1-11
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Created by:
schiavi810 on February 15, 2012
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166 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Apoplectic | Feeling intense rage or fury to the point of virtual paralysis; relating to a stroke |
| Bamboozle | To cheat or steal. |
| Charlatan | Quack. Imposter. |
| Circumspect | Cautious, prudent, wary; taking all circumstances into account. |
| Cleave | To split or penetrate; to cling or be faithful. |
| Disambiguation | The removal of ambiguity; clarification. |
| Draconian | Hard, severe, cruel. From Draco, a politician of ancient Athens whose codified laws were notorious for their severity, such as death for minor offenses. |
| Effrontery | Shameless audacity; rank impudence. |
| Egregious | Outstanding, usually in the negative sense. Outrageously bad. |
| Equivocate | To speak ambiguously or evasively, in such a way as to avoid taking a position; hedge. |
| Feckless | Ineffectual, ineffective, incompetent, weak. |
| Fortnight | Two weeks. |
| Genteel | Polite, refined, stylish or graceful in manner. |
| Imbroglio | A complicated disagreement; a confused or chaotic situation. From the Italian "imbrogliare," meaning to tangle. |
| Jeremiad | A long and mournful story, often prophesying doom or at least decrying the sad state of society. From the Biblical "Lamentations," attributed to the prophet Jeremiah. |
| Asydenton | Commas used (with no conjunctions) to separate a series of words. The parts are emphasized equally when the conjunction is omitted; in addition, the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds up the flow of the sentence. |
| Deduction | The process of moving from a general rule to a specific example. |
| Invective | Verbally abusive attack. |
| Hyperbole | Deliberate exaggeration in order to create humor or emphasis. |
| Parody | A work that ridicules the style of another by imitating and exaggerating its elements. It can be utterly mocking or gently humorous. It depends on allusion and exaggerates and distorts the original style and content. |
| Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole, such as using "boards" to mean stage or "wheels" to mean car, or "All hands on deck." |
| Rhetorical Question | One that does not expect an explicit answer. It is used to pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience. |
| Polysyndeton | Sentence which uses and or another conjunction (with no commas) to separate the items in a series. |
| Heterogeneous | Different. Consisting of utterly dissimilar parts or styles. |
| Tenable | Capable of being maintained. |
| Conciliatory | Reconciling, soothing. |
| Gregarious | Extremely outgoing, sociable. |
| Incongruous | Not fitting in with the rest of the whole. |
| Meticulous | Excessively careful. Describes one who is concerned with the details of something. |
| Precarious | Uncertain; risky. |
| Ethos | Ethical Appeal |
| Pathos | Emotional Appeal |
| Logos | Logical appeal |
| Diction | Word choice, an element of style |
| Concrete Language | Language that describes specific, observable things |
| Voice 1 | The relationship between a subject and verb |
| Voice 2 | Sound of the writer |
| Objective | A third party narrator who only reports what would be visible to a camera |
| Rhetoric | the art of persuasion |
| Animosity | Bitter dislike directed toward someone or something. |
| Disparage | To speak or write negatively of |
| Gamut | The full range of extent |
| Corroborate | To confirm or increase in certainty |
| Jargon | The special language of a profession or group |
| Enunciate | To articulate or pronounce |
| Malleable | Easily shaped or reformed |
| Incognito | Hidden |
| Lurid | Gruesome |
| Emulate | To strive to match or better by means of imitation |
| Adulation | Extreme praise |
| Syntax | The grammatical structure of a sentence |
| Transition | A word or phrase that links one idea to the next |
| Tone | The emotion or attitude of an author |
| Style | An authors manner of expression |
| Point of View | The perspective of a story |
| First Person | A narrator referred to as I who is a character in the story |
| Stream of Consciousness | Places the reader inside a characters head |
| Omniscient | Third person referred to as he she or they who can see into peoples minds |
| Limited Omniscient | A third person who reports only the thoughts of only one character and what he sees. |
| Mood | What the reader feels |
| Coherence | Quality of a peice of writhing |
| Allegory | A visible symbol representing an abstract idea |
| Allusion | Reference to a well-known person place or thing from history |
