Midyear Review Flashcards
Amorous (adj.)
Showing or expressing love
Acerbic (adj.)
Harsh or severe, as of temper or expression
Avaricious (adj.)
Characterized by greedy
Convivial (adj.)
Friendly; agreeable
Credulous (adj.)
Willing to believe or trust too readily
Foibles (n.)
Slight flaw or defect
Pernicious (adj.)
Causing insidious harm
Superfluous (adj.)
Being more than is sufficient or required; excessive
Degrade (v.)
To reduce (someone) to a lower rank
Destitution (n.)
Utter poverty
Elude (v.)
To avoid or escape by speed, cleverness, trickery
Interminable (adj.)
Incapable of being terminated; unending
Itinerancy (n.)
The act of traveling from place to place
Lethargic (adj.)
Drowsy; sluggish
Officious (adj.)
Objectionably aggressive in offering one’s unrequested services, or help
Panacea (n.)
A remedy for all disease or ills; cure-all
Sanctimonious (adj.)
Making a hypocritical show of religious devotion
Sagacious (adj.)
Having or showing acute mental discernment and keen practical sense
Sardonic (adj.)
Mocking; cynical; sneering
Synesthesia (n.)
Descriptions of one kind of sensation in terms of another; color attributed to sounds, bright sounds, sounds to odors
Ex: bright sounds, sweet music
Vilify (v.)
To speak ill of; defame; slander
Absalom
Alludes to paternal grief and to a lost and faithless son
Atalanta
The archetype of speed, strength and daring foiled by a trick of the intellect
Cassandra
Represents an accurate but unheeded prophet of doom
Damocle, sword of
The term indicates impending disaster
Nirvana
Ideal condition of harmony
Procrustes
The term “Procrustean bed” connotes a rigid standard to which exact conformity is enforced
Prometheus
The champion of men against the gods
Proteus
Protean means versatile
Pyrrhus
A Pyrrhic victory is one that was won at much too high a price
Satyrs
The satyr play treated serious matters in a grotesquely comic way
Sisyphus
He serves as a constant metaphor for the never-ending struggle to complete one’s task, only to be thwarted by still more hurdles
Abraham and Isaac
- Symbolic of man’s willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice to demonstrate his faith and trust in God
- Symbolic of the idea that faith and trust in God shall be rewarded.
Daniel
“Read the handwriting in the wall”
Heap coals of fire
“Be kind to your enemy”
Jacob and Esau
A literary reference to the pair may allude to discord between siblings, to the politics of the birthright, or to the idea of the fortunate or favored son
Jezebel
A seductive woman who leads the hero astray
Philistines
Connotes an ignorant, crude, and rude person lacking in culture
Ruth
Her intertribal marriage to Boaz also represents openness to the world
Sodom and Gomorrah
Symbols of debauchery
Tower of Babel
The diversity of languages in the world
Cast the first stone
Warning against hypocrisy
Four horsemen of the apocalypse
Symbolic of powerful destructive forces
Garden of Gethsemane
A place of great physical or psychological suffering
Mammon
Personifies the evils of greed and wealth
Pharisees
A negative connotation; hypocrites
Thane
A warrior who followed his lord, member of the contraries
Comitatus
Loyalty to the chosen leader
Gleeman
A minstrel singer
A scop
A poet or story teller
Caesura
A pause in a line of verse, usually near the middle, used to add variety to a regular beat
In medias res
In the middle of things
Kenning
A metaphorical compound word
Ex:
King - ring giver
Rough sea - whale road
Calm sea - swan road
Wyrd
Word used by Anglo-Saxons to represent one’s lot in life; personal fame attained through heroic action
