9th grade literature: Second Semester Vocabulary

Vocabulary Unit 16 – Poetry Terms

1. alliteration: The repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds at the beginning of words. "Gnus never know pneumonia" is an example of alliteration.

2. apostrophe: Direct address, usually to someone or something that is not present. Keats's "Bright star! Would I were steadfast" is an apostrophe to a star, and "To Autumn" is an apostrophe to a personified season.
3. assonance: The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. "A land laid waste with all its young men slain" repeats the same "a" sound in "laid," "waste," and "slain."

4. consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds. The tire was tight as it rolled onto the grass.

5. free verse: Poetry which is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical. The poetry of Walt Whitman is perhaps the best known example of free verse.

6. end vs. internal rhyme: Rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end.

7. meter: The pattern of repetition of stressed (or accented) and unstressed (or unaccented)syllables in a line of verse. Lines of verse that connect one or more feet.
8. motif: An element that serves as a theme, which is developed further and recurs throughout the work.

9. onomatopoeia: The use of words whose sound suggests their meaning. Examples are "buzz," "hiss," or "honk."
10. oxymoron: A combination of opposites; the union of contradictory terms. Romeo's line "feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health" has four examples of the device.

11. stanza: Usually a repeated grouping of three or more lines with the same meter and rhyme scheme.

12. mood vs. tone: Tone = (author’s attitude) The manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning. Mood = (how it makes me the reader feel) meaning/ atmosphere of poem. the feelings/ meanings evoked in the poem and in response to the poem as well.

13. zeugma: (syllepsis) One word refers to a tangible and intangible being.

She stole my heart and my bandana.

Unit 17 – Dreadful words

  1. dreary (adj) – bleak, sad, foreboding
  2. countenance (noun) – facial expression
  3. equivocal (adj) more than one way to be interpreted
  4. anomaly (noun) – abnormal thing
  5. haughtiness (adj) boastful, proud
  6. onus (noun) - burden
  7. desecrate (verb) – to damage or pollute a holy place
  8. pastoral (adj ) - concerning nature, agriculture
  9. sepulcher (noun) - tomb
  10. pensively (adv) - expressing deep thought

Unit 18 – Happy, Happy, Joy

  1. sublime – adj – noble, inspiring awe, admiration
  2. specious - adj - seemingly good
  3. infinite – adj – never ending, limitless
  4. exemplary – adj – outstandingly good, setting a good example
  5. salutation – noun – cordial greeting, hello
  6. munificent – adj– generous, kind
  7. subjectivity – noun – personal perception or viewpoint
  8. unfetter – verb – to set free
  9. pernicious – adj – causing ruin, caustic
  10. phantasmagoric - adj - fantastic or dreamlike

Unit 19 – Inner Turmoil

  1. lamentable – adj – sad, distressing, lachrymose
  2. unwieldy –adj – awkward, clumsy
  3. quiver – verb – to shake with fright
  4. perjury – noun – breach of oath, giving false testimony
  5. procure – verb – to get, to acquire
  6. degradation – noun – poverty, deprivation
  7. odious – adj – hateful
  8. allay – verb – to lessen
  9. transgression - noun - wrongdoing, sin

10. tumultuously - adv - roughly, stormy

Unit 20– Very Superstitious

  1. ambiguity – noun – condition of being vague, unclear
  2. remnant – noun – remaining person or thing, scrap of memory
  3. dwell – verb – to reside, to continue, to linger
  4. muffle – verb – to subdue, to make quiet
  5. candid – adj – frank, honest, truthful
  6. salacious – adj – lecherous, terribly mean, evil
  7. trite -adj – dull, unoriginal
  8. loquacious – adj – talkative
  9. predominantly - adv - having influence over others
  10. soothsayer - a person who predicts future events

Unit 21 – Who’s to blame?

