The Handmaid's Tale vocab

Maudlin

tearfully or weakly emotional, foolishly sentimental "Like a White Russian drinking tea in Paris, marooned in the twentieth century, I wander back, try to regain those distant pathways; I become too maudlin, lose myself."

Foundered

to become wrecked, fail utterly, sinking ship, lame horse "From the size of the jar you can tell how old it was when it foundered, inside her, flowed to its death."

Precocity

unusually early development or maturity "The Commander likes it when I distinguish myself, show precocity, like an attentive pet, prick-eared and eager to perform."

Incendiary

used to set things on fire, physically/emotionally/intellectually "It is an incendiary device: who knew what we'd make of it, if we ever got our hands on it."

Wizened

withered, shriveled "Most households bake their own, though you can get dried up rolls and wizened doughnuts at Daily Bread, if you run short."

hyperbole

A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. Hyperboles often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often, hyperbole produces irony.

idiom

A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words; A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally

double-entendre

A literary device which consists of a double meaning, especially when the second meaning is impolite or risqué. For example, when Guildenstern says: "her [Fortune's] privates we," his words can be interpreted either to mean, "ordinary men" (as in "private soldiers") or as "sexual confidants" (with a pun on "private parts").

Penultimate

next to the last "The squares on the board ahead of me are filling up: I'm making my penultimate play of the night. Zilch, I spell, a convenient one-vowel word with an expensive Z."

Anachronisms

not in its correct historical or chronological place "These bodies hanging on the Wall are time travelers, anachronisms."

Implacable

not to be appeased, mollified, or pacified; inexorable "I wait for the day to unroll, for the earth to turn, according to the round face of the implacable clock."

Ambulatory

of, pertaining to, or capable of walking "We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices."

allusion

reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something (usually from literature, etc.).

polysendenton

sentence which uses a conjunction with NO commas to separate the items in a series. Instead of X, Y, and Z... Polysendeton results in X and Y and Z...

Innocuous

harmless "His manner is mild, his hands large, with thick fingers and acquisitive thumbs, his blue eyes uncommunicative, falsely innocuous."

Prurience

having, inclined to have or characterized by lustful thoughts "And the rest of them leaning forward in their chairs, My dear, all horror and prurience. How could she? Where? When?"

simile

a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using words such as like, as , than, or resembles

chiasm

A literary structure used by Homer and other writers, including some Biblical authors, in which parallel ideas are first stated in one order, and then repeated in reverse order. The most important point is placed in the middle, just before the reversal, to emphasize its importance

interrogative sentence

A sentence that asks a question

declarative sentence

A sentence that makes a statement or declaration

mood

An atmosphere created by a writer's diction and the details selected

analogy

Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike

anaphora

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent

irony

a discrepancy between appearances and reality

synecdoche

a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or, occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part. Examples: To refer to a boat as a "sail"; to refer to a car as "wheels"; to refer to the violins, violas, etc. in an orchestra as "the strings."

metaphor

a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resemble

Collusion

a secret agreement, esp. for fraudulent or treacherous purpose "In any case she didn't she didn't kill or mutilate Aunt Elizabeth, who a few days later, after she'd recovered from her seven hours behind the furnace and presumably from the interrogation - for the possibility of collusion would not have been ruled out, by the Aunts or anyone else - was back in operation at the Center."

Susurration

a soft murmur, whisper "And when we are kneeling, heads bowed slightly, I can hear from all around us a susurration, like the rustling of insects in tall dry grass: a cloud of whispers."

stream of consciousness

a style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character's mind

Peccadillo

a trifling fault, a very minor or slight sin or offense "At the very least some minor sexual manipulation, some bygone peccadillo now denied him, prohibited by law and punishable by amputation."

colloquialism

a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations. Example: "He's out of his head if he thinks I'm gonna go for such a stupid idea."

refrain

a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a poem

Cornucopia

an abundant, overflowing supply "It was like a language I'd once known but had nearly forgotten, a language having to do with customs that had long before been passed out of the world: cafe au lait at an outdoor table, with a brioche, absinthe in a tall glass, or shrimp in a cornucopia of newspaper; things I'd read about once but had never seen."

Sloughed

anything that is shed or cast off "Each twinge, each murmur of slight pain, ripples of sloughed-off matter, swellings and diminishings of tissue, the droolings of the flesh, these are the signs, these are the things I need to know about."

Approbation

approval, commendation, official approval or sanction "But by that time Janine was a puppy that's been kicked too often, by too many people, at random: she'd roll over for anyone, she'd tell anything, just for a moment of approbation."

Akimbo

being in a bent, bowed or arched position "Crouching like that, she's like a doll, an old one that's been pillaged and discarded, in some corner, akimbo."

Carrion

dead and putrefying flesh "Maybe you light up in the dark, like an old-fashioned watch. Deathwatch. That's a kind of beetle, it buries carrion."

Perfidy

deliberate breach of faith/trust, faithlessness, treachery "And the owners of them, sullen faced, unrepentant, pushed by the Eyes against the walls of their bedrooms, while the sorrowful voice of the announcer tells us voice-over about their perfidy and ungratefulness."

Patronymic

derived from the name of a father, a family name, surname "'Offred' gives no clue, since, like 'Ofglen' and 'Ofwarren,' it was patronymic, composed of the possessive preposition and the first name of the gentleman in question."

Ignominious

discreditable, humiliating "It's my job to provide what is otherwise lacking. Even the Scrabble. It's an absurd as well as an ignominious position."