AP Language & Composition Vocabulary Flashcards
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| 15088072196 | adroit | skilled or clever in a particular pursuit ex: Nina has become an adroit pianist following her many years of training and practice to master the instrument. | 0 | |
| 15088105166 | aficionado | a devotee; someone who supports a particular activity My family and I are all aficionados of Formula 1 racing as we watch races every Sunday morning and always root for our favorite driver. | 1 | |
| 15088134934 | amorphous | without definite shape, substance, or form; lacking definition or boundaries ex: The amorphous business proposal was hard to follow as it lacked any structure or focus. | 2 | |
| 15088168998 | aphorism | often-repeated statement; proverb ex: The speaker concluded his presentation with an aphorism which served as a concise and proverbial summation. | 3 | |
| 15088224072 | artifice | use of clever methods to fool others or tip an outcome in your favor ex: The elderly gentleman nearly fell victim to the con-artist's artifice as he devised a scheme to take his money. | 4 | |
| 15088254356 | augur | predict or foretell the future ex: Bob's grades augur a bright future as his high scores indicate that he will be highly successful in the future. | 5 | |
| 15088291164 | avant-garde | new and experimental, especially in regard to art, music, or writing ex: Sam's avant-garde approach to her paintings were controversial, as not everyone appreciated the new styles which she presented. | 6 | |
| 15088319998 | avarice | greed ex: As Tod's fame grew, he began to get caught up in avarice and placed an excessive emphasis on obtaining materialistic pleasures. | 7 | |
| 15088358397 | bailiwick | area of expertise or skill ex: Jeff's bailiwick in investigative procedures made him the best fit detective for the case as it was his are of expertise. | 8 | |
| 15088400252 | benign | gentle, kind ex: Talia's benign nature helps her look for the best in others as she is such a kind individual. | 9 | |
| 15088426332 | bete noire | dreaded enemy or foe ex: Although Henry saw studying as his bete noire, he had to deal with the dreaded task in order to maintain good grades. | 10 | |
| 15150426676 | bilateral | being agreed to by two sides ex: In political debates, bilateral decisions can often be hard to accomplish as Democrats and Republicans tend to disagree. | 11 | |
| 15150431809 | bona fide | genuine; legitimate ex: Lewis Hamilton has established his position as a bona fide Formula 1 driver as he is about to win his sixth championship. | 12 | |
| 15150436154 | braggadocio | empty boasting or bragging ex: Eddy's braggadocio was exposed when he lost the game after boasting about being the greatest player. | 13 | |
| 15150442755 | bucolic | rural, peaceful, and serene ex: I love my bucolic neighborhood as it is so serene and peaceful. | 14 | |
| 15150450959 | burgeon | sprout; grow ex: As Tom's new company gains in popularity, his profits will likely burgeon as the increased attention causes the influx of cash to grow. | 15 | |
| 15150454712 | chimera | something hoped or wished for, but impossible to achieve; pipedream ex: Although Sam feels that he can become rich without putting in any work, this idea is a chimera as no such thing is possible. | 16 | |
| 15150471170 | circuitous | twisting and turning; indirect ex: It was difficult to find a direct meaning in the circuitous text as the plot was constantly twisting and turning. | 17 | |
| 15150474300 | codify | to organize into a system of rules, codes, or principles ex: The new bill was passed and codified into law as it was incorporated into the Bill of Rights. | 18 | |
| 15150480733 | cogent | presented in a reasoned, well-thought-out manner ex: Her cogent presentation made it clear that her proposal was well thought out and reasonable. | 19 | |
| 15150485607 | colloquial | informal; conversational ex: Our language can best be described as colloquial due to its informal and conversational nature. | 20 | |
| 15150490538 | commodious | spacious ex: The commodious home had plenty of room to house their growing family. | 21 | |
| 15150493806 | comport | behave; conduct oneself ex: Alex comports herself in a very mature manner as shown by her behavior an mannerisms. | 22 | |
| 15150505466 | contiguous | adjacent; sharing a common border ex: In the contiguous condominiums, it can often be easy to hear people next-door as adjacent walls are shared between neighbors. | 23 | |
| 15150511451 | conundrum | difficult problem or situation ex: Mary felt that her life had turned into one massive conundrum as she was caught in many difficult situations. | 24 | |
| 15637014831 | alliteration | the occurrence in a phrase or a line of speech or writing of two or more words having the same initial consonant sound ex: Many tongue twisters are made up of alliteration as the repeating initial consonant sound makes them hard to enunciate. | 25 | |
| 15685983356 | allusion | an implied or indirect reference to something assumed to be known, such as a historical event or person, a well-known quotation from literature, an event or person from the Bible, a famous work of art, or a reference to pop culture ex: The author alluded to the story of David and Goliath to emphasize her point as she made an indirect reference to the Biblical story. | 26 | |
| 15686033185 | amplify | to make larger, more powerful, or more prominent by adding more illustrations or examples ex: Authors tend to amplify the legitimacy of their arguments by supporting it with more prominent, well-known examples and sources. | 27 | |
