Ap English Language Vocabulary

Complex Sentences

A sentence composed of at least one main clause and one subordinate clause Examples 1. "But to say I know more harm in him than in myself, were to say more than I know. That he is old, the more the pity, his white hairs do witness it; but that he is, saving your reverence, a whoremaster, that I utterly deny."( William Shakespeare, Richard IV) 2. "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." (Inaugural Address, by President Barack Obama)

Appositive

A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun ( My father, Bob, worked for NASA) EXAMPLES 1. Though her cheeks were high-colored and her teeth strong and yellow, she looked like a mechanical woman, a machine with flashing, glassy circles for eyes. (From Bronx Primitive by Kate Simon) 2. My father, a fat, funny man with beautiful eyes and a subversive wit, is trying to decide which of his eight children he will take with him to the county fair. (From Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self, Alice Walker)

Independent clause

Expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. Has both a subject and a verb EXAMPLES 1. "I enjoy sitting by the fireplace and reading." 2. "Our planets revolve around the sun."

Cursory

Going rapidly over something, without noticing details; hasty; superficial: a cursory glance at a newspaper EXAMPLES 1." He gave them a cursory glance, and then his chair turned to pins." (Gertrude Franklin, Black Oxen) 2. His glance was of a cursory description. (Tom Bevan, Sea-Dogs All!)

Invocation

The act of appealing for help, prayer for help ( used in invoking); calling upon as a reference or support EXAMPLES 1. " But chiefly spare, O king of clouds! The sailor on his airy shrouds; When wrecks and beacons strew the steep, And specters walk along the deep." ( Thomas Campbell, Ode to Winter) 2. "A child I ran in the wind on a withered moor Crying out after those great presences who were not there, Long lost in the forgetfulness of the forgotten." ( a Kathleen Raine, The Wilderness )

Voice

The fluency, rhythm, and liveliness in writing that makes it unique to the writer EXAMPLES 1. "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—" ( Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven) 2. "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she" ( Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

Begrudge

To envy or resent the pleasure or good fortune of (someone) EXAMPLES 1. " i don't begrudge her making a profit, but this is unreasonable." ( To Kill A Mocking Bird) 2. "I know that I deserve my punishment. I do not begrudge it." (William Faulkner ,As I Lay Dying)

Bemoan

To regard with displeasure, disapproval, or regret. EXAMPLES 1. "Mrs. Wallace bemoaned her fate in having to stay in town when all smart people had left." (William Somerset, The Hero) 2. "When she was not working she was bemoaning her sad lot, and indulging in large drafts of self-pity. (Nellie L. McClung, In Times Like These)

Analogy

drawing a comparison in order to show similarity in some respect Examples 1. "Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo." - (Don Marquis.) 2. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing." - (Macbeth, Act V, William Shakespeare)

Asyndeton

lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases EXAMPLES 1. "Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure?" (Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1 by William Shakespeare) 2."Without looking, without making a sound, without talking (Oedipus at Colonus by Sophecles)

Allegory

A work that functions on a symbolic level (a type of extended symbolism) EXAMPLES 1. (The Lord of the Flies, William Golding)=has many allegories about society, morality and religion. 2. (The Masque of the Red Death, Edgar Allan Poe) shows no one escapes death.

Invective

An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language EXAMPLES 1. "... and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch..." ( William Shakespeare, King Lear) 2. "A vile beastly rottenheaded foolbegotten brazenthroated pernicious piggish screaming, tearing, roaring, perplexing, splitmecrackle crashmecriggle insane ass of a woman is practicing howling below-stairs with a brute of a singingmaster so horribly, that my head is nearly off."(Edward Lear, Letter to Lady Strachey)

Idiom

An expression that cannot be understood if taken literally ( ex. " Get your head out of the clouds!") EXAMPLES 1. "I've got my hands full," I said. "I'm much obliged but I couldn't take on any more work." ( F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby) 2. "For love is blind all day, and may not see." ( Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales)

