AP Literature Semester Test Flashcards

3490838121	aquisitive	able to get and retain ideas or information; concerned with acquiring wealth or property	0
3490841366	banal	hackneyed, trite, commonplace	1
3490843159	carping	tending to find fault, especially in a petty, nasty, or hairsplitting way; pegging, nagging criticism	2
3490847344	emulate	to imitate with the intent of equaling or surpassing the model	3
3490849931	germane	relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting	4
3490856085	invidious	offensive, hateful; tending to cause bitterness and resentment	5
3490858191	reconnaissance	a survey made for military purposes; any kind of preliminary inspection or examination	6
3490862308	taciturn	habitually silent or quiet, inclined to talk very little	7
3490867391	tenable	capable of being held or defended	8
3490869862	maelstrom	a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool of violence and destruction	9
3490876821	sacrilege	improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred	10
3490879389	aminadversion	a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval	11
3490883543	myopic	nearsighted; lacking a broad realistic view of a situation; lacking foresight or discernment	12
3490888293	halcyon	a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; of or relating to the halcyon; calm, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent	13
3490903108	celerity	swiftness, rapidity of motion or action	14
3490905194	incendiary	deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; one who deliberately starts fires, arsonist	15
3490912110	nefarious	wicked or criminal activity	16
3490913976	verdant	green with grass or other rich vegetation	17
3490916658	distraught	deeply upset or agitated	18
3490919220	piquant	pleasantly sharp taste or appetizing flavor; pleasantly stimulating or exciting to mind	19
3490922497	pejorative	tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disagreement; derogatory, deprecatory; belittling	20
3490929170	talisman	an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical power an amulet	21
3490931942	summarily	without delay or formality; briefly; concisely	22
3490934118	encomium	a formal expression of praise, a lavish tribute	23
3490936386	temporize	to stall or act evasively in order to gain time, avoid a confrontation, or postpone a decision; to compromise	24
3490942175	malapropism	the erroneous substitution for the correct word which is similar in sound, but the very different meaning	25
3490946413	oxymoron	a figure of speech that juxtaposes two opposite or apparently contradictory words to present an emphatic and dramatic paradox for a rhetorical purpose or effect	26
3490970603	dues ex machina	an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel	27
3490995714	hubris	excessive pride toward or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis	28
3490998664	foil	a character who contrasts with another character (usually protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other characters	29
3491037227	didactic	something that instructs or provides information for a particular purpose; teaches a lesson	30
3491042302	hyperbole	a figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggeration to achieve an effect, whether serious, comic, or ironic. It could also be described as an overstatement	31
3491059465	archetype	an original model or type after which other similar things are patterned	32
3491068243	pathos	a quality in a work or a portion thereof that makes the reader experience pity, sorrow, tenderness	33
3491075132	apostrophe	a figure of speech in which the speaker directly and often emotionally addresses a person who is dead or otherwise not physically present	34
3491726074	cliche	an expression used so often that is has become hackneyed and has lost its original impact	35
3491733060	denouement	a term that both refers to the events following the climax of a plot and implies some ingenious resolution of the dramatic conflict and explanation of plot	36
3491748934	parallelism	a rhetorical figure used in written and oral compositions since similar constructions	37
3491756777	rhetorical question	a figure of speech in which a question is posed not to solicit a reply, but to emphasize a foregone or clearly implied conclusion	38
3491763288	simile	a figure of speech that compares 2 distinct things by using words such as like or as to link the comparison	39
3491768685	understatement	a term, which is a form of irony, when taken literally, minimizes its evident significance or gravity; deliberately expressed as less important than it really is	40
3491780276	allegory	a work in which an abstract concept is presented as though it were a character who speaks and acts as an independent being	41
3491788992	anagnorisis	moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery	42
3491792264	chorus	group of performers who comment on the main action, typically speaking and moving together	43
3491798316	hamartia	a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine	44
3491802531	moira	person's fate of destiny	45
3491804450	farce	a comic dramatic work using buffononery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations	46
3491811687	connotation	an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning	47
3491815731	denotation	the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests	48
3496471997	tone	in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience	49