AP Lit Units 1-4 Vocab

abject

of the most contemptible kind

accordant

agreeing or compatible

accouterments

personal clothing

admonition

a firm rebuke

adversary

an enemy

Advocacy

support of an idea or cause

aegis

a shield

protection

aesthetic

concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty

alienated

distanced

Allegory

a story

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person

aloof

not friendly or forthcoming

cool and distant

Ambiguity

The multiple meanings

ambivalent

having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone

amorous

inclined toward or displaying love

analogous

comparable to

like

Anapest

unstressed

anecdotal

based on personal accounts rather than facts or research

Anthropomorphism

the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god

Antithesis

exact opposite

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction

apprehension

anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen

ardor

intense and passionate feeling

aspiration

a strong desire for achievement

assail

attack someone physically or emotionally

assert

(v.) to declare or state as truth

Assonance

Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity

assuage

to make something unpleasant less severe

auditory imagery

use of language to represent an experience pertaining to sound

auspicious

favorable

fortunate

autonomy

political independence

Ballad

A poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas

beget

to have children

beguile

To deceive

to charm

to enchant

bellicose

having or showing a ready disposition to fight

bemuse

to confuse or bewilder

benevolence

desire to do good to others

benign

kind and gentle

bereft

deprived of

made unhappy through a loss

blank verse

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

brevity

briefness

bygone

well in the past

cacophony

A harsh

Caesura

A natural pause or break in a line of poetry

cajole

(v.) to coax

to deceive with soothing thoughts or false promises

cavil

to quibble

to raise trivial objections

censure

harsh criticism or disapproval

chasten

censure severely

chastise

censure severely

Conceit

A fanciful expression

concession

the act of yielding

condescending

possessing an attitude of superiority

conducive

tending to cause or bring about

congenial

(adj.) getting on well with others

agreeable

pleasant

Connotation

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Consonance

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.

contemplative

thoughtful

contemptuous

showing contempt

scornful

copious

abundant

plentiful

corporeal

having material or physical form or substance

Couplet

A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.

cynical

believing that people act only out of selfish motives

Dactyl (poetry)

stressed

deity

a god

a divine being

delusion

a mistaken or unfounded opinion or idea

demean

To cause a lowering of self-esteem

to lower in reputation or character.

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word

deportment

a person's behavior or manners

deprecate

to express disapproval of

derive

to come from

despondent

in low spirits from loss of hope or courage

Diction

word choice

didactic

instructive (especially excessively)

discourse

an extended communication dealing with some particular topic

discursive

rambling

disparate

fundamentally different

entirely unlike

dissipation

breaking up and scattering by dispersion

dissolute

loose in one's morals or behavior

doting

excessively fond

dramatize

(v.) put into dramatic form

dubious

doubtful

of unlikely authenticity

ebullient

cheerful and full of energy

efface

to erase