Dependent clause

Does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone as a sentence. Has both a subject and a verb 1. "What the girl did was not very helpful."{ What the girl did } 2. "While I was asleep, the cat knocked over the plant." { While i was asleep}

Desultory

Lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation EXAMPLES 1. "The desultory conversation between Cap'n Ira, Prudence, and the young shipmaster scarcely attracted the girl's attention. (Sheila of Big Wreck Cove,James A) 2." The Talk was desultory and for the most part led nowhere. (Jackson Gregory, Under Handicap)

Anecdote

Short account of an incident (especially a biographical one) EXAMPLES 1. "What is that? Bells, dogs again! Is it a dream? I sob and cry. See! The door opens, fur-clad men Rush to my rescue; frail am I; Feeble and dying, dazed and glad. There is the pistol where it dropped. "Boys, it was hard — but I'm not mad. . . . Look at the clock — it stopped, it stopped. Carry me out. The heavens smile. See! There's an arch of gold above. Now, let me rest a little while — Looking to God and Love . . .and Love . . ." ( Robert Service , Death In The Arctic) 2. "Many years had elapsed during which nothing of Combray, save what was comprised in the theatre and the drama of my going to bed there, had any existence for me, when one day in winter, as I came home, my mother, seeing that I was cold, offered me some tea, a thing I did not ordinarily take. I declined at first, and then, for no particular reason, changed my mind. She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called 'petites madeleines,' which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim's shell." ( Marcel Proust, Swann's Way)

Rhetoric

The techniques and rules for using language effectively, eloquently, and persuasively. EXAMPLES 1. "Thou 'art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell." ( John Donne, Holy Sonnet) 2. "Clouds of the west! sun there half an hour high! I see you also face to face." ( Walt Whitman, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry)

Narrative

The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events EXAMPLES 1. " I am the only daughter in a Mexican family of six sons.' Or even: 'I am the only daughter of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother." (Sandra Cisneros , Only Daughter) 2. "Annie, over six feet tall, big-boned, decided that she would not go to work as a domestic and leave her "precious babes" to anyone else's care." ( Maya Angelou, New Direction)

Circumlocution

The use of unnecessarily large numbers of words to express an idea EXAMPLES 1. "I was within a hair's breadth of the last opportunity for pronouncement, and I found with humiliation that probably I would have nothing to say......" (Oscar Wilde, The Importance Of Being Earnest) 2. Divorce me, untie or break that knot again; Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free" (John Donne, Holy Sonnet)

Aphorism

A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life. EXAMPLES 1. "Life is a tale told by an idiot — full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." (William Shakespeare, Macbeth) 2. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." (Nelle Harper Lee , To Kill A Mocking Bird)

Syllogism

A deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises that inevitably leads to a sound conclusion. A=B, B=C, so A=C. "All men are mortal; socrates is a man; therefore, socrates is mortal." EXAMPLES 1. "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire." One man concluded that, since many men desired Portia, her portrait must be in that casket." (The Merchant Of Venice) 2. "Women love men who drive Lincoln MKZs"

Epithet

A defamatory or abusive word or phrase; any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality: " Richard the Lion-Hearted" is an epithet of Richard I EXAMPLES 1. "Death lies on her like an untimely frost. Upon the sweetest flower of all the field..." (Romeo and Juliet) 2. "The earth is crying-sweet, And scattering-bright the air, Eddying, dizzying, closing round, With soft and drunken laughter..." (Beauty and Beauty by Rupert Brooke)

Hyperbole

A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor EXAMPLES: 1. People moved slowly then. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. ( To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee) 2. The skin on her face was as thin and drawn as tight as the skin of onion and her eyes were gray and sharp like the points of two picks. (Parker's Back, Flannery O'Connor)

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art Example 1. At rest on ocean's brilliant dyes / An image of Elysium lies (Edgar Allan Poe, Serenade) 2. You're acting like such a Scrooge! (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol)

Description

A rhetorical mode based in the five senses. It aims to re-create, invent, or present something so that the reader can experience it. EXAMPLES 1."The sunset filled the entire sky with the deep color of rubies, setting the clouds ablaze." 2. "The waves crashed and danced along the shore, moving up and down in a graceful and gentle rhythm."

