Scarlet Letter Vocab
About this set
Created by:
vennefam on October 25, 2011
Description:
There are 63 words
Classes:
PCMS2014, CLASS OF 2014, PCHS2014
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63 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 abstruse | (adj) difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge |
| anathema | (n) a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication; a detested person |
| antipathy | (n) the object of a feeling of intense aversion; something to be avoided; a feeling of intense dislike |
| apotheosized | (v) idolize or glorify |
| asperity | (n) harshness of manner; something hard to endure |
| augur | (n) (ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens to guide public policy (v) predict from an omen; indicate by signs |
| bedizen | (v) dress up garishly and tastelessly; decorate tastelessly |
| beneficence | (n) the quality of being kind or helpful or generous; doing good; feeling like this |
| capricious | (adj) determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason; changeable |
| centrifugal | (adj) tending to move away from a center; tending away from the centralization, as of authority |
| congenial | (adj) used of plants; capable of cross-fertilization or of being grafted; suitable to your needs or similar to your nature |
| contumely | (n) a rude expression intended to offend or hurt |
| countenance | (n) the appearance conveyed by a person's face; the human face; formal and explicit approval (v) to consent to; to give permission |
| dauntless | (adj) invulnerable to fear or intimidation |
| dearth | (n) an insufficient quantity or number; an acute insufficiency |
| defunct | (adj) having ceased to exist or live; no longer in force or use; inactive |
| deleterious | (adj) harmful to living things |
| derisively | (adv) in a disrespectful and mocking manner |
| despotic | (adj) characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule; having absolute sovereignty |
| effluence | (n) the process of flowing out |
| eldritch | (adj) suggesting the operation of supernatural influences |
| emblem | (n) special design or visual object representing a quality, type, group, etc.; a visible symbol representing an abstract idea |
| enigma | (n) something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained; a difficult problem |
| escutcheon | (n) a shield; especially one displaying a coat of arms; (nautical) a plate on a ship's stern on which the name is inscribed; a flat protective covering (on a door or wall etc) to prevent soiling by dirty fingers |
| etherealized | (v) make extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world |
| expiation | (n) the act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing (especially appeasing a deity); compensation for a wrong |
| farthingale | (n) a hoop worn beneath a skirt to extend it horizontally; worn by European women in the 16th and 17th centuries |
| foundered | (v) to break down; to sink; to crumple; to give way and fall to the ground; to stumble and fall; to make or become ill by overfeeding |
| ignominy | (n) a state of dishonor |
| impute | (v) attribute or credit to; attribute (responsibility or fault) to a cause or source |
| inauspicious | (adj) boding ill; presaging ill fortune; contrary to your interests or welfare |
| incongruity | (n) the quality of disagreeing; being unsuitable and inappropriate |
| iniquity | (n) absence of moral or spiritual values; an unjust act; morally objectionable behavior |
| inscrutable | (adj) of an obscure nature |
| intrinsic | (adj) situated within or belonging solely to the organ or body part on which it acts; belonging to a thing by its very nature |
| lurid | (adj) shining with an unnatural red glow as of fire seen through smoke; ghastly pale; glaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism; horrible in fierceness or savagery |
| malefactress | (n) a woman who has committed (or been legally convicted of) a crime |
| malice | (n) feeling a need to see others suffer; the quality of threatening evil |
| manifest | (adj) clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment (n) a customs document listing the contents put on a ship or plane (v) to reveal its presence or make an appearance; to record in a ship's manifest; to provide evidence for; to stand as proof of; to show by one's behavior, attitude, or external attributes |
| mien | (n) dignified manner or conduct |
| mutability | (n) the quality of being capable of change/transfiguration |
| necromancer | (n) one who practices divination by conjuring up the dead; one who practices magic or sorcery |
| nugatory | (adj) of no real value |
| penal | (adj) subject to punishment by law; serving as or designed to impose punishment; of or relating to punishment |
| phantasmagoric | (adj) characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtapositions |
| physiognomy | (n) the features of somebody's face, especially when they are used as indicators of that person's character or temperament |
| pillory | (n) a wooden instrument of punishment on a post with holes for the wrists and neck; offenders were locked in and so exposed to public scorn (v) to punish by putting in this object; expose to ridicule or public scorn; criticize harshly or violently |
| precocity | (n) intelligence achieved far ahead of normal developmental schedules |
| preternatural | (adj) surpassing the ordinary or normal; existing outside of or not in accordance with nature |
| primeval | (adj) having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state |
| rankle | (v) gnaw into; make resentful or angry |
| repugnance | (n) intense aversion; the relation between propositions that cannot both be true at the same time |
| remonstrance | (n) the act of expressing earnest opposition or protest |
| scaffold | (n) a temporary arrangement erected around a building for convenience of workers; a platform from which criminals are executed (hanged or beheaded) (v) provide with this for support |
| scintillating | (adj) brilliantly clever; having brief brilliant points or flashes of light; marked by high spirits or excitement |
| scrofula | (n) a form of tuberculosis characterized by swellings of the lymphatic glands |
| spectral | (adj) of or relating to a spectrum; resembling or characteristic of a phantom |
| talisman | (n) a trinket or piece of jewelry thought to be a protection against evil |
| transfiguration | (n) the act of transforming so as to exalt or glorify; a striking change in appearance or character or circumstances; (New Testament) the sudden emanation of radiance from the person of Jesus; (Christianity) a church festival held in commemoration of the Transfiguration of Jesus |
| transgressor | (n) someone who violates a law or command |
| tumultuous | (adj) characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination |
| ulterior | (adj) beyond or outside an area of immediate interest; remote; coming at a subsequent time or stage; lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed (especially being kept in the background or deliberately concealed) |
| visage | (n) the appearance conveyed by a person's face; somebody's face or facial expression; the appearance or look of something |
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