Semester 1 Vocab
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Created by:
chatronleah on August 24, 2012
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Description:
AP Lang Edwards Vocab Words for first semester.
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92 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 abeyance | (n) a temporary suspension of activity |
| abstinence | (n) voluntarily refraining from eating certain foods or drink or from doing something pleasant but not good for you |
| abstruse | (adj) hard to understand or grasp |
| adumbrate | (v) to suggest partly, to give a hint of things to come, to foreshadow vaguely |
| alacrity | (adj) cheerful readiness, liveliness or eagerness |
| ambulatory | (adj) able to walk or move about |
| apocryphal | (adj) false, spurious, of a doubtful origin |
| arbiter | (n) a judge, one who decides |
| ascetic | (adj) hermitlike, self-denial, austere |
| assiduous | (adj) hardworking, busy, diligent |
| capricious | (adj) whimsical, fanciful, impulsive |
| castigate | (v) to punish, chastise, criticize severely |
| chary | (adj) careful, cautious, wary |
| chicanery | (n) deception or trickery |
| chimerical | (adj) wildly fanciful, absurd |
| circumlocution | (n) wordy language, an indirect, roundabout expression |
| contentious | (adj) argumentative over a point, quarrelsome |
| belie | (v) to run counter to, to show something as false |
| brook | (v) to tolerate, to put up with something |
| debacle | (n) a disaster or violent breakdown |
| deleterious | (adj) harmful |
| descry | (v) to discern, to see something, to catch sight of |
| desiccate | (v) to dry out |
| discomfit | (v) to confuse, deceive |
| doff | (v) to take off (usually clothing) as a sign of greeting |
| doggerel | (n) comic, sometimes crude, informal verse |
| dossier | (n) a file of documents, letters and records |
| dulcet | (adj) having a nice, agreeable melodious sound |
| encomium | (n) a eulogy or expression of high praise |
| endemic | (adj) native, belonging to a specific region |
| espy | (v) to glimpse, to descry, to catch sight of |
| evanescent | (adj) vanishing, happening for the briefest moment |
| exemplar | (n) an excellent model, a typical example |
| exigent | (adj) urgent, demands prompt action |
| extirpate | (v) to rip up by the roots, to abolish, to annihilate |
| facetious | (adj) humorous, joking in a somewhat inappropriate or clumsy manner |
| fecund | (adj) fertile, productive, fruitful |
| fusillade | (n) a rapid outburst, spray of gunfire |
| gainsay | (v) to deny, to speak or act against |
| garrulous | (adj) talkative |
| halitosis | (n) bad breath |
| irascible | (adj) hot tempered, cranky |
| leitmotif | (n) a dominant or recurrent theme |
| levee | (n) an embankment designed to prevent a river from flooding |
| lope | (v) to run at a steady, easy pace |
| macerate | (v) to soften by soaking, to cause to waste away |
| malapropism | (n) the humorous misuse of a word that sounds very much like the word intended |
| matriculate | (v) to enroll, most particularly in college |
| maudlin | (adj) overly sentimental |
| mellifluous | (adj) sweetly flowing |
| mordant | (adj) bitingly sarcastic, incisive, caustic in manner |
| moribund | (adj) being in a dying or decaying condition |
| munificent | (adj) generous |
| neophyte | (n) a beginner, a novice |
| officious | (adj) unnecessarily helpful, meddlesome, interfering |
| omnivorous | (adj) eating or absorbing everything, feeding on both animal and vegetable substances |
| oscillate | (v) to swing back and forth |
| ossify | (v) to become rigid, to become set in one's ways |
| palliate | (v) to hide the seriousness of something with excuses or apologies, to ease without curing |
| pallid | (adj) lacking in color, wan |
| panegyric | (n) lofty praise, eulogistic writing |
| parsimonious | (adj) stingy |
| penury | (n) extreme poverty |
| perfidious | (adj) faithless, untrustworthy |
| perfunctory | (adj) careless, unenthusiastic, done merely as duty |
| perorate | (v) to make a long, formal speech, to sum up a speech |
| perspicacious | (adj) shrewd, astute, showing strong powers of discernment |
| petulant | (adj) cranky, ill tempered, irritable, peevish |
| piquant | (adj) pungent, charmingly provocative |
| prescient | (adj) having foresight |
| prevaricate | (v) to deviate from the truth |
| profligate | (adj) corrupt, degenerate, wildly extravagant |
| propinquity | (adj) nearness in place or time, kinship |
| protean | (adj) readily assuming different shapes or characters |
| putrefy | (v) to rot |
| recalcitrant | (adj) stubbornly defiant and resistant of authority |
| recondite | (adj) hard to understand, abstruse, over one's head |
| reprobate | (n) a morally unprincipled person, a scoundrel |
| reticent | (adj) restrained, reluctant, uncommunicative |
| ribaldry | (adj) vulgar or indecent language |
| sagacious | (adj) wise, shrewd |
| salubrious | (adj) favorable to health |
| scotch | (v) to put an end to |
| sinuous | (adj) winding, having many curves |
| striated | (adj) marked with thin lines or grooves |
| supercilious | (adj) arrogant, overbearing, condescending |
| surreptitious | (adj) sneaky, secret |
| sycophant | (n) a flatterer, a self-serving yes-man |
| temerity | (adj) boldness, rashness, audacity |
| truculent | (adj) hostile, aggressive, savage |
| vacuous | (adj) empty, lacking intelligence |
| viscosity | (adj) thickness and consistency of a liquid |
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