Balanced Sentences

A sentence in which words, phrases, or clauses are set off against each other to emphasize a contrast Examples 1. "On days when warmth is the most important need of the human heart, the kitchen is the place you can find it; it dries the wet socks, it cools the hot little brain." ( E.B White, Coon Tree) 2. "Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it." ( James Boswell)

Compound sentence

A sentence with two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined by one or more EXAMPLES 1." It was not an amusement; it was a diabolical punishment" ( Stephen Crane , The Open Boat) 2. "I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can't get my wife to go swimming." (Jimmy Carter)

Paradox

A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth EXAMPLES 1. "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others" ( George Orwell, Animals Farm) 2. " I must be cruel to be kind" ( William Shakespeare , Hamlet )

non sequitur

A statement that does not follow logically from evidence EXAMPLES 1. POLONIUS: If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter that I love passing well. HAMLET: Nay, that follows not. (Hamlet by William Shakespeare) 2. "What are you doing?" Yossarian asked guardedly when he entered the tent, although he saw at once. "There's a leak in here," Orr said. "I'm trying to fix it." "Please stop it," said Yossarian. "You're making me nervous." "When I was a kid," Orr replied, "I used to walk around all day with crab apples in my cheeks. One in each cheek." (Catch-22 by Joseph Heller)

Apostrophe

A technique by which a writer addresses an inanimate object, an idea, or a person who is either dead or absent Examples 1. "Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes." ( Edgar Allen Poe, To Science) 2. "Oh! Stars and clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock me; if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave me in darkness."( Mark Shelly, Frankenstein)

Situational irony

A type of irony in which events turn out the opposite of what was expected EXAMPLES 1. "Romeo's pledge to kill Tybalt, escalate a situation leading to his banishment, and finally to the death of both Romeo and Juliet." (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet) 2. "Dorothy goes to the wizard in order to find a way home, only to learn that she is capable of doing so herself." ( L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz)

Euphemism

An inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive EXAMPLES 1. "I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs."(William Shakespeare) 2. "For the time being," he explains, "it had been found necessary to make a readjustment of rations." ( George Orwell)

Cliché

An overused saying or idea EXAMPLES 1. "Waking up on the wrong side of the bed" 2. "The quiet before the storm"

Vice

Bad or immortal behavior or habits; a moral flaw or weakness; a minor bad habit EXAMPLES 1. " Intemperance and prostitution go together, and places where they can be enjoyed are factories of vice and crime." (Henry Kalloch Rowe, Society) 2. "Defamation exists all over the world, but it is incredible to what an extent this vice is carried in America." (Frederick Marryat, Dairy in America)

Bemused

Bewildered or confused. 2. Lost in thought; preoccupied. EXAMPLES 1. "Don't stand about bemused as if you had never heard of a clock, or Piccolo, or a letter since you were born." (Michael Strange, Clair de Lune) 2. "The Fog which had bemused him then had left uncleared certain minors of realization." (Charles Neville Buck, The Tempering)

Caustic

Bitter, sarcastic language designed to hurt or ridicule someone or something. Often satirical or verbally ironic. EXAMPLES 1. " "I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception" 2. "The match smell had given way to the harsh, caustic stench of burning weeds." (Alan Edward, The Coffin Cure)

Polysyndeton

Deliberate use of many conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted. Hemingway and the bible both use extensively. EX. "He ran and jumped and laughed for joy" EXAMPLES 1. "Let the whitefolks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets, and books, and mostly-mostly-let them have their whiteness." (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) 2. " 'I don't know who killed him, but he's dead all right,' and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights or windows broke and boats all up in the town" ( Ernest Hemmingway, After The Storm)

inductive reasoning

Deriving general principles from particular facts or instances (" Every cat i have ever seen has four legs;?cats are four-legged animals." ) EXAMPLES 1. All children in the day care center like to play with Legos. All children, therefore, enjoy playing with Legos. 2. All basketball players in your school are tall, so all basketball players must be tall.

