| Term | Definition |
|---|
| clandestine | carried out in a secretive manner |
| doggerel | crudely or loosely styled writing for comic effect |
| enjambment | running one sentence from one line of poetry to the next line |
| epoch | a distinct period of history marked by memorable events |
| farcical | ridiculously or absurdly comedic |
| fecund | fertile (literally) or intellectually productive (figuratively) |
| loquacious | very talkative |
| lugubrious | extremely sad or gloomy |
| pedantic | overly focused on or knowledgeable about narrow and trivial matters |
| peremptory | cutting off debate; admitting of no contradiction |
| paramount | of greatest importance |
| pallid | pale; sickly |
| puissant | powerful; strong |
| anachronism | something that is represented in as existing in a period of history in which it didn't actually exist; out of place in time; outdated |
| garish | overly decorated or showy; very gaudy |
| virtuoso | a person with great skill in one of the fine arts, especially music |
| dirge | a slow, sad song or poem that expresses grief, especially for the dead; a funeral hymn |
| superfluous | unnecessary or excessive |
| extenuate | to attempt to lessen the seriousness of an offense by giving an excuse |
| pernicious | causing great injury, destruction, or ruin |
| sagacious | wise |
| requiem | a funeral Mass in the Catholic church or any hymn or dirge composed for the dead (often used metaphorically) |
| vivify | to bring to life, sharpen, quicken |
| nihilism | 1. the total rejection of laws or established institutions, 2. self-destructiveness 3. the philosophical denial of any real existence or the possibility of any objective truth |
| deign | to view some action as fitting or in accordance with one's dignity; to condescend |
| confabulate | psychological definition - to fill gaps in one's memory with made up information; can also mean to chat |
| auspicious | promising success; favorable; a good omen |
| guile | crafty or artful deceitfulness; trickery |
| insidious | seemingly harmless, but actually dangerous; intended to entrap or beguile |
| cloistered | secluded from the world; sheltered, closed in |
| cacophony | harsh, jarring sound; dissonance |
| chiasmus | the inversion of the second of two parallel phrases, clauses, etc. ("I sailed to Greenland, and then to Europe I flew.") |
| dolorous | very sorrowful or sad; mournful; [Archaic] painful |
| indefatigable | cannot be tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring |
| laconic | brief or terse in speech; using few words |
| languid | drooping or weak; without interest, indifferent; sluggish, slow |
| laureate | a person on whom honor or distinction is conferred |
| mitigate | to make less severe or less painful; to moderate |
| obstinate | very stubborn; unreasonably determined to have one's own way; not yielding to reason |
| ravish | to seize and carry away forcibly; to rape; [figuratively] to transport with joy or delight; enrapture |
| ardent | zealous, passionate; intensely devoted (or even fiercely devoted) |
| apotheosis | the elevation of a person to the status of a god (usually used figuratively); OR an exalted example or ideal, a quintessential example of something |
| attrition | a reduction or decrease in number or size (often gradual); a wearing down or weakening of resistance due to pressure or harassment |
| diffident | lacking confidence in oneself; timid, shy, reserved |
| epithet | (positive) a word or phrase added to a person's name to describe some attribute of that person ("Ivan the terrible," "Catherine the Great"); (negative) a term of abuse, contempt, or hostility (e.g. racial slurs) |
| iconoclast | (literally) a person who destroys objects of worship (icons); most often used now to describe someone who attacks or seeks to overthrow cherished traditions, popular beliefs, or traditional institutions |
| lassitude | weariness of body or mind due to stress; listlessness, languor, lack of energy |
| panegyric | a lofty oration or writing in praise of a person or thing; also called a eulogy or encomium |
| zenith | the highest point or state of something; the culmination; (scientific) the highest visible point in the sky directly above the observer |
| convalescence | the period of recovery after an illness |
| ardor | enthusiasm or passion |
| coy | shy, modest; sometimes can have the connotation of also being flirtatious (i.e. "playing hard to get") |
| capricious | characterized by sudden, inexplicable changes without evident reason; whimsical, arbitrary |
| admonition | a cautionary warning or advice; a gentle reproof intended to prevent future mistakes |
| discursive | 1. passing aimlessly from one subject to another; wordy and prone to digression 2. proceeding through reasoning rather than through intuition |
| discriminating | able to detect subtle differences; having refined tastes; (negative) inappropriately or unfairly treating two people differently |
| hackneyed | cliche, commonplace, banal, overused (more literally "threadbare" or "worn") |
| despondency | a feeling of depression and hopelessness |
| supercilious | arrogant, condescending, patronizing |
| denigrate | to belittle, demean, or insult |
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