  1. propaganda – noun – persuasive information
  2. tenacity – noun – the state of being attentive, interested, and persistent
  3. ornate – adj – highly decorated
  4. truant – adj – someone absent without permission
  5. ludicrous – adj – ridiculous, silly
  6. sanction – verb – to give approval to
  7. castigate – verb – to scold strongly
  8. scapegoat – noun – someone who is blamed for faults of others
  9. gallant - adj - brave and strong
  10. fray - noun - noisy fight, brawl

Unit 22 – Omens & Warning Signs

  1. caustic – burning, harmfully toxic
  2. undermine – verb – to go against someone’s wishes, attack
  3. malady – noun – illness
  4. pompous – adj – self – important, pretentious
  5. unprecedented – adj – never having happened before
  6. procrastinate – verb – to delay, put off,
  7. serendipity – noun – fortunate coincidence
  8. deduce – verb – to figure out, decipher
  9. wayward - adj - stubborn, headstrong
  10. loathsome - adj - disgusting

Unit 23 – Story tellers

  1. contrive – verb – lie, fabricated explanation
  2. archaic – adj – old, ancient
  3. elaborate – adj – intricate, complex detail
  4. oracle – noun – producing deep truth
  5. epiphany – noun – sudden revelation, insightful moment
  6. dialect – noun – form of language spoken by people in a particular region
  7. anecdote – amusing, brief story
  8. engross – verb - to be fully occupied, consumed in material
  9. assiduous - adj - persistent, hard working
  10. orator - speaker, lecturer

Unit 24 – Caution!

  1. thwart – verb – to prevent, stop
  2. alleviate – verb – to ease a pain or burden
  3. ample – large amount, plenty of
  4. brittle – adj – easily broken, fragile
  5. precariously - adv - not steady, tricky
  6. disdain – verb – to treat with contempt, to look down on
  7. spurious – adj – not genuine, false
  8. timorous – adj – shy, timid, trepid
  9. condescending - adj - possessing an attitude of superiority
  10. discredit - verb - to harm the reputation of, invalidate

Unit 25 – Enemy attack

1. ostentatious – adj – pretentious or showy

2. obscure – adj – relatively unknown

3. conformist - noun - person who complies

4. effuse – verb – to flow with emotion

5. arid – adj – dry, rainless, boring

6. bias – noun– prejudice, passing judgment

7. cantankerous – adj – grumpy, disagreeable

8. nemesis – noun – enemy

9. exasperation - noun - irritation, frustration

10. surreptitious - adj - secret, stealthy

Unit 26 – Stop and Think

  1. endangered – adj – on the verge of extinction
  2. covet – verb – to desire, want
  3. remorse – noun – regret, sadness over something ill
  4. inevitable – adj – bound to happen
  5. adept – adj – extremely skilled
  6. infamy – noun – notoriety, extreme ill will
  7. paradigm – noun – perfect pattern or model
  8. ruminate – verb – to contemplate, reflect
  9. transient - adj - temporary, short lived
  10. longevity - adj - long life

Unit 27 – Dream Big

  1. magnanimous – adj – generous, noble
  2. supercilious – adj – disdainful, haughty, snobby
  3. manifest – adj – evident, clear understanding
  4. detect – verb – to uncover, to think critically
  5. cognizant – adj- being aware
  6. vapid – adj – airy, full of vapor, empty headed
  7. vocation – noun – future goal, aspiration
  8. reciprocate – verb – to match in quality, return favor
  9. intuitive - adj - instinctive, untaught
  10. precocious - adj - unusually advanced, big talents

Unit 28 – A New Perspective

  1. novice – adj – beginning something new,
  2. resiliency – noun – able to bounce back, recover from adversity
  3. cognizant – adj – knowing, aware
  4. polity – adj – an organized society
  5. aficionado – noun – an admirer, devotee
  6. litigate – verb – to engage in a lawsuit
  7. aberration – noun – a deviation from the normal, atypical
  8. innovate – verb – to introduce something new
  9. cognate – noun- a word that shares the same root in other languages
  10. ethos – noun – ethics or morals of a character of community (used in rhetoric)

Unit 29 – Money, Money, Money

  1. endow – to present with a power, trait
  2. diplomacy- n. - Tact, shrewdness, or skill in conducting any kind of negotiations
  3. fervor – noun – intensity of feeling
  4. imminent adj. Dangerous and close at hand.
  5. negligent adj. Apt to omit what ought to be done.
  6. opulence n. Affluence.
  7. monetary – noun – pertaining to money
  8. avarice – noun – greed
  9. miserly – adv – frugal
  10. pedagogue – noun – teacher or mentor

Unit 30 – Graduation!

  1. aroma – noun – an agreeable odor
  2. commemorate v. To serve as a remembrance of.
  3. effulgence – adj – splendor
  4. penultimate – adj – second to last
  5. interim n. Time between acts or periods.
  6. exalt – to praise
  7. verbiage – noun – use of excessive words
  8. zenith – noun - the peak, greatness
  9. amenable – adj – agreeable
  10. emulate – verb – equal through imitation