| Term | Definition |
|---|
| agro-/agri- | field, farm |
| anthropo- | man, human |
| arch- | chief, main, first |
| astro- | star |
| aud-/audio- | hear |
| avi- | bird, fly |
| biblo- | book |
| cess-/-cede/-ceed | to move |
| chrom- | color |
| chron- | time |
| clar- | clear |
| cor-/corp- | body |
| cred- | believe, belief |
| dem-/demo- | people |
| derm-/dermo- | skin |
| dic- | to speak or say |
| duc- | to lead |
| fid- | trust |
| fin- | the end |
| flu- | to flow |
| gen- | birth, race, family |
| geo- (gaia) | earth, land |
| graph- | to write |
| greg- | group, crowd or flock |
| hemo- | blood |
| homo (L) | man |
| homo (G) | the same |
| hydro- | water |
| ject | to throw |
| laud- | to praise |
| leg- | law |
| litho- | stone |
| log-/logo- | word |
| luc-/lus-lumen- | light |
| man-/manu- | hand |
| meter | measure |
| mit-/miss- | to send |
| mort- | death |
| mut- | change |
| nov- | new |
| pac- | peace |
| pater- | father |
| ped (L) | foot |
| ped (G) | child |
| pend- | hang |
| phon- | sound |
| photo- | light |
| port- | to carry |
| pos-/pon- | to put or place |
| psych- | mind |
| pyro- | fire |
| sci- | to know |
| scrib-/scrip- | to write |
| sen- | old |
| soph- | wise,wisdom |
| spec- | to look, see or watch |
| sto-/sta- | to remain the same, steady |
| struct- | to build |
| -tect | to cover |
| temp- | time |
| ten- | to hold |
| theo- | god |
| thermo- | heat |
| tort- | to twist or turn |
| tract- | to pull (or draw) |
| ven- | to come |
| ver- | truth, true |
| vic-/vinc- | to conquer, defeat |
| vid-/vis- | to look, see, or watch |
| viv-/vita- | to live, life |
| voc-/vok- | to call, voice |
| zo-/zoo- | animal |
| a-/ab- | not, opposite of |
| ad- | to, towards |
| ante- | before |
| anti-/contra- | against,oppossed to |
| be- | about, concerning |
| bene- | good |
| circum- | around |
| col-/com-/cor- | with, together |
| de- | lacking, reverse, away |
| dis- | lacking |
| em-/en- | to make, cause or give |
| equi- | equal |
| ex-/extra- | out of, outside |
| hemi- | half |
| hyper- | overly, too much |
| il-/im-/in-/ir-/non- | not (a negative) |
| inter- | between, among |
| intra- | within |
| intro- | into |
| mal- | bad, evil |
| micro- | small, tiny |
| mid- | halfway |
| mis- | wrong, incorrect |
| post- | after |
| pre- | before |
| pro- | forward, in favor of |
| re- | again, back to |
| retro- | backwards (in time) |
| semi- | half, partial |
| sub- | below, beneath, under |
| super- | over and above |
| trans- | across, beyond |
| un- | not, the reverse of |
| ly/ily | manner |
| ward | towards |
| wise | like |
| able | able to |
| acious | full of |
| al/ical | related to |
| ant | related to |
| ful | full of |
| ible | able to |
| ic | like |
| ish | like, similar to |
| ive | pertaining to |
| less | without |
| like | like |
| ly (adjective) | like |
| most | to the extreme |
| ous | full of |
| ular | related to |
| abdicate | to resign a high office |
| affable | friendly |
| appurtenance | an accompanying part of feature |
| benign | harmless; kind or gentle |
| bulbous | rounded and swollen |
| candid | honest |
| chagrin | great disappointment |
| collude | to secretly cooperate with somebody to do something illegal |
| complacent | self satisfied |
| contemptuous | expressing dislike |
| demure | shy and modest |
| desultory | happening in a random way |
| excelsior | packing material made from wood shavings |
| flaccid | limp or lacking energy |
| florid | having an unhealthily pink or red complexion; overly complicated |
| haphazard | unplanned |
| imperceptible | tiny |
| incredulous | showing disbelief |
| indignant | angry with injustice |
| ineffable | unable to express with words |
| influx | sudden arrival of a large number of people or things |
| ingratiate | to seek someone's favor |
| insolence | aggressive disrespect |
| intrinsic | basic and essential |
| jocular | fond of joking |
| jovial | cheerful |
| latent | underlying |
| malevolence | ill will |
| motif | a theme in literature; a repeated design |
| mottled | spotted |
| myopia | a lack of foresight |
| opaque | not transparent |
| petulance | a bad temper |
| phlegmatic | unexcitable |
| placid | calm in nature or appearance |
| prim | proper, prudish |
| quiescent | inactive |
| recalcitrant | resisting authority |
| salient | noticeably significant; protruding |
| sardonic | cynically mocking |
| scant | inadequate; only |
| somber | dark and gloomy |
| spasmodic | intermittent, occurring at uneven intervals |
| stolid | unemotional |
| surreptitious | secretive |
| tremulous | fearful; shaking |
| truculence | aggressive defiance |
| turgid | pompous and overcomplicated; overflowing |
| wan | pale, faint |
| wry | amusing and ironic |
| baseness | the quality of lacking higher values |
| exalt | to glorify, to praise, to raise in rank |
| replicate | to repeat or copy |
| vulgar | offensive to good taste |