Pedantic

Describes a tone that borders on lecturing, and is overly complex, scholarly, distant, and difficult EXAMPLES 1. "Have you read 'The Rise of the Colored Empires' by this man Goddard? ... Well, it's a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be — will be utterly submerged." ( Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby) 2. "You are bolder, more honest, deeper than we are, but think only, be just a little magnanimous, and have mercy on me." (Anton Chekhov, Cherry Orchard)

Synthesia

Describing one kind of sensation in terms of another (" a loud color," " a sweet sound") EXAMPLES 1. "With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz, Between the light and me; And then the windows failed, and then could not see to see." ( Dying, Emily Dickinson) 2. "Tasting of Flora and the country green, Dance, and Provencal song, and sun burnt mirth!" ( Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats)

Dramatic Irony

In this type of irony, facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or a piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work EXAMPLES 1. "There's no art To find the mind's construction in the face: He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust." ( William Shakespeare, Macbeth) 2. "I've done it several times before. It's no big deal." (Jonathan Richman, Theres Something about Mary)

Verbal irony

In this type of irony, the words literally state the opposite of the writer's true meaning EXAMPLES 1. "She is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me." ( Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice) 2. "I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, rather than Paris." ( William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet)

Arbitrary

Irrational; capricious, unreasonable EXAMPLES 1. " A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore" 2. " The Future is not what it used to be"

Synecdoche

Part as representative of the whole "All hands on deck" EXAMPLES 1. "The western wave was all a-flame. The day was well was nigh done! Almost upon the western wave Rested the broad bright Sun" ( Coleridge, The Rime of The Ancient Mariner) 2. "O no! It is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken." ( Shakespeare,Sonnet 116)

Juxtaposition

Placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast EXAMPLES 1. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness " ( Charles Dickens, Tales Of Two Cities) 2. "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;" ( William Shakespeare, Romeo And Juliet)

periodic sentence

Presents the main clause at the end of the sentence for emphasis (despite Barbara's irritation at Jack, she loved him) EXAMPLES 1. "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius." (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance) 2. "In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul." (Frank Herbert, Dune)

Expletive

Profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger EXAMPLES 1. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." ( Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice) 2. "There passed a weary time. Each throat Was parched, and glazed each eye." (S.T Coleridge , The Rime of An Ancient Mariner)

deductive reasoning

Reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case ( The sun rises every morning; therefore, the sun will rise Tuesday morning.) EXAMPLES 1. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." (Sherlock Holmes) 2. Socrates is a man, and all men are mortal.

Epistrophe

Repetition of a word or expression at the end of a successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect. Opposite of anaphora. Ex. "When i was a child, i spoke like a child, i thought like a child, i reasoned like a child." (Corinthians) EXAMPLES 1. "Where now? Who now? When now?" ( Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable) 2. "The big sycamore by the creek was gone. The willow tangle was gone. The little enclave of untrodden bluegrass was gone." ( Robert P. Warren, Flood: A Romance Of Our Time)

Obligatory

Required as a matter of obligation; mandatory EXAMPLES 1. " It was all the more amazing because at the start he had been assured that punctuality and good conduct on his part were obligatory." (Charles Clark Munn, Uncle Terry) 2. "Attendance at church was obligatory, and he who blasphemed or used foul language found ample reason to regret his indiscretion." (Samuel Levy Bensusan, William Shakespeare)

