambastes

Criticizes, reprimands, or berates harshly and severely.

Mediocre

Of only moderate or average quality; not very good.

Decrying

Publicly denouncing, condemning, or expressing strong disapproval of something.

Felicitously

In a manner that is suitably expressed, apt, pleasing, or well-suited to the context.

Apocalyptic

Describing or prophesying complete destruction, catastrophe, or the end of the world.

Dichotomy

A division or contrast between two things that are represented as entirely opposed or different.

Contemporary

Living, occurring, or belonging to the same period; current or modern.

Legitimacy

The quality of being lawful, valid, or accepted.