| 15686054728 | analogy | a similarity in some respects between things otherwise dissimilar ex: The author analogized the roots of a tree to travel experiences as she highlighted commonalities in the two seemingly unrelated topics. | 28 | |
| 15686079041 | assertion | a statement that a writer intends to prove through the use of textual evidence ex: The student asserted their own claim in their thesis as they prepared to back up the statement with multiple textual examples. | 29 | |
| 15686096216 | characterize | to describe the distinguishing qualities, traits, or features of a person or a place ex: The author used the second paragraph to focus on the characterization of Lucy as she described her traits in great detail for the reader. | 30 | |
| 15686122092 | convey | to communicate or make known ex: The author conveyed multiple important messages as she made her stance on the issues known in her writing. | 31 | |
| 15686140711 | deductive | drawing a conclusion based on knowledge ex: Doctors use their deductive reasoning to draw conclusions when faced with a puzzling set of symptoms. | 32 | |
| 15686166248 | definitive | precisely defining or outlining ex: The interviewer asked the candidate to make definitive statements so that she could understand the precise meaning of what the candidate was stating. | 33 | |
| 15686192698 | depiction | representation ex: Ben's outburst was not an accurate depiction of his character as it was a false representation of his true nature. | 34 | |
| 15686210914 | dubious | not yet determined, uncertain, doubtful ex: The investigator's dubious findings were all based in speculation and had not yet been proven true. | 35 | |
| 15686235868 | elicit | to bring out; draw forth; evoke ex: Therapists have the talent of eliciting emotions from their patients as they can often work to evoke their repressed sentiments. | 36 | |
| 15686253407 | erratic | without a fixed our regular course; straying; wandering ex: Sarah's erratic driving made her an unsafe driver as she swerved across the road and drifted into oncoming traffic. | 37 | |
| 15686273436 | expository | explanatory ex: Bob's expository piece on human nature was highly informative and did a great job of explaining the subject at hand. | 38 | |
| 15686287746 | hypothesize | to assert a premise or proposition ex: Scientists hypothesize the outcome of their experiments before conduction their trials as they make a proposition based upon the research that they have studied. | 39 | |
| 15686314892 | imply | to say or express indirectly ex: Sarah's tone implied her annoyance with the situation as she indirectly expressed her emotions. | 40 | |
| 15686334391 | juxtaposition | a device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to each other, often creating an effect of surprise and wit ex: Sam found the juxtaposition in the name saltwater taffy interesting as the opposing salty and sweet flavors were a surprising combination. | 41 | |
| 15686432275 | metaphor | an implied comparison ex: The presenter used a metaphor in her speech as she called the award recipient a "ray of light to her community." | 42 | |
| 15686471003 | onomatonpoeia | a word that sounds like its referent ex: Poets often employ onomatopoeia in their writing by including words that sound exactly like their pronunciation. | 43 | |
| 15687598092 | parallelism | the use of corresponding syntactical forms ex: Dr. MLK Jr. uses parallelism in his "I Have A Dream Speech" with his use of corresponding syntactical forms. | 44 | |
| 15687629758 | paradox | a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true ex: America's prosperity as a result of the devastation of WWI can be seen as a paradox as it seems contradictory that good can come out of bad situation. | 45 | |
| 15687698957 | parody | a literary or artistic work that mocks the original ex: People often post parodies of celebrity music videos to mock their performance. | 46 | |
| 15687711864 | personification | a rhetorical figure of speech in which abstractions or inanimate objects are endowed with human qualities or are represented as having human form ex: The author personified the tree as she claimed that it "danced in the wind." | 47 | |
| 15687769094 | qualify | to describe by enumerating the characteristics, boundaries, or qualities of a subject ex: I qualified the author's argument in my paper by explaining the conditions under which I concur with his findings. | 48 | |
| 15687824225 | rebuttal | showing the opposite argument to be weak or strong ex: In my rebuttal, I called the weak points of the opposing viewpoint | 49 | |
| 15687873740 | speculative | characterized by hypothesis and guesswork ex: Harry's speculative nature causes him to base his views upon conjecture and guesswork. | 50 | |
| 15688022127 | tentative | uncertain; experimental ex: The friends made tentative plans for the date upon which they wanted to hang out until they could be certain in their decision. | 51 | |
| 15688042374 | undercut | to anticipate and pre-empt the effectiveness of something ex: Her childish conduct undercut her reliability during the interview as it limited the interviewer's sense of her suitability for the job. | 52 | |
| 15688127804 | understatement | an intentional lack of emphasis to create irony ex: Stacey's referral to the mansion as a humble abode was a gross understatement. | 53 |
