| Term | Definition |
|---|
| social mobility | the ability of individual to move forward and downward in society |
| supercilious | adj. arrogant, snob |
| zeitgeist | German word. spirit of time (literally) transfusion. cultural taste of a particular time period |
| allusion | a reference to a person or event or thing in popular culture, literature, religion, and cultural literacy |
| blue collar/white collar | opposite of manual labor. brain work |
| manual labor | construction worker |
| claret | a red wine |
| zeugma | a word in a sentence that is applied to two other words or phases in two different ways of sense |
| raison d'etre | one's reason for living/existence |
| unctuous | adj. someone trying to butter you up |
| peripeteia | reversal of fortune |
| mores | practices/customs/mannerism of a group of people |
| affected | adj. speaking or acting in an artificial or fake way |
| epistrophe | another form of repetition. A group of sentence ends with same word |
| cock and bull story | unbelievable story |
| somnambulatory | doing something while sleepwalking |
| pathos | in art/literature, quality that evokes pity, sorrow, or strong feeling (more of a tone thing) |
| duality | two sides |
| egocentric | one who is overly concerned with oneself |
| toilette | n. dressing/taking care of one's dressing before they leave |
| toiletry | n. object used in putting on toilette |
| denouement | part of the story right after climax in the work of literature. In drama it is the falling action. |
| original sin | in Christian theology, a sin inherited by all descendants of Adam; Adam and Eve committed the original sin when they ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden |
| familiar | someone who works in the household (usually in church) |
| anthypophora | arguing with self asking questions then answering |
| Gilead | a place mentioned in a number of places (Old Testament), land east of Jordan River. Beautiful and fertile land |
| palimpsest | a palimpsest on which writing is erased in order to put new writing on |
| figurative language | language written can be interpreted |
| lilies of the field | saying from Bible. Jesus tells his followers to not think of materials or possessions. Lilies are natural, so he wants his followers to concentrate on nature |
| saturnine | adj. sad, melancholy |
| aposiopesis | rhetorical device in which a sentence ends abroadly. Ex: "What are you ---- " |
| lunatic fringe | extremely rude (holders of extreme views) |
| gesticulate | v. make gestures when speaking |
| abstract | summary of a written work |
| Jezebel | Queen of Israel in Bible. Tried to have the pro. of God killed. Wicked and immoral woman |
| immutable | adj. unchanging |
| diction | word choice in speech, writing |
| pearl of great price | great value |
| lassitude | n. tiredness, diminishing of energy |
| sub-text | below text (what is implied), underneath |
| beatitudes | heavily happiness, bliss |
| deleterious | adj. harmful |
| allusion | reference to something that happened |
| loaves and fishes | not enough food. Jesus multipled loaves and fishes |
| cadge | v. to beg |
| eponymous | title of a novel is same name as the main character |
| mania | violent, abnormal or impulsive behavior |
| approbation | (n) approval of something or someone. A favorable opinion of someone |
| aphorism | a short statement that express some truth about life |
| displacement | Instead of take your emotion on the person that deserves, you put that emotion to your closet person. |
| profligate | (adj) absolutely shameless, wicked, imoral |
| authorial intrusion | when you have the clear voice of the author into the narration |
| maladjustment | inability to adjust to changes and demands (acts out) |
| pariah | social outsider |
| syncope | leaving a letter off a word (ex: gettin' ) |
| relativism | the belief that nothing is universally true. Instead everything is relative. Your understanding of things is based on circumstances. |
| repudiate | (v) to reject. to distant yourself from something. |
| polysyndeton | overuse of conjunction |
| psyche | your mind, soul, spirit as opposed to your physical being center of though, feelings, motivation. Direct our action/reaction to things that happen in our environment. Life. |
| genuflect | (v) to vent in a show of relevant/worship; show excessive respect |
| solecism | improper use of grammar in speech |
| multiple personality disorder | existence of more than one distinguish personality. sometimes it is a way of coping |
| pissant | (n) completely wasteless person |
| emotive language | language that arouses or expresses emotion (emotion reaction) |
| Nouveau Riche | somebody with newly acquired wealthy (and likes to show off usually) |
| Blue Blood | old money (wealth passed down) |
| bumptious | loudly assertive (nice way of saying pushy) |
| phallic symbol | anything that is shaped as a penis. Ex: space shuttle. Something created (not finger). |
| penis envy | all women want to be men |
| gauche | (adj.) lacking social graces (nervous when hanging out in social group) |
| hyperbole | an exaggeration |
| Old English | The earliest form of the English language, used up to about AD 1150. Looks like Greek/German (Not recognizable) |
| Middle English | English language from 1100 to 1500, spelt phonic |
