Allusions and Vocabulary AP Lit Quiz 3

Droll Ex: I was not expecting the movie to be a comedy at all, but it was pretty droll and I chuckled a few times.

amusing in an odd way; whimsically humorous; waggish

Acquiesce Ex: I like when my boyfriend acquiesces to where I want to eat because when I am hungry I don't like when people disagree or take a while to decide where to go.

to assent tacitly; submit or comply silently or without protest; agree

Prostrate Ex: I prostrate for my niece because I love her so much.

to cast oneself face down on the ground in humility, submission, or adoration

Admonish Ex: My father tried to admonish my sister from dating her 25 year old skater boyfriend.

to caution, advise, or counsel against something; to reprove or scold

Inundate Ex: I inundated my kitchen with water when I left the sink on all day.

to flood; cover or overspread with water; deluge; to overwhelm

Extricate Ex: In my favorite show, the detective was extricated from her kidnapper when she called 911.

to free or release from entanglement; disengage

Trepidation Ex: I experience trepidation during my nightmares because I always have about four a night.

tremulous fear, alarm, or agitation; perturbation; tremor

Lothario Ex: Most boys at my school are like Lothario because all they want is a girlfriend but they are gross.

used to describe a man whose chief interest is seducing a woman; from the play The Fair Penitent by Nicholas Rowe, the main character and the seducer

Job Ex: The best friends to have around you are the ones who remind you of Job; they will stick around when times get tough.

who who suffers a great deal but remains faithful; from an OT character whose faith in God was tested by Satan; though he lost his family and belongings, he remained patient and faithful

Perjury Ex: During a show I watched last night a woman committed perjury when she confessed to the murder in place of her lover.

willful giving of a false testimony under oath or affirmation, before a competent tribunal, upon a point material to a legal inquiry

Collusion Ex: My siblings and I made a collusion to get our parent's Christmas gifts after telling them we weren't getting them anything at all.

a secret agreement, especially for fraudulent or treacherous purposes; conspiracy

Babbit Ex: My neighbor's name was Babbit. He is a man who runs his business in the middle of the city and comes home to his wife, two kids, and dog.

a self-satisfied person concerned chiefly with business and middle-class ideals like material success; a member of the American working class whose unthinking attachment to its business and social ideals is such to make him a model of narrow-mindedness and self-satisfaction ; after George F. Babbitt, the main character in the novel Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

Preposterous Ex: It was utterly preposterous when the man accused Samantha of murder because he was found at the scene with the murder weapon and Samantha was in Canada.

completely contrary to nature, reason, or common sense; absurd; senseless; foolish

Jacob Ex: He stole his brother's dreams of becoming a dancer when he purposefully broke his legs during a play fight. Ever since then he has been nicknamed Jacob.

grandson of Abraham, son of Isaac and Rebekah, brother of Esau, and the traditional ancestor of Israelites. His name was changed to Israel, and his 12 sons became the 12 Tribes of Israel

Sisyphean Ex: My old boss was Sisyphean; she was always out for more and more money and did so at the expense of her employees.

greedy and avaricious; from the shrewd and greedy king of Corinth, Sisyphus, who was doomed forever in Hades to roll uphill a heavy stone, which always rolled down again

Cognizant Ex: Some days in school I am not cognizant because I get bored and just want to be asleep.

having cognizance; aware

Tartuffe Ex: My parents are Tartuffe when they tell me I can't go out on the weekend because they go out every weekend and also did when they were my age too.

hypocrite or someone who is hypocritical; central character in a comedy by Moliere produced in 1667; Moliere was famous for his hypocritical piety

Ignominious Ex: My favorite football team has not been as ignominious as usual as we have been winning most of our games.

marked by or attended with ignominy; discreditable; humiliating

McCarthyism Ex: My teacher's investigation was like McCarthyism; he had no basis for an investigation, he just believed that people were using their phones during class.

modern witch hunt, the practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversions with insufficient regard to evidence, the use of unfair investigatory or accusatory methods, in order to suppress opposition; after Joseph McCarthy (1908-57), an American politician who as a US senator from WWI publicly accused many citizens of subversion

Lethargy Ex: Senior year can also be called Lethargy because no one has the energy to do anything.

n., abnormal drowsiness or inertia; from the word Lethe, a river in Hades that caused drinkers to forget their past

Machiavellian Ex: The boss was Machiavellian; deceitful to his core and only out for his own personal gain.

of or relating to Machiavelli or Machiavellianism, characterized by expedience, deceit and cunning; after Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1537), a philosopher known for his treaties and political expediency; wrote "The Prince" (1513)

Argus-eyed Ex: The wise old man was Argus-eyed. He told me of my future and gave me many life lessons.

omniscient, all-seeing; from Argus, the 100-eyed monster that Hera had guarding Io

Jonah Ex: Once we recruited Jonah to our soccer team we lost 10 games in a row, when we used to win every single game.

one who brings bad luck; an OT prophet who ran from God and sailed to sea. When a storm arose, he admitted that he was the cause, and the sailors threw him overboard, where he was swallowed by a large fish

Propitious Ex: My grades were propitious to get into college and that makes me very hopeful to get into my dream school.

presenting favorable conditions; favorable; indicative of favor; auspicious

Arduous Ex: I do not like arduous work because I am lazy.

requiring great exertion; laborious; difficult

Atlantean Ex: The man working out on the bench press was Atlantean; his muscles were ripping out of his shirt.

strong like Atlas -who carried the globe (world) on his shoulders

Wagnerian Ex: Rock music is close to Wagnerian music. The loud and dramatic concerts are the best part.

style of music: loud, dramatic, radical; having to do with Wagner, his music, or his musical styles or theories

Original Sin/The Fall Ex: My church always talks about the Original Sin/The Fall at the beginning of the year to show us all where we came from and that we are all sinful because of Adam and Eve.

the idea that all men are innately sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's fall from the state of innocence. When they ate of the forbidden fruit, they were cast out of the Biblical Garden of Eden; a post-biblical expression for the doctrine of Adam's transgression and mankind's consequential inheritance of a sinful nature because he ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge

Tedium Ex: My exams for college are making me tedium. Everyone has been irritating me this week and I don't know if I can continue on to take them.

the quality or state of being wearisome; irksomeness; tediousness

Malapropism Ex: The speaker was completely illiterate and used malapropism so often that no one could take him seriously.

the usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; especially : the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in the context