| Analogy | Comparison of two similar but different things |
| Aphorism | A short often witty statement of a principle or a truth about life |
| Figurative Language | A sLanguage that contains figures of speech such as smilies and metaphors |
| Parallelism | phrases or sentences of a similar construction |
| Imagery | Words or phrases that use collection of images to appeal to one or more of the five senses to create a mental picture. |
| Satire | Poke fun to make change |
| Penurious | Very poor |
| Prosaic | Dull |
| Capitulate | To surrender |
| Morose | Gloomy |
| Skittish | Nervous |
| Verbose | Wordy |
| Aplomb | Self-confidence |
| Sarcasm | Harsh, caustic personal remarks to or about someone; less subtle than irony. |
| Satire | A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. It doesn't simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal (as in sarcasm). It targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals. |
| Syllogism | A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them. A syllogism is the format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. |
| Symbolism | The use of symbols or anything that is meant to be taken both literally and as a representative of a higher and more complex significance. |
| Paradox | A statement that seems to contradict itself but that turns out to have rational meaning, as in this quotation from Henry David Thoreau; "I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude." |
| Irony | A situation or statement in which the actual outcome or meaning is opposite to what was expected. |
| Extended Metaphor | A sustained comparison, often referred to as a conceit. The extended metaphor is developed through a piece of writing. |
| Epistrophe | Repetition of a word or expression at the end of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect (as Lincoln's "of the people, by the people, for the people"). Compare to anaphora. |
| Repudiate | Disown; disavow or refuse any connection of oneself to something or someone. Her mother disavowed any connection to her daughter after her daughter's arrest. |
| Succinct | Brief, compact; to the point. The speaker needed to be more succinct since the audience grew increasingly bored. |
| Placate | To pacify; to appease; to calm someone or something down. The teacher tried to placate the angry parent by explaining his grading. |
| Vilify | To slander; to berate; to degrade. |
| Solemnity | Seriousness; ritualistic dignity; ceremoniousness. |
| Eccentric | Not conventional; a little kooky; irregular |
| Fortuitous | Accidental; occurring by chance |
| Syntactic Fluency | Ability to create a variety of sentence structures, appropriately complex and/or varied in length. |
| Syntactic Permutation | Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and involved. They are often difficult for a reader to follow. |
| Ad Hominem | In an argument, this is an attack on the person rather than on the opponent's ideas. It comes from the Latin meaning "against the man." |
| Discourse | Spoken or Written language, including literary works; the four traditionally classified modes of discourse are description, exposition, narration and persuasion. |
| Generalization | When a writer bases a claim upon an isolated example or asserts that a claim is certain rather than probable. |
| Euphemism | A more acceptable and usually more pleasant way of saying something that might be inappropriate or uncomfortable. "He went to his final reward" for "he died." |
| Inversion | Reversing the customary (subject first, then verb, then complement) order of elements in a sentence or phrase; it is used effectively in many cases, such as posing a question: "Are you going to the store?" Usually, the element that appears first is emphasized more than the subject. |
| Induction | The process that moves from a given series of specifics to a generalization. |
| Impervious | Impenetrable, impossible to alter of affect. |
| Consecrate | To proclaim as sacred, hallow; to set aside or declare to be holy. |
| Implicit | (Adj.) Implied or understood though not expressed directly. |
| Ludicrous | (Adj.) Absurd to the point of being laughable. Something that is obviously implausible or impractical could be considered ----- |
| Reprehensible | Abhorrent. That which is morally inexcusable is -------------. |
| Surrealistic | Unreal. |
| Debilitate | To enfeeble or weaken. |
| Logical Fallacy | A mistake in reasoning. |
| Red Herring | When a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue. |
| Reductio ad Absurdum | The Latin for "to reduce to the absurd." This is a technique useful in creating a comic effect and is also an argumentative technique. It is considered a rhetorical fallacy because it reduces an argument to an either/or choice. |
