English 128 Vocabulary
Semester 1: Poetry and Short Stories
Poetry Unit (15)
- Quench: to satisfy or appease
- Recompense: a type of payment or reward
- Manifold: of many kinds; numerous and varied
- Persevere: to persist, endure, or continue
- Resolutions: a means of decisions and declarations
- Quiver: a tremor, spasm or shudder
- Scarcely: barely; hardly
- Surmise: to deduce or make an educated guess
- Guile: cunning, clever, or deceitful behavior
- Myriad: a large innumerable amount
- Subtleties: the state or quality of being delicate or refined
- Vile: wretchedly bad or highly offensive or repulsive
- Subside: to sink to a lower level or decrease
- Preconception: a conception or opinion formed beforehand
- Agitation: the act or process of being agitated; to be perturbed
Tell-Tale Heart (16)
- Foresight: thoughtful regard fro the future
- Dissimulation: hidden under false pretense
- Vexed: trouble, distressed, caused agitation
- Sagacity: sound judgment or wisdom
- Hearkening: giving careful attention
- Awe: a mixed feeling of reverence, fear, and wonder
- Distinctness: unmistakable, clearly defined
- Over-acuteness: very keen or sharp
- Concealment: a means of hiding
- Waned: to grow gradually less
- Scantlings: small quantities or amounts
- Suavity: gracefulness, politeness
- Bade: urged, compelled
- Audacity: bold courage, daring
- Reposed: to lay at rest
- Derision: contempt, ridicule
Cask of Amontillado (27)
- Cask: a large wooden barrel, typically used for wine
- Amontillado: a wine from Spain; a pale kind of sherry
- Borne: past tense of "bear," which means to tolerate or carry
- Avenge: to get revenge for; to punish an injuring party or wrongdoer
- Preclude: to prevent; to hinder, block or impede
- Impunity: freedom from punishment, harm, or loss
- Redress: to make right; remedy or rectify; make amends for
- Retribution: punishment imposed on a wrongdoer for repayment or revenge
- Immolation: killing or offering as a sacrifice; to set oneself on fire
- Connoisseur: a person with expert knowledge or training, especially in the fine arts
- Imposture: fraud; trickery; deception under a false or assumed character
- Accost: to approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request
- Abscond: to depart secretly; withdraw and hide oneself
- Catacombs: underground cemetery in tunnels with chambers or recesses for graves
- Gait: the speed or manner of moving on foot
- Orb: a sphere or spherical object
- Rheum: a watery or thin mucous discharge from the eyes or nose
- Gesticulate: to make gestures especially while speaking, for emphasis
- Grotesque: abnormal and hideous; distorted and unnatural in shape or size
- Trowel: tool with a flat, pointed blade used to level and spread cement or mortar
- Recoil: to shrink back, as in fear or extreme dislike; to spring back, as in firing a gun
- Circumscribe: encircle; define the boundaries of
- Termination: end or limit of something; conclusion
- Niche: a hollow area in a wall for holding a statue or urn; a crevice or recess
- Fetter: to restrict the freedom of with chains; (noun) a chain or shackle for the ankles
- Implore: to beg for urgently; beseech
- Aperture: opening; gap; slit
Fall of the House of Usher (21)
- Melancholy: gloomy, depressing, or depression
- Intolerable: not tolerable; unendurable and insufferable
- Gloom: total or partial darkness or the state of melancholy or depression
- Dreary: causing sadness or gloom; dull or boring
- Oppressed:to burden with cruel or unjust restraints
- Patrimony: an estate or endowment inherited from one’s father or ancestors
- Intricate:having many interrelated parts or facets; complex
- Cunning:skill employed in a shrewd or sly manner; to be crafty
- Perplexed: to be bewildered or puzzled
- Pervaded: to become spread throughout all parts of
- Ghastly: shockingly frightful or dreadful; horrible
- Pallor: unusual or extreme paleness, as from fear, ill health or death
- Incoherent: without logical or meaningful connection; rambling
- Sullen: showing irritation or ill humor by gloomy silence; morose
- Insipid: without distinctive, interesting or stimulating qualities; bland or vapid
- Phantasm: an apparition or specter
- Apathy: absence or suppression of passion, emotion or excitement; lack of interest or concern
- Catalepsy: a physical condition associated with schizophrenia and seizures
- Improvisations:the art of executing or doing anything without previous preparation or planning
- Phenomenon:a fact or occurrence that is impressive or extraordinary
- Unnerve: to deprive of courage, strength or confidence; upset
- Vividly: strikingly bright or intense; full of life