Vocab English 10

  1. assuage-v. to ease, to mitigate, to make less painful or burdensome, to calm 

  2. malevolent-adj. Showing a desire to harm another

  3. erratic-adj. Acting in a way not regular or expected

  4. fractious-adj. causing trouble

  5. scuppernongs-n. A type of grape native to the southern part of the United States

  6. asinine-adj. stupid or silly

  7. benign-adj. not causing harm

  8. impudent-adj. to be shamelessly bold and disregard others, rude, disrespectful

  9. dismemberment-n. The act of cutting off a person’s or animal’s limbs

  10. taciturn-adj. almost always silent

  11. aberration - n. the act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course

  12. adjacent - adj. lying near, close, or contagious

  13. deportment - n. demeanor; conduct; behavior

  14. inconspicuous - adj. not noticeable or prominent

  15. inordinately - adj. not within proper or reasonable limits; immoderate; excessive

  16. invective - n. an insulting or abusive word or expression

  17. libel - n. defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures

  18. obstreperous - adj. noisy and difficult to control

  19. rudiments - n. the elements or the first principles of a subject

  20. unfathomable - adj. not able to be completely understood; incomprehensible

  21. ambidextrous - adj. equally skillful with each hand

  22. degradation - n. a state of low honor or moral character

  23. detached -adj. showing lack of emotional involvement

  24. devoid - adj. completely wanting or lacking

  25. expunge - v. remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line

  26. formidable - adj. extremely impressive in strength or excellence

  27. infallible - adj. never wrong

  28. scrutiny - n. the act of examining something closely, as for mistakes

  29. stifle - v. hold back; suppress

  30. venerable - adj. Impressive on account of age or historic associations


  1. Exposition- the beginning of the plot where the author introduces the reader to characters, setting, narrator, and point of view

  2. Rising action- the second part of a plot diagram where events begin and build suspense and create conflict

  3. Climax- the third part of a plot diagram; the turning point of the story

  4. Falling action- the fourth part of the plot diagram with no new events or plot points; after the crisis and before the resolution

  5. Denonment/ resolution- the final part of the plot diagram where conflict is resolved and the story concludes

  6. Foreshadowing- a hint of things to come

  7. Internal conflict- a character struggles with his or her own opposing desire, beliefs, or needs

  8. External conflict- a character struggles against an outside force

  9. Mood/ Atmosphere- the feeling the reader gets from a piece of literature

  10. Point of View- the perspective from which a story is told

    1. First-person point of view- the narrator is a character who participates in the action of the story and uses I and me to describe himself or herself

    2. Third-person omniscient point of view- the narrator knows everything, including the thoughts and feelings of ALL the characters

    3. Third-person limited point of view- the narrator sees things through ONE character’s eyes and reveals that character’s feelings and thoughts

  11. Symbolism- a symbol is an object, person, place, etc. that means more than what it actually is 

  12. Setting- time and place in which a story occurs

  13. Hyperbole - a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion

  14. Metaphor - compares two alike things without using like or as

  15. Allusion - a reference to a well known person, place, or event

  16. Juxtaposition - an act or instance of placing close together side by side, especially for compare and contrast

  17. Euphemism - a mild word substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing

  18. Colloquialism - Informal speech that people use in everyday language

  19. Broad Generalization - a statement mostly based on limited knowledge about a large group of people, places, or things

  20. Protagonist - Main character

  21. Antagonist - a character or force in conflict with a main character or protagonist

  22. Allegory - a story with two or more levels of meaning – a literal level and one or more symbolic levels

  23. Analogy - comparison between two or more things that are similar in some way but other ways unalike

  24. Direct characterization - a method of indicating what a character is like by directly stating their personality traits

  25. Indirect characterization - a method of indicating what a character is like by revealing their personality through descriptions of their actions, speech, appearance, and interactions with other characters

  26. Foil - a character provides a strong contrast to another character

  27. Motif - recurring subject, theme, idea, etc.

  28. Narrator - speaker or character who tells the story

  29. Testimonial - formal statement testifying to someone or somethings character

  30. Tone - reflection of a writer's or speaker’s attitude toward a subject of literary work