Vocab Remix Weeks 4 and 5

Front

Vagaries: "I resolved all into the inexplicable vagaries of madness, for I beheld [Roderick] gazing upon vacancy for long hours..."

Back

odd, unexpected actions or notions

Front

Ennuye: "I initially thought of an overdone cordiality--the forced effort of a man of the world--ennuye."

Back

boredom

Front

Rending: "Say, rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of her prison."

Back

violent or forceful pulling apart

Front

Pertinacity: "Suggestions from this ballad led us to an opinion of Usher's, notable for its persistence."

Back

determined stubbornness

Front

Dissolution: "He admitted, however, that much of the gloom could be traced to the severe illness and approaching dissolution of a beloved sister..."

Back

Ending or downfall

Front

Allusion: "As an evolutionary scientist, Sir David Attenborough may laugh at the biblical allusion, but he has certainly had an instrumental role in creating our modern perception of the world."

Back

Reference to a familiar person, place, thing, or literary work.

Front

Simile: "The tell-tale heart increased my fury as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage."

Back

Comparison where something is "like" or "as" something else.

Front

In Poe's "The Raven," a talking blackbird symbolizes darkness and death.

Back

Using an object or word to represent an abstract idea.

Front

Metaphor: "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. My name is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings."

Back

Comparison of two unlike things that does NOT use "like" or "as".

Front

Imagery: "An atmosphere with no affinity to heaven, reeking from decayed trees and a silent tarn -- a pestilent, mystic vapor, dull and leaden-hued."

Back

Figurative language appealing to the senses.