Vocabulary Unit 3

Front 1

Abyss

Back 1

An immeasurable profound depth or void

Front 2

Adamantine

Back 2

Unyielding, Inflexible

Front 3

Amerced

Back 3

Punished by an arbitrary penalty

Front 4

Ammiral

Back 4

An obsolete form of admiral

Front 5

Apostate

Back 5

One who forsakes his principles or beliefs

Front 6

Ardent

Back 6

Displaying or characterized by strong enthusiasm or devotion

Front 7

Arrogate

Back 7

To take claim without right

Front 8

Asperse

Back 8

To charge falsely or without malicious intent

Front 9

Baleful

Back 9

Evil, Dire

Front 10

Beatific

Back 10

Blissful, Saintly

Front 11

Bituminous

Back 11

Relating to or containing coal

Front 12

Brooding

Back 12

Deeply or seriously thoughtful

Front 13

Capacious

Back 13

Spacious, roomy

Front 14

Carbuncle

Back 14

Painful infection of the skin

Front 15

Concupiscence

Back 15

Ardent, Usually Sensuous, Longing

Front 16

Deluge

Back 16

Overrun with water

Front 17

Dubious

Back 17

Of uncertain outcome

Front 18

Elocution

Back 18

The art of speaking clearly and effectively

Front 19

Empyreal

Back 19

Celestial

Front 20

Ensign

Back 20

A sign, token or emblem

Front 21

Ethereal

Back 21

Heavenly exquisite

Front 22

Execrable

Back 22

Utterly detestable, abominable, abhorrent

Front 23

Fealty

Back 23

The loyalty that citizens owe to their country

Front 24

Gloze

Back 24

To explain away, extenuate, gloss over

Front 25

Ignominy

Back 25

Dishonor, infamy

Front 26

Impetuous

Back 26

Impulsive

Front 27

Impious

Back 27

Lacking respect

Front 28

Incumbent

Back 28

The holder of an office

Front 29

Indignation

Back 29

Anger aroused by something unjust

Front 30

Infernal

Back 30

Of or relating to hell

Front 31

Invoke

Back 31

To call upon for assistance

Front 32

Jaunting

Back 32

Marking a short excursion

Front 33

Jocund

Back 33

Cheerful disposition

Front 34

Kine

Back 34

Plural form of cow

Front 35

Lascivious

Back 35

Inclined to lustfulness; wanton; lewd

Front 36

Marle

Back 36

Thin cloth used to cover wounds

Front 37

Maugre

Back 37

Notwithstanding; in spite of

Front 38

Nocent

Back 38

Harmful; injurious

Front 39

Obdurate

Back 39

Hardened against good morals

Front 40

Opprobrious

Back 40

Outrageously disgraceful or shameful

Front 41

Oracle

Back 41

Source of wise counsel or prophetic opinions

Front 42

Penal

Back 42

Subject to incurring punishment

Front 43

Perfidious

Back 43

Deliberately faithless; treacherous; deceitful

Front 44

Pernicious

Back 44

Insidiously harmful or ruinous

Front 45

Phalanx

Back 45

Any closely ranked crowd of people

Front 46

Pilaster

Back 46

A rectangular column

Front 47

Pregnant

Back 47

Teeming or fertile; rich

Front 48

Proem

Back 48

A short introduction; preface

Front 49

Profluent

Back 49

Flowing smoothly or abundantly forth

Front 50

Progeny

Back 50

A descendant or offspring

Front 51

Propitious

Back 51

Presenting favorable conditions

Front 52

Puissant

Back 52

Powerful, mighty, potent

Front 53

Rancor

Back 53

Bitter, Rankling resentment or ill will

Front 54

Rapine

Back 54

Forcible seizure of another's property

Front 55

Rivulet

Back 55

Small brook or stream

Front 56

Rood

Back 56

a cross as used in crucifixtion

Front 57

Sapient

Back 57

Wise; discerning

Front 58

Satiate

Back 58

To satisfy to the full

Front 59

Sedulous

Back 59

Marked by care or persistent effort

Front 60

Sottish

Back 60

Given to excessive drinking

Front 61

Suppliant

Back 61

Asking humbly and earnestly

Front 62

Tempestuous

Back 62

Tumultuous, Stormy

Front 63

Thrall

Back 63

One under the control of another person

Front 64

Transgress

Back 64

To go beyond

Front 65

Umbrage

Back 65

Offense; annoyance; displeasure

