Albert Camus: The Rebel Flashcards
Annex
To append or attach (especially to a larger or more significant thing) an attribute, condition, or consequence
- to appropriate without permission
SYN: Join, add
Acquiesce
To consent or comply passively or without protest
Abject
Brought low in condition or status
- Being of the most miserable kind
SYN: Wretched, dejected
Balk
To stop short and refuse to go on
SYN: Hinder, thwart
Bellicose
Warlike or hostile in manner or temperament
SYN: Aggressive
Calumny
A false statement maliciously made to injure another’s reputation
Conciliatory
To overcome the distrust or animosity of
- to regain/try to regain by pleasant behavior
SYN: Appease, reconcile, placate
Derisory
An object of ridicule, esp because of being ridiculously small or inadequate
- Contemptuous or jeering laughter
SYN: Laughinstock
EX: a contribution so small as to be derisory
Demiurge
A powerful creative force or personality
- A Platonic deity who orders or fashions the material world out of chaos (i.e. the creator of the earth)
Dispensation
An exemption or release from an obligation or rule, granted by or as if by an authority
- The act of dispensing
Execration
the act of cursing
Folly
a lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight
- not malicious
Inexorable
Not capable of being persuaded by entreaty
SYN: Relentless
EX: He’s inexorable; didn’t give that woman a chance to finish before taking everything he was owed.
Incipient
beginning to exist or appear
Indolence
Habitual laziness
SYN: Sloth
Insurrection
The act or an instance of open revolt against civil authority or a constituted government
Imbued
To inspire or influence thoroughly
- To permeate or saturate
SYN: Pervade
Mire
A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation
- An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground
Maenia Mundi
“The burning borders of the world”.
Malediction
a curse - slanderous accusation or comment
Mete
A boundary line; a limit
SYN: Allot
Precipitately
To cause to happen, especially suddenly or prematurely
- To throw from or as if from a great height; hurl downward
Repudiate
To reject the validity or authority of
- To reject emphatically as unfounded, untrue, or unjust
Rampart
A fortification consisting of an embankment, often with a parapet built on top
Sophism
A plausible but fallacious argument
- Deceptive or fallacious argumentation.
Subterfuge
deceit used in order to achieve one’s goal
Sublimate
To modify the natural expression of (a primitive, instinctual impulse) in a socially acceptable manner.
ETY: 1590s, “raise to a high place”
Abhor
to regard with loathing; detest
Absurd
Camus
Since existence itself has no meaning, we must learn to bear an irresolvable emptiness. This paradoxical situation between our impulse to ask ultimate questions and the impossibility of achieving any adequate answer, is what Camus calls the absurd
- Camus’s understanding of absurdity: Sisyphus straining to push his rock up the mountain, watching it roll down, then descending after the rock to begin all over, in an endless cycle - Like Sisyphus, humans cannot help but continue to ask after the meaning of life, only to see our answers tumble back down.
Bastilles
A prison/jail
Chasm
A sudden interruption of continuity
- A pronounced difference of opinion, interests, or loyalty
- A deep, steep-sided opening in the earth’s surface
SYN: gorge, abyss, gap
Culpable
Deserving of blame or censure as being wrong, evil, improper, or injurious
Circumvallation
to surround with, or as if with, a rampart - Surrounded by a ridge or raised, wall-like structure.
Dilettant
amateur
EX. What a dilettant speculation
Derisory
Laughable, ridiculous
Derisive- mocking, jeering
Deride
To speak of or treat with contemptuous mirth
Edifice
An elaborate conceptual structure
- a complex or elaborate institution or organization
EX. Sagrada de familia
Effigy
a crude representation of someone disliked, used for purposes of ridicule.
Extol
To praise highly
SYN; exalt
Frenetic
Wildly excited or active
SYN: frantic
Glutted
to fill beyond capacity, esp with food
- To flood (a market) with an excess of goods so that supply exceeds demand
SYN: Satiate
Golgatha
a skull shaped hill in Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified
Incumbent
imposed as an obligation or duty
- Lying, leaning, or resting on something else
SYN: Obligation
EX. She felt it was incumbent on us all to help.
Implacable
impossible to placate or appease
Languid
Lacking energy or vitality - Showing little or no spirit or animation
SYN: weak, listless, slow
Microcosm
man regarded as epitomizing the universe
-A small, representative system having analogies to a larger system in constitution, configuration, or development
Mirth
Gladness and gaiety, especially when expressed by laughter
SYN: merriment
Nihilism
a philosophy of skepticism that originated in 19th-century Russia
- Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy
ETY: from Latin nihil, “nothing”
Negation
A denial, contradiction, or negative statement.
- The opposite or absence of something regarded as actual, positive, or affirmative.
Obviate
To anticipate and dispose of effectively; render unnecessary - to avoid or prevent
Ostensible
Represented or appearing as such
EX. His ostensible purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity.
Obstinacy
The state or quality of being stubborn or resistant
SYN: Refractory
Paroxysm
A sudden outburst of emotion or action
- A spasm or fit; a convulsion
Perspicacity
Acuteness of perception, discernment, or understanding
Paroxysm
A sudden outburst of emotion or action
- A spasm or fit; a convulsion
Penitence
regret for wrong doing
Perspicacity
Acuteness of perception, discernment, or understanding
Reverent
Marked by, feeling, or expressing profound awe and respect and often love
SYN: Venerate
Sordid
Filthy or dirty
- morally degraded
SYN: Foul, wretched
Sanction
A penalty, specified or in the form of moral pressure, that acts to ensure compliance or conformity
- Authoritative permission or approval that makes a course of action valid
- A consideration, influence, or principle that dictates an ethical choice
Syllogism
Reasoning from the general to the specific
EX: All humans are mortal, the major premise, I am a human, the minor premise, therefore, I am mortal, the conclusion
Sordid
Filthy or dirty
- morally degraded
SYN: Foul, wretched,
Transposing
To reverse or transfer the order or place of
- To alter in form or nature
SYN: Transform, interchange
Tenacious
Holding or tending to hold persistently to something
Vindicate
To clear of accusation, blame, suspicion, or doubt with supporting arguments or proof
- To exact revenge for
SYN: Avenge
Earnest
Marked by or showing deep sincerity or seriousness
Entreaty
An earnest request or petition; a plea.
