Exam Vocab Flashcards
Antithesis
a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else
“The double chocolate ice cream is nutritionally deficient, but spiritually nourishing.”
Archetype
A statement or pattern of behavior
Caregiver, hero, villain
Assonance
Repetition of a vowel sound
“the rain in Spain”
Asyndeton
The absence of a conjunction
“I came, I saw, I conquered”
Chiasmus
Concepts written are repeated in reverse order
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”
Connotation
idea or feeling the evokes feelings or a deeper meaning
“Red->anger, danger, bad, emergency”
Consonance
reoccurance of consonants
“Mike likes his new bike”
Denotation
literal meaning of a words
“She was RED->red in color”
Dichotomy
2 contrasting things
“war + peace, love + hate”
Diction
word choice used by an author
“smiley or happy, exhausted or tired”
Direct Characterization
when an author directly tells the reader what a character is like
“bill was short and fat”
Dramatic Irony
when the audience knows something the characters do not
ex) in Romeo and Juliet when Romeo thinks she’s dead but the audience knows she’s not
e.g.
“for example”
elicit
to evoke or draw out a response
“yelling at someone will elicit an angry response”
ellipsis
to leave out words that are unnecessarily repetitive
ennui
feeling of disinterest, boredom with life
et al.
“and others”, often used when listing authors
etc.
“and other similar things”
euphemism
a nicer way of putting something considered inappropriate or rude
“let go instead of fired, passed away instead of died”
evocative
words bringing strong emotions or memories
“cookies -> childhood”
external conflict
conflict between a character and outside forces
“a war between two countries”
foil
a character presented that is the opposite (and often better or worse than) another character
“Nathan is a foil of Clay”
i.e.
“that is”
illicit
forbidden by law or rules
“She had an illicit affair with her boss”
indirect characterization
literary device that reveals something about a character without explicitly stating it
“john snapped at the man without warning”
internal conflict
man vs self
“insecurity”
juxaposes
putting two different things close together in contrast or comparison to the other
“night and day”
juxtaposition
the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect
melancholy
feeling of sadness with no obvious cause
microcosm
a community that is a smaller version of a larger world
“the island in Lord of the Flies is a microcosm for the real world”
mood
the use of specific words to draw out certain emotions
“dull, grey, slow set a sad, gloomy mood”
motif
a repeated pattern, symbol, or image
nostalgia
nice memories of the past brought to mind when reminded of it
ex) seeing a childhood home gives someone nostalgia of their childhood
omniscient
all knowing (often a narrator to a story that knows what every character is thinking and feeling at all times)
oxymoron
figure of speech that puts contradictory terms in conjunction
“bittersweet, original copy, awfully good”
paradox
two seemingly false or different things that turn out to be true
“less is more, the only constant is change”
parallelism
repetition of words, phrases, or sentences
penultimate
second to last in a list
polysemy
a word that has multiple meanings
“bright could mean shining or intelligent”
polysyndeton
a sentencing using a lot of coordinating conjunctions
“I need apples and bananas and granola and blueberries and milk and bread from the store.”
portmanteau
pushing two words together to mean the same thing
“breakfast/lunch=brunch, motor hotel=motel”
prose
any written word that follows basic grammatical structure
redundant
needlessly repetitive
rhetoric
effective writing using good technique
schadenfreude
pleasure derived from someone else’s misfortune
“laughing when a friend trips in the hallway”
situational irony
when something happens that is the opposite of what’s expected to happen
“if the fire department drove right past a fire on the way to dunkin donuts”
surrogate
a subsitute or something taking the place of something else
“Afi is a surrogate for Amari’s mother”
symbolism
a common object that represents or has a deeper meaning
ex) the mockingbird is symbolism for innocence”
syntax
arrangment of words in a sentence
tone
the authors attitude shown by their word choice
ubiquitous
universal, appearing everywhere
“phones are more ubiquitous than they were 20 years ago”
verbal irony
sarcasm, when someone says something but means the opposite
vignettes
really short chapter like thing
visceral
something that is felt inside
“a really sad chapter gives the reader a visceral response”
Aesthetic
pertaining to beauty, study of what makes something beautiful
Allusion
reference to literature, history, pop culture, usually evoking an emotional response
Anachronism
something that doesn’t fit with it’s time
ex) Gatsby’s car in the movie is an anachronism.
Anadiplosis
repetition from the end of one sentence to the beginning of another
ex) I love my dogs. Dogs are my life.
Cache
a place to keep something valuable that’s illegal
Cashet
prestige
ex) Nice cars have a certain cashet to them.
Caricature
exaggerated picture or description of a person that overemphasizes certain characteristics
Characterization
process by which an author reveals the personality, traits, motivations of a character in a story through dialogue, thoughts, interactions, etc.
Internal conflict
conflict between a character and themselves (psychological issue)
Connotes
to suggest or imply something
Cynical
focusing mostly on self-interest b/c of skepticism of other people’s motives
Idiosyncratic
odd and weird but not in a creepy way
Superfluous
unnecessary, more than what is needed or required
Zeugma
a device where one word applies a word to others in different ways
ex) The broke his arm, but not his spirit.
