plato vocab

Question 1

Oxymoron

Answer 1

Phrase that combines seemingly contradictory or contrasting information to make a point about the thing as a whole

Jumbo shrimp

The silence was deafening

Old news

Question 2

Zeugma

Answer 2

A grammatical concept in which the same word applies to multiple words, often in different ways

He caught a baseball and a bad cold.

Question 3

Antithesis

Answer 3

Figure of speech that juxtaposes opposing concepts, usually not side-by-side, to show opposition/contradiction

The morning was frigid, the office sweltering.

Question 4

Induction

Answer 4

Method of reasoning in which specific evidence throughout the text leads to a generalized claim that is probably (but not certainly) true

95% of people in town live in a house or apartment.

Ella lives in town.

Ella (probably) lives in a house or apartment.

Question 5

Analogy

Answer 5

A comparison that attempts to explain a complex topic (the target/new thing) by comparing it to a simpler topic (the analog/known thing)

The disk/washer method is like stacking hockey pucks on top of each other; the shell method is like Russian nesting dolls.

Question 6

Aphorism

Answer 6

A phrase that makes a claim about the world that is supposedly universally accepted

Question 7

Hedonism

Answer 7

A psychological view that believes that all pleasure (fulfillment of wishes/desires) is valuable

Question 8

Asceticism

Answer 8

Practicing self-denial of pleasures or indulgences to achieve spiritual enlightenment

Thoreau practiced asceticism to supposedly escape or “transcend” the material corruption of the industrial age.

Question 9

Abstraction

Answer 9

The process of removing unnecessary or irrelevant details to reduce a concept to a broader idea