| Straw Man | When a writer argues against a claim that nobody actually holds or is universally considered weak. Setting up a straw man diverts attention from the real issues. |
| Non-sequitur | Latin for "it does not follow." When one statement isn't logically connected to another. |
| Oversimplification | When a writer obscures or denies the complexity of the issues in an argument. |
| Freight Train | Sentence consisting of three or more very short independent clauses joined by conjunctions. |
| False Analogy | When two cases are not sufficiently parallel to Iend readers to accept a claim or connection between them. |
| Faux pas | A social error or social blunder. A false step in correctness. |
| Gratuitous | Unnecessary. Something that is excessive. |
| Reticent | Reserved. Someone who prefers silence to conversation in social settings. |
| Sumptuous | Extravagant, lavish, luxurious. |
| Pontificate | To issue an authoritative decree (as a pontiff or pope might). It is often done in an egocentric manner. |
| Ad hoc | For a specific purpose or end; formed for immediate or present need. This Latin phrase translates literally to "for this purpose". |
| Degenerate | Having regressed or descended to a lower state. |
| Epigraph | The use of a quotation at the beginning of a work that hints at its theme. |
| Colloquialism | A word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing. |
| Cacophony | Harsh, awkward or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose; the opposite of euphony. |
| Euphony | A succession of harmonious sounds used in poetry or prose; the opposite of cacophony. |
| Antithesis | The presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by a word, phrase, clause or paragraphs. |
| Anaphora | Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent. |
| Connotation | Implied or suggested meaning of a word because of its association in the reader's mind |
| Impetuous | Impulsive; rash or sudden action |
| Inane | Lacking sense, silly |
| Ambivalence | Uncertainty or indecisiveness |
| Amorous | Strongly attracted or disposed to love, especially sexual love |
| Taciturn | Habitually untalkative, inclined to silence |
| Despondent | Feeling dejected, disheartened, hopeless |
| Euphoria | A feeling of great happiness or well-being. |
| Indifferent | Apathetic, having no marked feeling for or against |
| Negative-Positive | Sentence that begins by stating what is NOT true, then ending by stating what is true. |
| Didactic | Writing whose purpose is to instruct or to teach. The work is usually formal and focuses on moral or ethical concerns. This type of writing may be fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific less |
| Dissonance | Harsh or grating sounds that do not go together. on or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking. |
| Explication | The art of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text. It usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language. |
| Resilient | Marked by the ability to recover readily, as from misfortune, rebound |
| Ostentatious | Excessively conspicuous; showing off. |
| Patronize | To treat as an inferior; to condescend to. |
| Astute | Wise, shrewd |
| Enigma | Something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained |
| Whimsical | Fanciful, quaint, mixture of fantasy and humor |
| Chagrin | Embarrassment, dismay, humiliation |
| Inundate | To overwhelm, to floor, to swamp |
| Pragmatic | Practical. Something or someone that is practical and uses common sense. |
| Belligerent | Warlike, aggressive, hostile |
| Chastise | Discipline, criticize severely |
| Assuage | To make something less painful or severe; to lessen the intensity of; to mitigate. |
| Befuddle | To confuse, perplex or bewilder. To stupefy as if with alcoholic drinks. |
| Charlatan | Quack. Imposter. |
| Denigrate | Criticize; defame;disparage. Cause to seem less serious play down. |
| Ennui | Boredom, lack of interest. |
| Imperturbable | Marked by extreme calm; serene. |
| Loquacious | Talkative, especially when excessively so. |
| Malfeasance | Wrongdoing, misconduct or misbehavior, especially by a public official. |
| Mercurial | Fickle; erratic. |
| Obsequious | Overly deferential or attentive; fawningly submissive. |
| Panache | Distinctive, often flamboyant, style or action. Verve. |
| Paramount | Extreme importance. |
| Pontificate | To speak in a pompous, arrogant or dogmatic manner. |
| Promulgate | To make known or public; to put into effect by publishing, as a regulation. |
| Sagacity | Keen discernment or insight; sound judgment. |
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