| flourish | to thrive or to grow well |
| homage | respect shown by external action |
| ominous | threatening |
| servile | overly submissive |
| soothsayer | fortune teller |
| lament | to express sorrow |
| vex | to cause discomfort |
| rout | to gouge out |
| repute | to consider as specified; the estimation in view of others |
| mettle | courage or spirit |
| knotty | overly complicated |
| portentous | forewarning |
| prodigy | one with exceptional talents |
| prodigious | extraordinary in quantity and degree |
| alchemy | medieval chemistry, the changing of metals into gold |
| bestow | to grant or give |
| abridge | to shorten |
| affable | friendly |
| ascend | to move upward |
| augment | to make greater |
| augury | an omen |
| bequeath | to hand down (synonym of bestow) |
| clamor | a loud noise |
| confound | to confuse |
| covert | secret, hidden |
| engender | to cause, produce, create |
| gravity | seriousness (in addition to its meaning in physics class) |
| indignation | anger resulting from injustice |
| kindle | to start a fire, to stir up |
| mirth | glee |
| muse | an inspiration for art; v. to ponder |
| revere | to honor and respect |
| rhetoric | the art of persuasion using words |
| spurn | to reject with hostility |
| unassailable | indisputable |
| vanquish | to conquer |
| alliteration | repetition of the same sounds at the beginning of words or stressed syllables |
| allusion | A passing or casual reference to something that the author would like the reader to recognize |
| anachronism | An object in literature that does not fit in the setting's time period |
| anaphora | repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of verses or paragraphs |
| apostrophe | A direct address to the absent as the present |
| assonance | Resemblence of sounds, especially of the vowel sounds in words |
| blank verse | Unrhymed verse having regular meter |
| consonance | Repition of consonants |
| couplet | Unit of verse consisting of two lines |
| direct address | A noun being spoken to in a sentence |
| dramatic foil | A character in literature to contrast with another to heighten a character trait in another |
| enjambent | Continuation of syntactic unit from one line of verse to the next without a pause |
| euphemism | inoffensive word or phrase substituted for one considered offensive or upsetting |
| extended metaphor | A comparison between two things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a literary work |
| foreshadowing | The act of showing or indicating or hinting to events that will happen in a literary work |
| hyperbole | figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect |
| iambic pentameter | A rhythm (meter) in poetry consisting of a unrhymed line with five feet, each foot containing an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable |
| irony | A situation where the exact opposite of one expects should happen, actually happens |
| litotes | Figure of speech where a positive is stated by negating the opposite |
| metaphor | figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between to unlike things that have something important in common |
| metonymy | Figure of speech where one concept or word take the place of another to which it is related |
| onomatopoeia | use of words that imitate sounds |
| oxymoron | use of two words that do not go together |
| personification | act of giving unhuman objects human characteristics |
| pun | play on words often humorous to emphasize different meanings |
| synecdoche | figure of speech where a part is used in place of a whole word, or a specific word is used for a general one |
| simile | comparing to unlike things using like or as |
| soliloquy | literary form of discourse where a character speaks to himself or herself |
| stichomythy | dialogue in brief alternating lines delivered by different characters |
| zeugma | device in which a single word is applied to two or more nouns when its sense is appropriate to only one of them or both in different ways |
| annul | to make something invalid (v) |
| apologia | a formal, written justification of a belief (n) |
| burnished | brown, shiny, and smooth (adj) |
| callous | hardhearted (adj) |
| carapace | animal shell and self-protectiveness (n) |
| cede | to surrender something (v) |
| coagulate | to become semisolid (v) |
| fathom | measure of water (n) comprehend something (v) |
| furl | to roll up and secure something (v) |
| gaunt | extremely thin and bony (adj) |
| gelatinous | semisolid (adj) |
| interminable | seemingly endless (adj) |
| juncture | point in time and joining place (n) |
| lurch | to move violently (v) |
| malignant | harmful (adj) |
| myriad | numerous (adj) large number (n) |
| peril | danger (n) |
| taut | stretched tightly (adj) |
| thwart | to frustrate something (v) |
| undulate | to move in waves (v) |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace