Review the most important literary terms for the AP Exam! All the words have appeared on actual AP literature tests administered in 2008, 2009, and 2012.
Terms : Hide Images
| 769525249 | brevity | briefness or conciseness in speech or writing | 0 | |
| 769525250 | irony | incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs | 1 | |
| 769525252 | synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword). | 2 | |
| 769525253 | paradox | a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. | 3 | |
| 769525254 | understatement | the opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended. | 4 | |
| 769525255 | anticlimax | letdown in thought or emotion; something unexciting, ordinary, or disappointing coming after something important or exciting | 5 | |
| 769525257 | mock heroic | a form of satire in which trivial subjects, characters or events are treated with the elevated language and elaborate devices characteristic of the heroic style. | 6 | |
| 769525258 | allegory | A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions | 7 | |
| 769525259 | ambivalent | simultaneously feeling opposing feelings; uncertain | 8 | |
| 769525260 | syntax | sentence structure | 9 | |
| 769525261 | exhortation | a communication intended to urge or persuade the recipients to take some action | 10 | |
| 769525262 | elegiac | expressing sorrow often for something past | 11 | |
| 769525264 | antithesis | the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance | 12 | |
| 769525265 | epiphany | a moment of sudden revelation or insight | 13 | |
| 769525267 | couplet | a stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse | 14 | |
| 769525269 | pragmatic | concerned with practical matters | 15 | |
| 769525271 | somber | grave or even gloomy in character | 16 | |
| 769525272 | condescending | patronizing | 17 | |
| 769525273 | indignant | angered at something unjust or wrong | 18 | |
| 769525274 | equivocation | falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language | 19 | |
| 769525275 | allusion | indirect reference | 20 | |
| 769525277 | diction | word choice | 21 | |
| 769525279 | aesthetic | concerning or characterized by an appreciation of beauty or good taste | 22 | |
| 769525280 | usurpation | wrongfully seizing and holding (an office or powers) by force (especially the seizure of a throne or supreme authority) | 23 | |
| 769525282 | stealthy | marked by quiet and caution and secrecy | 24 | |
| 769525284 | aloof | remote in manner | 25 | |
| 769525286 | colloquial | characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation | 26 | |
| 769525287 | didactic | instructive (especially excessively) | 27 | |
| 769525289 | oxymoron | conjoining contradictory terms (as in 'deafening silence') | 28 | |
| 769525291 | secular | concerning those not members of the clergy | 29 | |
| 769525292 | tactile | producing a sensation of touch, Pertaining to the sense of touch | 30 | |
| 769525294 | tercet | three line stanza | 31 | |
| 769525296 | refrain | a regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song | 32 | |
| 769525297 | forthright | characterized by directness in manner or speech | 33 | |
| 769525299 | discursive | (of e.g. speech and writing) tending to depart from the main point or cover a wide range of subjects, proceeding to a conclusion by reason or argument rather than intuition | 34 | |
| 769525301 | speculative | not based on fact or investigation | 35 | |
| 769525302 | laconic | brief and to the point | 36 | |
| 769525304 | feign | make believe with the intent to deceive | 37 | |
| 769525306 | flippant | lacking in seriousness; disrespectful, saucy | 38 | |
| 769525307 | quizzical | perplexed (as if being expected to know something that you do not know), playfully vexing (especially by ridicule) | 39 | |
| 769525309 | tone | The attitude of the author toward the audience and characters (e.g., serious or humorous). | 40 | |
| 769525311 | rhetoric | using language effectively to please or persuade | 41 | |
| 769525313 | expository | explanatory | 42 | |
| 769525315 | hyperbole | an exaggeration | 43 | |
| 769525316 | imagery | Language that appeals to the senses | 44 | |
| 769525318 | epigrammatic | of the nature or in the style of an epigram; concise, clever, and amusing, terse and witty and like a maxim | 45 | |
| 769525320 | nostalgic | wishing for a return to the way things used to be; longing for the past; homesick | 46 | |
| 769525322 | vehement | marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions | 47 | |
| 769525324 | paraphrase | to restate in other words | 48 | |
| 769525325 | parallelism | phrases or sentences of a similar construction/meaning placed side by side, balancing each other | 49 | |
| 769525327 | analogy | a similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them | 50 | |
| 769525329 | conjecture | reasoning that involves the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence | 51 | |
| 769525330 | convention | accepted manner, model, or tradition | 52 | |
| 769525331 | idyllic | charming in a rustic way; naturally peaceful | 53 | |
| 769525332 | interjection | an exclamation; an interruption | 54 | |
| 769525333 | Victorian | belonging to, made in or living in the time when Queen Victoria was queen of Britain (1837-1901) | 55 | |
| 769525334 | disparaging | expressive of low opinion | 56 | |
| 769525335 | pastoral | a literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the life of shepherds) | 57 | |
| 769525336 | juxtapose | to place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast | 58 | |
| 769525337 | anecdote | a brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event | 59 |
