Mullarkey AP Lit Words

Apocryphal

Adjective:

Of questionable authorship or authenticity, erroneous: fictitious.

Ex: Wildly _________ rumors fueled the uprising.

Foment

Verb:

To promote the growth of, to incite, to stimulate/provoke.

Protean

Adjective:

Readily taking on varied shapes, forms, or meanings exhibiting considerable variety or diversity.

(His ________ skill.)

Inimitable

Adjective:

Defying imitation, matchless, unique, incomparable.

Belie

Verb:

To picture falsely, misrepresent; to be counter to, to contradict.

Expiate/Expiation

Verb:

To make amends or reparation for, to atone (_______ one's sins by acts of penance.)

Noun: Atonement

Paroxysm

Noun:

A sudden outburst of emotion or action.

(A sudden ______ of laughter); a sudden attack or intensification of a disease, a spasm or fit, a convulsion.

Promulgate

Verb:

To make known (a decree) by public declaration: to announce officially; to put into effect by formal announcement.

Philander/Philanderer

Verb:

To carry on a sexual affair or many affairs. Especially, with a frivolous or casual attitude.

Incur

Verb:

To acquire or come into (something usually undesirable) to sustain.
To bring upon oneself.

Exhume/Exhumation

Verb:

To remove from a grave: disinter.
To bring into light especially after a period of obscurity: to unearth.

Vituperative/Vituperate

Adjective:

Using, containing or marked by harshly abusive censure.

Verb:

(transitive verb): to rebuke or criticize harshly or abusively, berate, scold.
(intransitive verb): to use harshly abusive language, to rail.

Treatise

Verb: A systematic, usually extensive written discourse on a topic.

Ungainly

Adjective:

Lacking grace or ease of movement or form; clumsy, difficult to move or use, unwieldy.

Nominal

Adjective:

Of resembling, relating to or consisting of a name or names; existing in name only, titular, insignificantly small, trifling.

Pillory

Noun:

A wooden framework on a post with holes for the head and hands in which offenders were formerly locked to be exposed to public, scorn as punishment.

Verb: To ridicule and abuse; to put in a pillory as punishment.

Cull

Verb: to pick out from others, to select, to gather or collect, to remove rejected members or parts from (a herd).

Noun: Something picked out from others especially because of inferiority.

Fodder

Noun:

Feed for livestock, especially coarsely chopped hay or straw.
Raw material as for artistic creation: a consumable often inferior item or resource that is in demand and usually abundant in supply.

Aplomb

Noun:

Self-confident assurance, composure, ease.

Invidious

Adjective:

Tending to rouse ill will, animosity, or resentment (________ accusations): discriminatory; odious.

Disingenuous

Adjective:

Not straightforward or candid; insincere, hypocritical.

Cataclysm/Cataclysmic

Noun:

A violent upheaval that causes great destruction or brings about a fundamental change, a devastating flood.

Masochism/Masochist/Masochistic

Noun:

the turning of the destructive tendencies upon oneself.
The willingness to subject oneself to unpleasant or trying experiences.

Consortium

Noun:

An association or combination as of businesses in order to engage in a joint venture, a cooperative arrangement among groups or institutions.

Emissary

Noun:

An agent sent on a mission to represent or advance that interests of another.

Harrowing

Adjective:

Extremely distressing, disturbing; tormenting.

Nihilism/Nihilistic

Noun:

An extreme form of skepticism that holds that or rejects all moral communicated; the belief that destruction of existing political and social institutions is necessary for future improvements.

Retinue

Noun:

The retainers accompanying a high ranking person; entourage.

Quotidian

Adj:
Everyday; commonplace; recurring daily; on a daily basis

Brio

Noun:
Vigor, vivacity, liveliness, exuberance

Secular

Adj:
Worldly rather than spiritual, not bound by monastic restrictions, esp. not belonging to a religious order; material
(opposite of religious)

Fete (fate or fet)

Noun:
A festival or feast; an elaborate, often outdoor entertainment; gala; jamboree
Verb:
To celebrate or honor with a festival, feast, or an elaborate entertainment; to pay honor to

Reprieve

Noun:
*To postpone or cancel the punishment of; to bring relief to
*Postponement or cancellation of a punishment; temporary relief, as from danger

Schmaltz

Noun:
Excessively sentimental art or music; maudlin sentimentality
Adj: Schmaltzy

Fetid

Adj:
Having an offensive odor; putrid; squalid; decaying

Unseemly

Adj:
Not in accord with accepted standards of good taste; grossly improper; not suited to the circumstances; inappropriate

Dither

Noun:
A stat of indecisive agitation
Verb:
To be nervously irresolute in acting or doing
Adj: dithering

Restive

Adj:
Uneasily impatient under restriction, opposition, criticism, or delay; resisting control; refusing to more.
The crowd grew restive.