Effrontery

Shameless or impudent boldness; barefaced audacity EXAMPLES 1. " How long would Murphy stand such gross effrontery?" (Major Gambier-Parry, Murphy) 2. "She had the effrontery to hold the baby up, with his little naked legs kicking in Tanqueray's face." (May Sinclair, The Creators)

Colloquialism

Spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech Examples 1. "I didn't want to go back no more. I had stopped cussing, because the widow didn't like it; but now I took to it again because pap hadn't no objections... But by-and-by pap got too handy with his hick'ry, and I could't stand it. I was all over with welts. He got to going away so much, too, and locking me in. Once he locked me in and was gone three days. It was dreadful lonesome."( Mark Twain, Adventure Huckleberry Finn) 2. "If I get in any trouble, you ain't gonna let me tend the rabbits."( John Steinbeck, Of Mice And Men)

Stream of consciousness

The continuous flow of ideas and feelings that constitute an individual's conscious experience EXAMPLES 1. "That young figure of then is seen, precious manly, walking on a nipping morning from the old house in Clambrassil to the high school, his book satchel on him bandolier wise, and in it a goodly hunk of wheaten loaf, a mother's thought." (James Joyce, Ulysses) 2. "like the flap of a wave; the kiss of a wave; chill and sharp and yet (for a girl of eighteen as I then was) solemn, feeling as I did, standing there at the open window, that something awful was about to happen ..." (Virginia Woolf , Mrs.Dalloway"

Vernacular

The everyday speech of the people ( as distinguished from literary language) EXAMPLES 1. "We me an Star are waitin for Boxy his head. Waitin standin in the fone box in the station of Wolfer Humpton holdin the letter what we have tapped in the number from." ( Daren King , Boxy an Star ) 2. "Say, who is you? Whar is you? Dog my cats ef I didn' hear sumf'n. Well, I know what I's gwyne to do I's gwyne to set down here and listen tell I hears it agin." (Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn)

Understatement

The opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended EXAMPLES 1. "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain." ( Holden Caulfield) 2. 1-"Good gracious, anybody hurt?" 2-"No'm. Killed a ******." ( Mark Twain, Huckleberry Fin )

Alliteration

The repetition of sounds at the beginning of words, such as " Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers EXAMPLES 1. "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea." (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner) 2. "His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead." (Jame Joyce, The Dead)

Parallel structure/parallelism

The repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures EXAMPLES 1. "The wheels wheeled, the chairs spun, the cotton candy tinted the faces of children, the bright leaves tinted the woods and hills. ( E.B White) 2. "Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider." ( Francis Bacon)

Inversion

The reversal of the normal order of words EXAMPLES 1."I tell you, he that can lay hold of her, Shall have the chinks." ( William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet) 2. "Here by the rose-tree they planted once of Love in Jeopardy an Italian bronze." (Humbert Wolfe, Love In Jeopardy)

Persona

The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing EXAMPLES 1. "When I saw one that looked particularly inviting on a map (but they all look that) I would put my finger on it and say, 'When I grow up I will go there...... Well, I haven't been there yet, and shall not try now. The glamour's off.... well, we won't talk about that......" ( Joseph Conrad, Heart Of Darkness) 2. "In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky..." ( Ernest Hemingway , The Old Man And Sea )

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers Examples 1. There's not a man I meet but doth salute me As if I were their well-acquainted friend And every one doth call me by my name. Some tender money to me; some invite me; (From "A Comedy of Errors" by William Shakespeare) 2. And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For Summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cell. (From "Ode to Autumn" by John Keats)

Homily

This term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice EXAMPLES 1. "So 'tis easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that anything hangs by; thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell." ( Johnathan Edwards, Sinners In The Hand Of An Angry God) 2. "Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion...All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety (taqwa) and good action ..." (Muhammad)

