AP Euro 1st Quarter Vocab

aristocracy, aristocrat, aristocratic

the highest social class in some countries : the people who have special titles (such as duke and duchess ), who typically own land, and who traditionally have more money and power than the other people in a society

affect

to act on; produce an effect or change in

effect

something that is produced by an agency or cause; result; consequence

emperor

the male sovereign or supreme ruler of an empire

empire

a group of nations or peoples ruled over by an emperor, empress, or other powerful sovereign or government

fief

a fee or feud held of a feudal lord; a tenure of land subject to feudal obligations.; a territory held in fee. (land given by king)

king

a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure, and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people.

heir

a person who inherits or has a right of inheritance in the property of another following the latter's death.

monarch, monarchy, monarchical

a hereditary sovereign, as a king, queen, or emperor.

monotheism, monotheist, monotheistic

the doctrine or belief that there is only one God.

oligarchy, oligarch, oligarchic

a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.

centralize, centralized, centralization

to draw to or gather about a center; to bring under one control, especially in government:

classical, classicism

the principles or styles characteristic of the literature and art of ancient Greece and Rome.

clergy

the group or body of ordained persons in a religion, as distinguished from the laity.

crusade

any of the military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Europe in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries for the recovery of the Holy Land from the Muslims; any war carried on under papal sanction.

dialect

a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially.

diffusion

act of diffusing; state of being diffused.

democracy

government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

dynasty

a sequence of rulers from the same family, stock, or group

patriarch, patriarchy, patriarchal

the male head of a family or tribal line.

a person regarded as the father or founder of an order, class, etc.

matriarch, matriarchy, matriarchal

the female head of a family or tribal line.

a woman who is the founder or dominant member of a community or group.

polytheism, polytheist, polytheistic

the doctrine of or belief in more than one god or in many gods.

post

after, behind

pre

before, in front of

re

again, back

Republic

a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.

rural

of, relating to, or characteristic of the country, country life, or country people; rustic.

living in the country.

rustic

of, relating to, or living in the country, as distinguished from towns or cities; rural.

serf

a person in a condition of servitude, required to render services to a lord, commonly attached to the lord's land and transferred with it from one owner to another.

simony

the making of profit out of sacred things.

theocracy

a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the God's or deity's laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical authorities.

war

a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air.

battle

a hostile encounter or engagement between opposing military forces:

excommunicate

to cut off from communion with a church or exclude from the sacraments of a church by ecclesiastical sentence.

feudalism, feudal

the feudal system, or its principles and practices.

heresy

opinion or doctrine at variance with the orthodox or accepted doctrine, especially of a church or religious system.

heretical

of, relating to, or characteristic of heretics or heresy.

heretic

a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church.

Humanism/Humanist

any system or mode of thought or action in which human interests, values, and dignity predominate.

Secularism/Secular

secular spirit or tendency, especially a system of political or social philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship; the view that public education and other matters of civil policy should be conducted without the introduction of a religious element.

vernacular

(of language) native to a place (opposed to literary).

expressed or written in the native language of a place, as literary works:

senators

a member of a senate

representative

a person or thing that represents another or others.

Executive Branch

the branch of government charged with the execution and enforcement of laws and policies and the administration of public affairs; the executive.

Legislative Branch

the branch of government having the power to make laws; the legislature.

Judicial Branch

the branch of government charged with the interpretation of laws and the administration of justice; the judiciary.