Rube

Noun:
Am unsophisticated country person

Cogent

Adj: Appealing to the intellect or powers of reasoning; convincing; persuasive; influential
(a cogent argument)
cogency - noun

Cognition

Noun:
The mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, & judgment; that which comes to be known, through perception, reasoning, or knowledge

Cognitive

Adj:
Having a basis in or reducible to epirical factual knowledge

Queue

Noun:
A line of waiting people or vehicles, a long of hair worn hanging down the back of the neck; a pigtail

ineffable

Adj:
Defying expression or description; indescribably, inexpressible, unspeakable, indefinable

Consummate

Verb:
To bring to completion or fruition; to conclude; to fulfill

Inveigh

Intr, Verb:
To give vent to angry disapproval; to protest vehemently

Nadir

Noun:
In astronomy, a point on the celestial sphere directly below the observer, diametrically opposite the zenith; the lowest point
"reaching nadir of life/career"

Sumptuous

Adj:
Of a size or splendor, suggesting great expense, lavish, luxurious, extravagant, opulent, plush.

Arbiter

Noun:

One chosen to judge or decide a disputed issue; an arbitrator, one who has the power to judge or ordain a will.

Crony

Noun:

A longtime close friend or companion.

Cronyism

Noun:

Favoritism shown to old friends without regard for their qualifications, as in political appointment to office.

Promenade

Noun:

A leisurely walk, esp one taken in a public place, a formal dance; a ball

Verb:

to go on a leisurely walk

Hegemony

Noun:

The predominant influence, as of a state, region or group over another or others.

Posthumous

Adj:

Occurring or continuing after one's death.

Behoove

Verb:

To be necessary or proper for ("It behooves you read your books before you fall behind.")

Graft

Noun:

Unscrupulous use of one's position for profit or advantages. Extortion; money or an advantage gained by unscrupulous means.

Verb:

To join or unite closely (as in a plant), a transplant, or a custom.

Alcove

Noun:

A recess or partly enclosed extension connected to or forming part of a room; a secluded structure such as a bower in a garden

Venerate/ Veneration

Verb:

To regard with respect, reverance, or heartfelt deferance; to honor or idolize

Venerable

Adjective:

Commanding respect by virtue of age, dignity, character, or position; worthy of reverance, esp by religious or historical association.

Unctuous

Adjective:

Characterized by affected, exaggerated or insincere earnestness; having the quality or characteristics of oil; slippery.

Obdurate

Adjective:

Hardened in wrongdoing or wickedness; stubbornly impenitent; hardened against feeling, hard hearted; not giving in to persuasion; intractable, inflexible; (an obdurate miser)

Baleful

Adjective:

Portending evil; ominous; harmful or malignant in intent or effect; that which is menacing or foreshadows evil; sinister (a baleful look).

Placard

Noun:

A sign or notice for displace in a public place; a small card or plaque, such as a name plate on a door.

Oblique

Adjective:

Having a standing or stopping direction, course or position; indirect or evasive devious misleading, or dishonest.

Interloper

Noun:

One who interferes with the affairs of others, often for selfish reasons; a meddler; one who includes in a place, situation or activity.

Rapprochement

Noun - a reestablishing of cordial relations, as between two countries; the state of reconciliation.

Fissure

Noun - a long narrow opening a crack or cleft; the process of separating; a division; a schism.

Messianic

Adjective - of or relating to a messiah or savior.

Untoward

Adj - not favorable unpropitious; troublesome, adverse, (an ________ incident); hard to guide or control; unruly, improper; unseemly. (______ advances).

Ineluctable

Adj - not to be avoided or escaped; inevitable.

Vis a Vis

Prep - face to face with; opposite to, compare with, in relation to.

Noun - one with the same functions/characteristics as another; a counterpart.