Front 66

Unctuous

Back 66

Excessively smooth, suave, or smug; oily

Front 67

Usurper

Back 67

One who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another

Front 68

Uxorious

Back 68

Excessively submissive or devoted to one's wife

Front 69

Venial

Back 69

Easily excused or forgiven

Front 70

Verdant

Back 70

Green with vegetation

Front 71

Voluble

Back 71

Fluent, Talkative

Front 72

Vouchsafe

Back 72

To allow or permit, as by favor

Front 73

Welter

Back 73

Confusion, turmoil

Front 74

Blank Verse

Back 74

Metrically traditional, but without rhyme

Front 75

Confessional Poetry

Back 75

A school of poetry where the poet may expose personal, taboo, or difficult things about himself; dramatic monologue poetry often does this, but the poet is confessing from within another person's mind

Front 76

Couplet

Back 76

A two line stanza, or the same rhyme pattern is two conjoined lines

Front 77

Dramatic Monologue

Back 77

A poem that dramatizes someone's thoughts and actions; the persona of the poem talks directly to "us" or an unseen other

Front 78

End rhyme

Back 78

Rhymed sound at the end of the line

Front 79

Endstop

Back 79

The line ends with a period or the feeling of a period

Front 80

Foot

Back 80

A group of 2 or 3 stresses and unstressed syllables

Front 81

Formalism

Back 81

Following traditional, given poetic forms such as sonnets, villanelles

Front 82

Free Verse

Back 82

Without rhyme or structured metrical pattern

Front 83

Iamb

Back 83

A foot with an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable

Front 84

Internal Rhyme

Back 84

Rhymed sound before the end of the line

Front 85

Meter

Back 85

The use of patterns of stressed and unstressed rhythms (or beats) in a poetic line sometimes following strict, traditional forms (or violating those forms in free verse)

Front 86

Movement

Back 86

The way lines flow together, speak to or against each other and pull us foreword in a poem

Front 87

Ode

Back 87

A poem that commemorates or celebrates; written for an occasion; classic odes have three parts

Front 88

Pentameter

Back 88

A line with 5 feet; iambic pentameter therefore has 10 syllables (often used by Shakespeare)

Front 89

Refrain

Back 89

A repeating line/verse in a song or poem

Front 90

Rhyme Scheme

Back 90

A repeated pattern of end rhymes; usually marked with letters of the alphabet (ABBA would mark a rhyme scheme in the first stanza of, say dog/man/plan/fog)

Front 91

Scansion

Back 91

Scanning the rhythm of a line by locating patterns of feet with stressed and unstressed syllables

Front 92

Sestet

Back 92

A six line stanza (not usually the same rhyme pattern in each, however)

Front 93

Slant Rhyme

Back 93

Substitution of assonance and consonance for true rhyme

Front 94

Sonnet

Back 94

14 line poem; Shakespearean sonnet has one stanza (usually in iambic pentameter, 10 syllables in each line), other English sonnets may have 4 stanzas (rhyme scheme-ABABCDCDEFEFGG); Italian sonnet has an octave (8 lines, ABBABBA) and a sestet (6 lines. CDECDE)

Front 95

Stanza

Back 95

A grouping of lines in a poem (much like a paragraph); the number of lines can follow a strict form, or be organically chosen as in free verse

Front 96

Tension

Back 96

The sense of conflict-I would, but I don't--I want, but I can't--the need for nature vs. a hectic city life--I should, but I am not

Front 97

True Rhyme

Back 97

The last syllable rhyme sounds (and is usually spelled) exactly the same

Front 98

Typographical Rhythms

Back 98

The way white space in front of, in the middle of, or after lines creates rhythmic pauses and variations in meaning and emphasis

Front 99

Villanelle

Back 99

A 19 line form using only two rhymes and repeating two of the lines according to a set pattern