AP Lang&Comp Vocab Section 1

enigma

noun

1. Something hard to explain or understand

2. An inscrutable or mysterious person

3. An obscure speech or writing

apathy

Noun

1. Lack of feeling or emotion; impassiveness

2. Lack of interest or concern; indifference

indifferent

Adjective

1. Marked by a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern for something; apathetic

2. Being neither good nor bad: Mediocre

3. Marked by impartiality: Unbiased

4. Not differentiated

revere

Verb

1. To show devoted deferential honor to: regard as worthy of great honor

candor

Noun

1. Unreserved, honest, or sincere expression

2. Free from prejudice or malice, 

3. (literary) brightness, brilliance

reticent

Adjective

1. Inclined to be silent or uncommunicative in speech

2. Restrained in expression, presentation, or appearance

aesthetic

Adjective

1. Pleasing in appearance, attractive

2. Appreciative of, responsive to, or zealous about the beautiful

3. Done or made to improve a person’s appearance or to correct defects in a person’s appearance

Noun

1. A branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste with the creation and appreciation of beauty 

ascetic

Adjective

1. Practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline

2. Austere in appearance, manner, or attitude

autonomy

Noun

1. The quality or state of being self-governed

2. Self-directing freedom and especially moral independence

disdain

Noun

1. A feeling of contempt for someone or something regarded as unworthy or inferior: scorn

Verb

1. To look on with scorn

2. To refuse or abstain from because of a feeling of contempt or scorn

3. To treat as beneath one’s notice or dignity

innocuous

ADJ

1. Producing no injury, harmless

2. Not likely to give or to arouse strong feelings of hostility

banal

ADJ

1. Lacking originality, freshness, or novelty; trite

ambiguous

ADJ. 

1. doubtful or uncertain especially from obscurity or indistinctness

2. Capable of being understood in two or more possible senses or ways

anarchy

Noun

1. Absence of government 

2. A state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of a governmental authority. 

ameliorate

Verb

1. To make better or more tolerable

2. To grow better

atrophy

Noun

1. Decrease in size or wasting away of a body part or tissue

2. A wasting away or progressive decline

Verb

1. To waste away (as from disease or disuse)

innovate

Verb

1. To make changes, to do something in a different way

2. To introduce as or as if new

3. To effect a change in

servile

ADJ

1. Of or befitting a menial position

2. Meanly or cravingly submissive, abject

extol

Verb

1. To praise highly, glorify

augment

Verb

1. To make greater, more numerous, or more intense

2. Supplement

Noun

1. a vowel prefixed or a lengthening of the initial vowel to mark past time especially in Greek and Sanskrit verbs