Amorphous

Adj - lacking definite form; shapeless; of no particular type; anomalous; lacking organization; formless.

Attrition

Noun - a rubbing away or wearing down by friction, a gradual natural reduction of membership or personnel as through retirement; resignation, or death.

Roil

Verb - to make (a liquid) muddy/cloudy by stirring up sediment, to displease or disturb; to vex; to agitate.

Prurient

Adj - inordinate interest in matters of sex, lascivious, arousing or appealing to an inordinate interest in sex.

---ience - Noun.

Mete Out

Verb - to distribute by or as if by measure, allot (_______ _______ punishment)

Epigram

Noun - a short witty poem expressing a single thought or observation; a concise, clever, often paradoxical statement. "Remaariage is a triumph of hope over experience" - Samuel Johnson.

Inception

Noun - the beginning of something, such as an undertaking, a commencement.

Parse

Verb - to examine closely or subject to detailed analysis esp: by breaking into components; to make sense of; to comprehend.

Recompense

Verb - to award compensation to; to remunerate.

Noun - amends made for a loss; payment in return for something remuneration; compensation.

Proprietor

Noun - one who has legal title to something; an owner; manager.

Proprietary

Adjective - exclusively owned, private.

Effrontery

Noun - brazen boldness; presumptuousness; impudence.

Fatuous

Adj - vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish; delusive; absurd, unreal, inane; absurd.

Natty

Adj - neat, trim, and smart; dapper (a _____ dresser).

Slattern

N - an untidy dirty woman.

-------ly - slovenly; untidy.

Crass

Adj - so crude and undefined as to be lacking in discrimination and sensibility; inane, asinine.

Feckless

Adj - lacking purpose and vitality; feeble or ineffective; careless and irresponsible.

Intractable

Adj - difficult to manage, mold or manipulate; stubborn; unruly.

Accost

V - to approach and speak to boldly or aggressively; as with a demand; to confront or detain.

Voluble

Adj - marked by a ready flow of speech; fluent.

Tractable

Adj - easily managed; controlled; governable; easily handled or worked; malleable.

Abrogate

V - to abolish, do away with, or annul, esp by authority.

Threshold

N - a piece of wood or stone beneath a door; a doorway entrance; the place or point of beginning the outset; the point that must be exceeded to begin producing a given effect or result to elicit a response.

Parlay

V - to bet (an original wager and its winnings) on a subsequent event, to maneuver (an asset) to great advantage.

"He _____ his small investment into a large fortune."

Repudiate

V - to reject the validity or authority of; to reject strongly as false or unjust; to refuse to recognize or pay, to disown (as a child).

Requisite

Adj - required, essential.

N - something indispensable; a requirement.

Macabre

Adj - suggesting the horror of death and decay; gruesome.

Raconteur

N - one who tells and anecdotes with skill and wit.

Pontificate

V (intr) - to express opinions or judgments in a dogmatic way.

Apotheosis

N - exaltation of divine rank or stature; deification; elevation to a preeminent or transcendent position; glorification. An exalted or glorified example. (the _____ of courage).

Florid

Adj - flushed with rosy color; ruddy; very ornate; flowery, healthy; baroque, extravagant. (Doesn't directly describe a person).

Dilatory

Adj - intended to delay ; tending to postpone or lacking promptness, due to procrastination, or indifference. (________ in his work habits).

Mollify

V - to calm in temper feeling; soothe, pacify; to lessen in intensity; to reduce the rigidity of; soften.

Emollient

Adj - softening and soothing, esp. to the skin; making less harsh or abrasive; mollifying.

Salutary

Adj - effecting or designed to effect an improvement; remedial; favorable to health; wholesome.In

Inveigle

V - to win over by coaxing; flattery or artful talk; to obtain by cajolery.

Verbatim

Adj - using exactly the same words; corresponding word for word.

Portend

V - to serve as an omen or warning of presage (black clouds that ______ a storm) to indicate by prediction; to forecast (economic indicators that _____ a recession).

Portentious

Adj - foreboding, full of unspecific-able significable, exciting wonder and awe, marked by pompousness, pretentiously, weighly.

Milk

V - to press out, drain off, or remove by or as if by milking; to obtain money or benefits from, in order to achieve personal gain; exploit.

Waft

V - to cause to do gently and smoothly through the air or over water, to drfit.

