Vocab Unit 6

abortive

abortive

failing to accomplish an intended aim or purpose; only partially or imperfectly developed

bruit

to spread news, reports, or unsubstantiated rumors

contumelious

insolent or rude in speech or behavior; insultingly abusive; humiliating

dictum

a short saying; an authoritative statement

ensconce

to settle comfortably and firmly in position; to put or hide in a safe place

iconoclastic

attacking or seeking to overthrow popular or traditional beliefs, ideas, or institutions

in medias res

in or into the middle of a plot; into the middle of things

internecine

mutually destructive; characterized by great slaughter and bloodshed

maladroit

(adj.) lacking skill or dexterity; lacking tact, perception, or judgment

maudlin

excessively or effusively sentimental

modulate

(v.) to change or vary the intensity or pitch; to temper or soften; to regulate, adjust

portentous

foreshadowing an event to come; causing wonder or awe; self-consciously weighty, pompous

prescience

foreknowledge of events; knowing of events prior to their occurring

quid pro quo

something given in exchange or return for something else

salubrious

conducive to health or well-being; wholesome

saturnalian

characterized by riotous or unrestrained revelry or licentiousness

touchstone

a means of testing worth or genuineness

traumatic

so shocking to the emotions as to cause lasting and substantial psychological damage

vitiate

to weaken, debase, or corrupt; to impair the quality or value of

waggish

(adj.) fond of making jokes; characteristic of a joker; playfully humorous or droll

Foreshadowing

the arrangement and presentation of events and information in such a way that prepares for later events in the work.

form

the structure, shape, pattern, organization, or style of a piece of literature

frame

a narrative constructed so that one or more stories are embedded within another story

free verse

unrhymed poetry with lines of varying lengths, and containing no specific metrical pattern

Genre

a specific kind of category of literature

Gothic

a form of the novel in which magic, mystery, horrors, and chivalry abound.

grotesque

focuses on physically or mentally impaired characters

heroic couplet

two successive lines of rhymed poetry in iambic pentameter

Hyperbole

exaggeration for effect and emphasis

Iamb

1 unaccented, 1 accented syllable