AP English Literature – Summer Reading 2025 Vocabulary

Eighty vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the AP English Literature Summer Reading 2025 lecture notes.

Proscribe

to prohibit or put outside the law

Debauch (v.), Debauchery (n.), and Profligacy

profligate living- to engage in wild and corruptive living, immorality

Licentious (adj.), Prurient (adj.), Salacious

immoral lewd, corruptive

Demagogue, Demagoguery

political leader who seeks support by appealing to desires rather than by using rational argument.

Derelict

in a very poor condition as a result of disuse and neglect.

Umbrage

(to take) offense or annoyance

Travail

suffering and hardship

Veracity (n.), Veracious

the truth

Voracious (adj.), rapacious (adj.), rapacity

greedy, grasping His rapacity for money was frightening.

Encomium

great praise

Banal, Prosaic

ordinary and dull

Dereliction

failure to perform an official duty or responsibility

Travesty

a farce

Anathema

anything forbidden socially

. Perfidy (n.), Perfidious (adj.), Treachery (n.), Treacherous (adj.)

treason or double-dealing

Ignominy (n.), ignominious (adj.)

disgraceful

Pyrrhic

some win or victory accomplished at too great a cost

Surfeit

An excessive amount or overabundance.

Dour

gloomy, solemn

Slothful

lazy, indolent

Pithy, Terse, Laconic

brief, to the point

Nemesis

a long-standing rival; an archenemy

Acquisitive

comes from acquire but has a pejorative or negative connotation; greedy or materialistic

Pariah

An outcast who is shunned by society.

Paradigm

an outstandingly clear or typical example of something

Ebullient (adj.), Ebullience (n.)

Cheerful, enthusiastic, and full of energy.

Culpable

Deserving blame; guilty.

Recondite

Little known; obscure and difficult to understand.

Peremptory

Insisting on immediate obedience; not open to challenge; final.

Countermand

To revoke or reverse an order or command.

Pertinacious

Holding firmly to an opinion or course of action; persistent.

Lambent

Softly glowing, flickering, or radiant (of light or fire).

Peccadillo

A minor fault, offense, or sin.

Cupidity

Greed for money or possessions.

Tawdry

Cheap and gaudy in appearance; showy but of poor quality.

Internecine

Mutually destructive; harmful to all parties involved.

Imbroglio

A complicated and confusing situation or mess.

Impetus

The force or energy that makes something happen more quickly; a stimulus.

Perspicacious

Having keen insight and good judgment; mentally sharp.

Confluence

The act or place of flowing together; a junction, especially of rivers.

Effluence

An outflow, especially of polluting waste into water.

Simplistic

Overly simple and ignoring complexity.

Ablutions

The act of washing oneself; ritual cleansing with water.

Abstemious

Marked by restraint, especially in eating or drinking.

Amulet

A small object believed to protect its owner; a lucky charm.

Mitigate

To make less severe, painful, or harmful.

Analogous

Comparable in certain respects; similar.

Apparition

A ghost or spectral figure.

Parse

To analyze or examine minutely; read carefully.

Artifice

Clever or cunning trick or device; ingenuity.

Atrophy

Gradual decline or wasting away from disuse, especially of muscle.

Guile

Sly or cunning intelligence; deceitful craftiness.

Bereft

Deprived or lacking something; sorrowful from loss.

Flaccid

Soft and hanging loosely or limply; lacking firmness.

Premonition

A strong feeling that something (usually bad) is about to happen.

Gourmet

A person with refined taste and knowledge of fine food.

Ubiquitous

Present, appearing, or found everywhere.

Admonish

To warn or reprimand gently yet earnestly.

Caveat

A cautionary warning or condition; proviso.

Derogate

To disparage or belittle; to take away from merit.

Pillory

To publicly ridicule, attack, or expose to scorn.

Cosset

To pamper or treat with excessive care; spoil.

Acquiesce

To accept or comply passively; give in.

Beleaguered

Beset with difficulties; harassed or under siege.

Machiavellian

Cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics.

Draconian

Exceedingly harsh or severe.

Extirpate

To root out and completely destroy; eradicate.

Attrition

Gradual reduction or wearing down through sustained attack or pressure.

Tangential

Only slightly related; diverging from the main point; peripheral.

Exacerbate

To make a problem or situation worse.

Abrogate

To repeal, cancel, or abolish by authoritative action.

Truncate

To shorten by cutting off a part; reduce in length.

Convoluted

Extremely complex and hard to follow.

Synergy

Cooperative interaction producing a combined effect greater than the sum of parts.

Ersatz

Artificial and inferior substitute; not genuine.

Inexorable

Impossible to stop, alter, or persuade; inevitable.

Desultory

Lacking a plan or purpose; aimless; jumping from topic to topic.

Quotidian

Occurring every day; commonplace and routine.

Sanctimonious

Making a show of moral superiority; self-righteous.

Pontificate

To speak in a pompous or dogmatic way; preach.

Inure

To accustom someone to something unpleasant; harden.

Derelict

)- a person without a home, job, or property, failure to perform an official duty or responsibility.