Beget/Begot/Begotten

V - to father, sire, to cause, to exist of occur; to produce.

Duress

N - constraint by threat, coercion (confessed under _______) in law, illegal ____ - forcible confinement.

Vertigo

N - the sensation of dizziness; an instance of such a sensation; a confused, disoriented state of mind.

Vertiginous

Adj - turning about in an axis, revolving or whirling, affected by or tending to produce vertigo, dizzy, inclined to change quickly, unstable.

Fetish

N - an object that is believed to have magical or spiritual powers, esp. one associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.

An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence, an abnormally obsessive preoccupation or attachment, a fixation.

Dejour

Adj - prepared for a given day, most recent, current.

Grandiloquence

Adj - pompous or bombastic speech or expression.

Dulcet

Adj - pleasing to the ear; melodious; having a soothing agreeable quality.

Abridge

V - to reduce the length of (a written text) condense, to cut short, curtail.

Parry

V - to deflect or ward off, to deflect, evade or avoid with skill.

Indolent/Indolence

Adj - habitually idle, disliking or avoiding work, lazy, sluggish, listless, slothful.

Egregarious

Adj - outstandingly bad, flagrant, (as in a mistake or error).

Rhapsody

N - exalted or excessively enthusiastic expression of feeling in speech or writing, a literary work written in an impassioned style:

A state of belated bliss; ecstasy - in music, usually instrumental composition of irregular form that often incorporates improvisation.

Rhapsodize

V - to express oneself in an immoderately enthusiastic manner, to recite (something) in the manner of a _________.

Aegis

N - protection, patronage, support or guidance; sponsorship.

Animus

N - hostile feeling; animosity, ill-will, an attitude that informs one's actions; disposition.

Celerity

N - haste, swiftness of movement, rapidly, alacrity, speed.

Blanch

V - to turn pale; to cause to turn white or to lose color.

Jejune

Adj - insipid, juvenile, dull, lacking interest, unsophisticated, immature.

Cabal

N - a secret group of conspirators, a clique, a faction, a sect.

Canard

N - Unfounded or false, deliberately misleading story, a hoax, a ruse or fraud.

Effete

Adj - exhausted, lacking vitality, lethargic, weary, marked by self-indulgence, triviality or decadence.

Hoary

Adj - the gray or white with age, ancient, stale, old.

Baroque

Adj - extravagant, complex, or bizarre; esp: in ornamentation, elaborately, boldly, or flamboyantly, decorative, relating to a style in art, architecture, and music developed in Europe from 1800s-1850s.

Munificent/Munificence

Adj - generous, magnanimous, charitable, upright.

Elan

N - enthusiastic vigor, or liveliness, vivacity, distinctively elegant style or flair.

Adjure

V - to command or urge solemnly, and earnestly, to retreat.

Adjuration

N - an earnest or solemn appeal.

Martinet

N - one who adheres strictly to the rules; a disciplinarian, or despot.

Percipience/Percipient

N - keen perception

Adj - having the power to perceive keenly and readily.

Abeyance

N - the condition of being temporarily set aside, a suspension or delay (held the plan in _______).

Gainsay

V - to declare false; to deny; to contradict, con-traverse, dis-affirm, traverse, (to ______ the evidence).

Iniquity

N - gross immorality or injustice, wickedness, sin.

Iniquitous

Adj - evil, unjust, sinful, immoral, wicked, corrupt.

Apostasy/Apostale

N - abandonment of a loyalty or religion.

N - one who has abandoned one's beliefs, such as one's religion, political affiliation or a cause.

Oeuvre

N - a work of art, the sum of the life work of an artist, writer, or composer, opus.

Veracity/Veracious

N - adherence to the truth; truthfulness, accuracy, or precision.

Adj - truthful, accurate, honest, precise.

Codicil

N - an addition, appendix, or supplement, usu: to a will.

Approbate/Approbation

V - to sanction officially, authorize.

N - an expression of warm approval; praise, official approval.

Byzantine

Adj - of relating to or characterized by intrigue scheming or devious (a __________ arrangement). highly complicated, intricate, and involved (the _____ tax code).

Adj - relating to the Byzantine Empire, or the eastern orthodox church.

Prescience/Prescient

N - knowledge of actions or events before they occur, foresight.