Circumvent

To avoid or get around something; to bypass EXAMPLES 1." How could she circumvent this terrible young man who was going to put them all in their places. (A. A. Milne, Once on a time) 2.We had many small rivulets to cross, and were obliged to make great detours in order to circumvent them at all. (Isabel Savor, In The Tail Of The Peacock)

Circumscribe

To constrict the range or activity of definitely and clearly; limit or confine EXAMPLES 1. "Why was I obliged to cross the threshold of evil before entering this circumscribed and yet peaceful existence?(Berthold Auerbach, On The Heights) 2. "It is no sandy plain, nor any circumscribed and scant oasis I seem to realize." (Charlotte, Shirley)

Belie

To show (something) to be false EXAMPLES 1. His voice had an edge that belied the smile on his lips. 2. The deep set blue eyes held a smile that belied his solemn expression."

Ambiguity

Unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning EXAMPLES 1. "O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm, That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy; And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy" ( William Blake,The Sick Rose) 2. "Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness," ( Keat, Ode To A Grecian Urn)

circumspect

Watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent:circumspect behavior. EXAMPLES 1. " He went about his business circumspectly, without loss of time. (Bertrand W. Sinclair, Burned Bridges) 2. " We moved a step at a time, feeling circumspectly before resting our weight. (Stewart Edward, The Killer)

Conceit

a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor Examples 1. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; ... I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." (Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken) 2. "If they be two, they are two so As stiff Twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th' other do. And though it in the center sit, Yet, when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home." ( John Donne, A Valediction)

Cacophony

a loud harsh or strident noise EXAMPLES 1. "The nasal whine of power whips a new universe.... Where spouting pillars spoor the evening sky, Under the looming stacks of the gigantic power house Stars prick the eyes with sharp ammoniac proverbs, New verities, new inklings in the velvet hummed Of dynamos, where hearing's leash is strummed.... Power's script, - wound, bobbin-bound, refined- Is stopped to the slap of belts on booming spools, spurred Into the bulging bouillon, harnessed jelly of the stars." ( Hart Crane, The Bridge) 2. "With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, Agape they heard me call." ( Coleridge, Rime To The Ancient Mariner)

Dissonance

harsh, inharmonious, or discordant sounds EXAMPLES 1. "Complacencies of the peignoir, and late Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair, And the green freedom of a cockatoo Upon a rug mingle to dissipate The holy hush of ancient sacrifice." (Wallace Stevens, Sunday Morning) 2. "Of all men else I have avoided thee. But get thee back. My soul is too much charged With blood of thine already." (William Shakespeare, Macbeth)

circutious

roundabout, not direct EXAMPLES 1. "That was Dad's circuitous way of telling me he wished I would stay home forever." ( Andrew A.Smith , 100 Sideways Miles) 2. "hear in a roundabout way that her ex-husband was marrying her best friend"

Antithesis

the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance Examples 1. "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." (Martin Luther King, Jr.) 2. "Good we must love, and must hate ill, For ill is ill, and good good still; But there are things indifferent, Which we may neither hate, nor love, But one, and then another prove, As we shall find our fancy bent." ( John Donne, Community)

Anaphora

the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses EXAMPLES 1. "This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings [. . .] This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land," ( William Shakespeare Richard II) 2. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." ( Charles Dickens, A Tale Of Two Cities)

Assonance

the repetition of similar vowel in the stressed syllables of successive words Examples 1. "Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the oldest of living things. So old it is that no man knows how and why the first poems came."( Carl Sandburg, Early Moon) 2. "And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating` 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door - Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; " This it is, and nothing more." ( Edgar Allen Poe, The Master)

Beseech

to beg eagerly for; solicit EXAMPLES 1. " And In despair He lifted up his voice and cried, 'O Lady of Solace, help me, i beseech you, in my great need, for i am nigh dead.' (Various, The Red Romance Book) 2. " Bring him home both safe and sound I beseech thee." (Stories of Siegfried, Mary MacGreg)