| anathema | an object of extreme hate. You don't use this word lightly. Usage: a anathema (not an). Hate on a personal level. |
| flat character | character that doesn't change (static) |
| round character | character that changes over the course. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. (dynamic) |
| utilitarianism | The needs of the many should outweigh the needs of the few. |
| antithesis | (n) exact opposite |
| antithesis | placing of two opposite ideas/images. Dark & light. Explain study about life (explain its beauty, but then introduce the death same way as it describes life). A use of words or phrases that contrast with each other to create a balanced effect. |
| conditional response | response made by anima humans that associates with experiences with some sort simulates. |
| prurient | (adj.) perverse, disgusting |
| lay | a ballet, meant to be song. Poem for singing. |
| assimilation | (n.) process which a person acquires the social or a psychological characteristics of another group. Act of becoming part of something. |
| paramour | n. a lover, especially in a adulterous relationship. Especially one in a relationship with a married person. |
| portmanteau | a new word formed by combining two or three words. (ex. smog: smoke, fog) |
| salad days | (plural n.) time of youthful inexperience |
| perfidy | n. deliberate treachery |
| asyndeton | leaving out conjunctions. The omission of conjunctions in sentence constructions in which they would usually be used. |
| de facto segregation | segregation in fact in practice rather than in law. (Ex. School's lunch cafeteria) |
| paragon | a model for perfection |
| tragedy of circumstance | tragedy in which a character through no fault of his/her own that meets its doom. Through something outside the force, ex. God) |
| persona non grata | A person who is not favored by anyone. |
| succor | n. to provide help to someone in time of need. |
| syntax | word order and sentence structure. (Not word choice) |
| alter ego | n. another one. Usually refers to a close friend. |
| insouciant | adj. uncaring |
| pathetic fallacy | n. human emotion or motivations are given to natural object (like tree). Natural phenomena. (Sort of like personification but focus more on natural) |
| Napoleonic Code | what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband |
| ablution | (n) washing and bathing one's skin |
| prop | stage propery, an object used during a play |
| Olive Branch | symbol for peace |
| emphatic | with emphasize |
| dramatic irony | situation where character is unaware of something audience knows |
| class consciousness | one's awareness of one's social class and its relation to other social class |
| ramification | consequence, complication result, a usually unintended consequence of an action, decision, or judgment that may complicate a situation to make the desire result more difficult to achieve |
| hamartia | error in judgment that leads to a tragic hero's downfall |
| direct object | an object that is acted upon by the verb |
| abstract noun | an idea that can't be touched |
| concrete noun | touchable |
| parallel structure | repetition of construct such as I love running, hiking, and talking. |
| apposite modifier | a noun or pronoun that stands in place of a noun that means the same thing, for example, my car, the Honda is parked. |
| sangfroid | composure in face of difficulty or danger. Calmness under pressure |
| pneumatic | adj. filled with air. Ex. Gatsby's penumatic mattress |
| adynaton | a hyberbole. So exaggerate that it is impossible |
| on tenterhook | in a state of nervous anexity |
| orgiastic | adj. intensity of feeling |
| pasquinade | a kind of satire except it is excessive to the crude |
| satire | a critism of human folly through the use of humor or sarcasm (human stupidity) |
| WASP | White Anglo Sestan Protestant |
| apathetic | indifferent. You don't give a damn. |
| local color | a detail dsecription of a very specific place and time and lands more realism to text |
| Elysia Field | a place the good go when they die |
| malinger | pretend illness to get out of obligation |
| archetype | a original model which copies are made. In literature, it is a repeative character |
| Fait Accompli | an accomplished fact. |
| mendacious | adj. deceiful |
| realism | believe all art be literature. No pictures. Realistic Scene. |
| sadism | abnomrla behavior characterized by deriving/getting sexual pleasure from infflicting physical pain on otehrs |
| dissonance | adj. clashing harsh or opposing sound |
| consance | adj. pleasing harmony sound |
| Bete Noire | black beast (sth hated) |
| gallant | adj. cordics, attendative (applying to man) |
| bildungsroman | novel about somebody's formative years |
| Freudian slip | an error in speech that reveals suppressed feeling |
| inamorata | (n) the woman that holds a man's heart |
| inamorato | (n) the man that holds a woman's heart |
| climax | the turning point of the story |
| conspicuous consumption | a term for buying expensive unnecessary stuff in order to show one's wealth |
| delusion | (n) a strong belief in something despite evidence (logical/clear evidence) willful not created by internal force. |
| demotic | language of the people |
Combine with other sets
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