Quintessential/Quintessence

Adj - being the most typical.

N - the pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing, the purest or the most typical instance (the _____ of kindness).

Piquant/Piquancy

Adj - pleasantly pungent or tart in taste; spicy appealingly provocative (a _____ wit). Charming, interesting or attractive (a _____ face).

Sobriquet

N - a nickname; an assumed name.

Invective

N - denunciatory or abusive language; vituperation reproachful and (or abusive use of profanity).

Treacle

N - a medicinal compound formerly used as an antidote for poison; cloying speech or sentiment.

Treacly

Adj - cloyingly sweet or sentimental.

Seminal

Adj - of, relating to, or having the power to originate; create, highly influential, in an original way ( a _____ figure in impressionism).

constituting or providing a basis for further development (a ______ idea).

Mordant

Adj - bitingly, sarcastic; incisive and trenchant; acerbic, harsh, penetrating ( having to do with written or oral communication).

Perspicacity/Perspicacious

N - acuity of perception, discernment, or understanding.

Adj - having or showing penetrating mental discernment intelligently clear-sighted and perceptive.

Ostensible/Ostensibly

Adj - represented or appearing as such, _____; processed seeming (his _____ purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity).

Hubris

N - overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance, haughtiness, egotism.

Parsimony/Parsimonious

N - unusual or excessive frugality; stinginess; thriftiness.

Adj - excessively staring or frugal, cheap, miserly.

Ecumenical

Adj - of worldwide scope or applicability; universal of or relating to the worldwide Christian church, concerned with establishing and promoting unity among churches; religious.

Dichotomy

N - division, into two usually contradictory parts of opinions.

Supercilious

Adj - feeling or showing haughty disdain; arrogant; condescending; excessively proud.

Lugubrious

Adj - mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree; doleful; somber.

Doughty

Adj - marked by southearted courage; brave.

Propitious

Adj - presenting favorable circumstances; auspicious kindly, gracious.

Penury/Penurious

N - extreme want/ poverty; destitution extreme dearth; bareness; insufficiency; indigence.

Modicum

N - a small, moderate, or token amount.

Callow

Adj - lacking adult maturity or experience; immature.

Sardonic

Adj - scornfully or cynically mocking; sarcastic; satirical, mordant.

Auger

N - a seer or prophet, a soothsayer.

V - (tr) - to predict, esp, from signs or omens; to foretell, to serve as an omen of (friends that _____ change in society).

(Intr) - to make predictions from signs or omens to be a sign or omen (a smooth dress rehearsal ____ well for the play).

Peripatetic

Adj - walking about or from place to place traveling on foot wandering.

Fallow

Adj - plowed but left unseeded during a growthy season, characterized by ingenuity.

Travail

N - work, esp when arduous; toil, tribulations, or agony, anguish.

V - (intr) - to work strenuously; to toil.

Argot

N - a specialized vocabulary or set of idioms used by a particular group, esp; criminals, jargon, dialect.

Excoriate/Excoriating

V - to tear or wear off the skin of to abrade, to censure strongly or denounce.

Jettison

V - to cast overboard or off; to discard (something) as unwanted or burdensome.

Astringent

Adj - in medicine, tending to draw together or constrict body tissue; styptic

sharp and penetrating, pungent or sever (astringent remarks).

Predicate

V - to base or establish ( a statement or action - I ________ my argument on the facts), to carry the connotation of, to imply, to proclaim, declare or assert as an attribution or quality of something. (His sermon _______ that materialism is a form of greed).

Predilection

N - a partiality or disposition in favor of something; a preference, a bias, a leaning, a penchant, a proactivity, a propensity.

Arrant

Adj - completely such, thorough going ( the ______ luxury).

Errant

Adj - roving, especially in search of adventure (of the cruise ship) straying from the proper course or standards (knights ____) (_______ youngster).

--wandering outside the established limits (______ lambs)

--aimless or irregular in motion (an ____ afternoon breeze).

Lope

V - to run or ride at a steady; easy gait, to joy.

Conundrum

N - a riddle in which a fanciful question is answered by a pun; a paradoxical, insoluble or difficult problem; a puzzling dilemma.

Dessicate

V - to dry out; to preserve (as in foods) by removing the moisture.

Chary

Adj - careful, cautious, wary, circumspect.

