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Unit 3: Part 2 Vocabulary

37 words 4 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. defer
    hold back to a later time
    What happens to a dream deferred?
  2. fester
    generate pus
    Does it dry up
    like a raisin in the sun?
    Or fester like a sore—
    And then run?
  3. barren
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    Hold fast to dreams
    For when dreams go
    Life is a barren field
    Frozen with snow.
  4. paradoxical
    seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true
    “Give me a place to stand,” Archimedes said,
    “and I can move the world.” Paradoxical, clever,
    his remark which first explained the use of the lever
    was an academic Joke.
  5. abash
    cause to be embarrassed
    And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
    And sore must be the storm—
    That could abash the little Bird
    That kept so many warm—
  6. voluminous
    large in capacity or bulk
    Oh, from out the sounding cells,
    What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
  7. endeavor
    earnest and conscientious activity intended to do something
    Leaping higher, higher, higher,
    With a desperate desire,
    And a resolute endeavor
    Now—now to sit or never,
    By the side of the pale-faced moon.
  8. palpitate
    beat rapidly
    Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
    What a tale their terror tells
    Of Despair!
    How they clang, and clash, and roar!
    What a horror they outpour
    On the bosom of the palpitating air!
  9. monotone
    an unchanging intonation
    And the people—ah, the people—
    They that dwell up in the steeple,
    All alone,
    And who tolling, tolling, tolling,
    In that muffled monotone,
    Feel a glory in so rolling
    On the human heart a stone—
    They are neither man nor woman—
    They are neither brute nor human—
    They are Ghouls
  10. disgrace
    a state of dishonor
    Sometimes
    ball gets hit
    (pow) when bat
    meets it,
    and sails
    to a place
    where mitt
    has to quit
    in disgrace.
  11. metaphysical
    highly abstract and overly theoretical
    We were metaphysical when girls
    Cheered on the sidelines.
    Tangled up in a falling,
    Muscles were a bright motor
    Double-flashing to the metal hoop
    Nailed to our oak.
  12. demure
    shy or modest, often in a playful or provocative way
    I admired all that pulsing gleam, the
    shiny flanks, the demure headlights
    fringed where it lay; I led it gently
    to the road and stood with that
    companion, ready and friendly. I was fifteen.
  13. pallor
    an unnatural lack of color in the skin
    It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville nine that day;
    The score stood two to four, with but an inning left to play.
    So, when Cooney died at second, and Burrows did the same,
    A pallor wreathed the features of the patrons of the game.
  14. precede
    come before
    But Flynn preceded Casey, and likewise so did Blake,
    And the former was a pudd’n, and the latter was a fake.
    So on that stricken multitude a deathlike silence sat;
    For there seemed but little chance of Casey’s getting to the bat.
  15. multitude
    a large gathering of people
    But Flynn preceded Casey, and likewise so did Blake,
    And the former was a pudd’n, and the latter was a fake.
    So on that stricken multitude a deathlike silence sat;
    For there seemed but little chance of Casey’s getting to the bat.
  16. writhing
    moving in a twisting or snake-like or wormlike fashion
    Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with
    dirt,
    Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his
    shirt;
    Then when the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
    Defiance glanced in Casey’s eye, a sneer curled Casey’s lip.
  17. defiance
    an act boldly resisting authority or an opposing force
    Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with
    dirt,
    Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his
    shirt;
    Then when the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
    Defiance glanced in Casey’s eye, a sneer curled Casey’s lip.
  18. ponder
    reflect deeply on a subject
    Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
    Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
    As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
    ‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
    Only this, and nothing more.”
  19. beguile
    attract; cause to be enamored
    Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
    By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
    “Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure
    no craven,
    Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly
    shore—
    Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian
    shore!”
    Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”
  20. respite
    a relief from harm or discomfort
    Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from
    an unseen censer
    Swung by angels whose faint footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.
    “Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels
    he hath sent thee
    Respiterespite and Nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
    Let me quaff this kind Nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
    Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”
  21. diverge
    move or draw apart
    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
  22. bafflement
    confusion resulting from failure to understand
    Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw—
    For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.
    He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s
    despair:
    For when they reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s not
    there!
  23. depravity
    moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles
    Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
    For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
    You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the
    square—
    But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!
  24. rifle
    steal goods; take as spoils
    He’s outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
    And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.
    And when the larder’s looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
    Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke’s been stifled,
    Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair—
    Ay, there’s the wonder of the thing! Macavity’s not there!
  25. disclose
    make known to the public information previously kept secret
    And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
    ‘It must have been Macavity!’—but he’s a mile away.
    You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
    Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.
  26. woeful
    affected by or full of grief or sadness
    And then the lover,
    Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
    Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.
  27. treble
    the pitch range of the highest female voice
    The sixth age shifts
    Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
    With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
    His youthful hose well saved, a world too wide
    For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
    Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
    And whistles in his sound.
  28. oblivion
    the state of being disregarded or forgotten
    Last scene of all,
    That ends this strange eventful history,
    Is second childishness, and mere oblivion,
    Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
  29. warp
    bend or twist out of shape
    We never know how high we are
    Till we are asked to rise
    And then if we are true to plan
    Our statures touch the skies—
    The Heroism we recite
    Would be a normal thing
    Did not ourselves the Cubits warp
    For fear to be a King—
  30. intermission
    a time during which something is temporarily stopped or delayed
    The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the
    morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown...
  31. stout
    having rugged physical strength
    They were women then
    My mama’s generation
    Husky of voice—Stout of
    Step
  32. woe
    intense mournfulness
    When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
    I summon up remembrance of things past,
    I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
    And with old woes new wail my dear times waste
  33. wail
    a cry of sorrow and grief
    When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
    I summon up remembrance of things past,
    I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
    And with old woes new wail my dear times waste
  34. articulate
    express or state clearly
  35. concept
    an abstract or general idea inferred from specific instances
  36. interpretation
    an explanation that results from making sense of something
  37. unique
    the single one of its kind
Created on Thu Oct 15 17:24:25 EDT 2020 (updated Mon Oct 19 09:35:20 EDT 2020)

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