AP Language & Composition Vocabulary Flashcards

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