Plenary

Adj - complete in all respects unlimited or full (a diplomat with ________ powers) fully attended by all qualified members (a ______ session of the council).

Diurnal

Adj - occuring during the day, happening everyday, daily.

Eclat

N - a dazzling success, acclaim, great brilliance.

Extirpate/Extirpative/Extirpation

V - to rip up by the roots; to abolish, annihilate, destroy, eradicate, exterminate, extinguish, to remove by surgery (______ drug use).

Perfidy/Perfidious

N - deliberate breach of faith; calculated violation of trust; treachery.

Adj - treacherous, traitorous, untrustworthy; disloyal, deceitful.

Bathos

N - an abrupt, unintended transition in style from the exalted to the commonplace, producing a ludicrous effect, an anti-climax, insincere or grossly, sentimental pathos, banality, triteness.

Bathetic

Adj - excessively or insincerely emotional or sentimental, maudlin, malokish, soppy, schmaltzy, mushy.

Ennui

N - listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom.

Fusillade

N - a rapid outburst, spray of gunfire, fired simultaneously, or in rapid succession, a barrage, as of insult.

Perquisite

N - a privilege or perk that goes along with a job, gratuity, benefit, advantage.

Inure

V - to habituate to something undesirable; esp. prolonged subjection; to get used to, to accustom, (she _____ herself to their insults).

Fey

Adj - having or displaying an other worldly, magical or fairylike, aspect or quality (a ____ look) having visionary power, clairvoyant.

Turbid

Adj - having sediment or foreign particles stirred up or suspended, muddy, heavy, dark or defense, as a smoke or fog.

Sententious

Adj - terse and energetic; in expression; pithy; abounding in aphorisms; given to pompous moralizing.

Probity

N - honesty; uprightness; integrity; decency; virtue.

Excoriate/Excoriating

V - to tear or wear off the skin of, to abrade, to censure strongly or denounce.

Proclivity

(to or for) - N - a natural propensity or inclination; predisposition, tendency, penchant.

Imbroglio

N - a difficult or intricate situation; an entanglement a confused or complicated disagreement; a confused heap; a tangle.

Nefarious

Adj - infamous by the way of being extremely wicked despicable, reprehensible.

Avatar

N - the incarnation of a Hindu deity, esp. Vishnu, in human or animal form; an embodiment, as of a quality or concept, an archetype (the very ____ of cunning).

Impinge

V - to collide or strike (sound waves _______ on the eardrum).

--to encroach, intrude, trespass, (don't ______ on my privacy).

--to encroach upon (without _____ the liberties of our society).

Ephemeral

Adj - tasting for a markedly brief time living or lasting only for a day; transient, temporary.

Aspersion

N - an unfavorable or damaging remark; slander, the act of defaming or slandering.

Attenuate/Attenuating

V - to make slender, fine or small (the drought ____ the river) to reduce in force, value, degree, or amount; weaken. ---the medicine ____ the fever's effect)

Tendentious

Adj - marked by a strong implicit point of view; partisan (a _______ account of the recent election)

Cavalcade

N - a procession of riders or horse - drawn carriages, a ceremonial procession or display; a succession, series or cluster lot something positive.

Dilattent

N - a dabbler in an art or a field of knowledge (connotes lacking professional skill); a lower of the fine arts; a connoisseur.

Adj - superficial; amateurish.

Temporal

Adj - of relating to or limited by time, of or relating to the material world, testing only for a time, not eternal; passing.

Palliate

V - to make (an offense or crime) seem less serious; extenuate, to make less severe or intense, to mitigate, to relieve the symptoms of a disease or disorder.

Palliative

Adj - tending or serving to palliate, relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disorder without effecting a cure, analgesic.

Scurrilous

Adj - given to the use of vulgar, coarse, or abusive accusations; expressed in defamatory or libelous language.

Morass

N - an area of low-lying soggy ground; something that hinders engulf, or overwhelms, a quagmire.

Progeny

N - one born of, begotten by, or derived from another or a descendants; a scion, a result of a creative effort; a product.

Vernacular

N - the standard native language of a country or locality; dialect the everyday language spoken by a people as distinguished from literary language; the idiom of a trade or profession.

Empirical

Adj - relying on or derived from observation or experiment (empirical evidence).

Ethereal

Adj - light and insubstantial; intangible; delicate, heavenly, spiritual.

Fealty

N - the fidelity owned by a vassal.

Prevaricate/Prevaricator/Prevarication

V - to stray from or evade the truth; equivocate, to dither or stall.

Churl/Churlish

N - a rude, boorish person, a miserly person; a medieval English peasant (a tree person of the lowest class).

Adj - boorish and vulgar, having a bad disposition; surly.

Flippant

Adj - marked by disrespectful levity or casualness, pert, frivolous, glib.

Cipher

N - one having no influence or value; a nonentity; an empty vessel, the mathematical symbol for zero.

Vouchsafe

V - to condescend to grant or bestow (a privilege), to deign.

Nostrum

N - a medicine whose effectiveness is unproved and whose ingredients are usually secret; a quack remedy. A favorite but untested remedy for problems or evils.

Plangent

Adj - loud and resounding (______ bells): expressing or suggesting sadness; plaintive (the _____ sounds of a guitar).

Bombast/Bombastic

N - grandiloquent, pompous speech or writing; bravado; bluster.

Adj - using characterized by or fond of high-sounding but unimportant or silly language, pompous, grandiloquent.

Vicissitudes

N - a change or variation, the quality of being changeable mutability.

Fulcrum

N - the point or support on which a lever pivots; a prop or support, an agent/means of existing vital powers (influence, pressure).

Pernicious

Adj - tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly causing greater, harm, destructive; insidious.

Eke

(out) - V - to supplement with great effort, to get with great effort or strain (_____ out a living by working two jobs).

--to make (a supply) last by practicing economy.

Purview

N - the extent or range of function, power or competence, scope, range of vision, comprehension or experiences, an outlook.

Inchoate

Adj - in an initial or early stage incipient, imperfectly formed or developed, embryionic (a vague, _______ idea).

Aggregate

Adj - constituting or amount to a whole, total (______ sales)

N - a total considered with reference to its constituent parts, a gross amount.

V - to gather into a mass, sum or whole, to amount or total.

Paean

N - a song of joyful praise or exultation; a fervent expression of joy or praise (the art was a ____ to paganism.)

Salacious

Adj - appealing to or simulating sexual desire; lascivious, lustful, bady (the media played up the scandal's ______ details).

Non Sequitur

N - an inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premises or evidence; a statement that does not follow logically from what preceded.

Puerile

Adj - belonging to childhood; juvenile, immature, childish, infantile.

Adjure/ Abjuration

V - to renounce under oath, forswear; to recent solemnity, repudiate (_____ one's belief).

to give up (an action or practice); to abstain from (the celebrity ____ all perks and insisted on being treated like everyone else).

Jeremiad

N - a literary work or speech expressing a bitter lament or a righteous prophecy of doom.

Panoply

N - a splendid or striking array; a display (a ____ of colorful flags). ceremonial attire with all accessories (portrait of the general in full _____) something that covers and protects.

Miens

N - bearing or manner esp. as it reveals an inner state of mind, an outer appearance or aspect.

Doleful

Adj - filled with or expressing grief, mournful, woeful, dejected, despondent, causing grief (a ________ loss).

Doctrinaire

Adj - of relating to or characteristic of a person.

Mendacity/Mendacious

N - untruthfulness; a lie; a falsehood; deceit; deception.

Adj - lying, unfaithful (a mendacious child), false, dishonest.

Chimera

N - an organism consisting of two or more tissues of different genetic compositions, produced as a result of transplant; grafting, or genetic engineering; in Greek mythology, a fire-breathing, she-monster usually represented as a composite of a lion, goat, and serpent. A fanciful mental illusion or fabrication.

Sojourn/Sojourner

V - (intr) - to reside or stay temporarily.

N - a temporary stay, a brief period of residence.

Parapet

N - a low protective wall or railing along the edge of a raised structure, such as a roof or balcony. An embankment, protecting, soldiers from enemy fire; a bulwark.

Phlegmatic

Adj - having or suggesting a calm, sluggish, temperament, unemotional, apathetic.

Sophistry/Sophistic/Sophist

N - a plausible but misleading or fallacious argument.

Adj - apparently sound but really fallacious, spacious.

Ignominy/Ignominious

N - great personal dishonor or humiliation. Shameful or disgraceful action, conduct, or character.

Adj - marked by shame or disgrace, deserving disgrace or shame, despicable, degrading, debasing.

Soignee

Adj - showing sophisticated elegance; fashionable, (a ____ little club), well-groomed; polished (the ____ actor).

Staid

Adj - characterized by sedate dignity and often a strait-laced sense of propriety; serious, sober, (the ______ organization) fixed; permanent (there is nothing _____ in this universe).

Reckon/Reckoning

V - to count, compute, or calculate, (______ the costs) to consider as being; to regard.

(intr) - to rely with confident expectancy (she_____ on finding).
N - the act of counting or computing an itemized bill or statement of a sum due, a settlement.

Alacrity

N - cheerful willingness; eagerness, speed or quickness; celerity,

Encroach/Encroachment

V - (intr) - to take another's possessions or rights gradually or stealthily, to advance beyond proper or former limits.

Vagary

N - an extravagant or erratic notion or action. (often used in the plural).

Vaunt

V - (tr/intr) - to boast, crow, or brag, suggesting ostentatiousness.

N - a boastful remark, speech or extravagant self-praise.

Sultry/Sultriness

Adj - very humid and hot (sultry August weather).

expressing or arousing desire (a sultry look, a sultry voice)

extremely hot; torrid (the sultry desert sand).

Beset

V - to attack from all sides ; to trouble persistently; harass, beleaguer; to hem in, surround, to stud, as with jewel.

Doyenne

N - a woman who is the eldest/senior member of a group.

Behest

N - an authoritative command; an urgent request. (I called the office at the behest of my supervisor).

Pithy

Adj - precisely meaningful; forceful and brief, terse, curt, succinct.

Motley

Adj - having elements of great variety or incongruity; heterogeneous; miscellaneous; having many colors, variegated. (a motley crew/a motley tunic).

Dastardly

Adj - cowardly and malicious; base; dishonorable; reprehensible.

Pyrrhic Victory

N - a victory that is offset by staggering losses.

Scoff

V - (tr) - to mock at or treat with derision, to eat (food) quickly and greedily (slang),

(intr) - to show or express derision or scorn.

Scofflaw

N - one who habitually violates the law or fails to answer court summonses.

Grist

N - a grain or quantity of grains used for grinding.

blandish

to coax by flattery; to cajole

stipend

a fixed and regular payment

grist for the mill

something that can be used to advantage

enamor

to inspire with, to captivate the affections of

purport

to have or present the often false appearance of being or attending; to profess; to have the intention of doing

purported

assumed to be such; supposed; ostensible; alleged

veritable `

being truly so called; real or genuine; authentic; absolute

besot

to muddle or stupefy

effulgent

shining brilliantly, resplendent, bright

effulgence

brilliant radiance

quarry

hunted animal; a prey' hunted animals considered as a group; garne; an object of pursuit

indomitable

incapable of being overcome or subdued; unconquerable; resolute; doughty

viscous

having relatively high resistance to flow; sticky; viscid

nullify

to invalidate, to counteract for or the effectiveness of

null

having no legal force; invalid; of no consequence, effect, or value; insignificant; amounting to nothing

immaterial

of no importance or relevance; inconsequential; having no material body or form

malaise

a vague feeling of bodily discomfort, a general of sense of unease or depression

discernment

keenness of insight and judgment

serpentine

of or resembling a serpent in form of movement; sinuous, subtly sly and tempting; circuitous; indirect

convoluted

having numerous overlapping coils or folds; overly complicated, intricate, or elaborate; tortuous

bracing

invigorating or refreshing, strengthening

nemesis

a source of harm or ruin, an opponent that cannot be beaten or overcome, one that inflicts retribution or vengeance

osmosis

a gradual, often unconscious process of absorption or learning.

Lassitude

N - a state or feeling of weariness; diminished energy or listlessness; lethargy

Dupe

N - an easily deceived person; a person who functions as the tool of another person or power.

V - to deceive

Libation

N - the pouring of liquid offering as a religious ritual beverage, esp. one that is intoxicating.

Repartee

N - swift witty reply, conversation marked by the exchange of witty remarks.

Transfix

V - to pierce with or as if with a pointed weapons to impale, to render motionless, as with terror, amazement.

Vapid

Adj - lacking liveliness, animation, or interest, dull lacking or flavor; flat.

Mullarkey AP Lit Words

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