Vocab Review (Groups 1-19)
Review these words from groups 1–19 then take the quiz at the bottom of the page.
Group 1
convoluted |
intricate; complex |
The directions were so convoluted that we drove all around the city and got lost. |
cryptic |
difficult to comprehend |
The writing on the walls of the crypt was cryptic; none of the scientists understood it. |
futile |
having no useful purpose; pointless |
It is futile to try to explain the difference between right and wrong to your pet. |
impede |
to slow the progress of |
The retreating army constructed barbed-wire fences and destroyed bridges to impede the advance of the enemy. |
obscure |
(adj.) relatively unknown |
Scott constantly makes references to obscure cult films, and no one ever gets his jokes. |
obscure |
(v.) to conceal or make indistinct |
The man in front of me was so tall that his head obscured my view of the movie. |
quandary |
a state of uncertainty or perplexity |
Ann was in a quandary because she had no soap with which to do her laundry. |
indolent |
lazy |
Mr. Lan said his students were indolent because they had not done their homework. |
Group 2
insipid |
uninteresting; unchallenging |
That insipid movie was so boring and predictable. |
listless |
lacking energy |
Since he is accustomed to an active lifestyle, Mark feels listless when he has nothing to do. |
torpor |
laziness; inactivity; dullness |
The hot and humid day filled everyone with an activity-halting torpor. |
alienated |
removed or disassociated from (friends, family, or homeland) |
Rudolf felt alienated from the other reindeer because they never let him join in their reindeer games. |
alliance |
a union of two or more groups |
The two countries formed an alliance to stand against their common enemy. |
disparity |
inequality in age, rank, or degree; difference |
There is a great disparity between rich and poor in many nations. |
servile |
submissive; like a servant |
Cameron’s servile behavior finally ended when he decided to stand up to his older brother. |
suppressed |
subdued; kept from being circulated |
The author’s book was suppressed because the dictator thought it was too critical of the regime. |
Group 3
embellish |
to make beautiful by ornamenting; to decorate |
We embellished the account of our vacation by including descriptions of many colorful people and places we visited. |
florid |
describing flowery or elaborate speech |
The candidate’s speech was so florid that although no one could understand what he was talking about, they all agreed that he sounded good saying it. |
opulent |
exhibiting a display of great wealth |
Dances at the king’s palace are always very opulent affairs because no expense is spared. |
ornate |
elaborately decorated |
The carved wood was so ornate that you could examine it several times and still notice things you had not seen before. |
ostentatious |
describing a showy or pretentious display |
Whenever the millionaire gave a party, the elaborate decorations and enormous amounts of food were always part of his ostentatious display of wealth. |
poignant |
profoundly moving; touching |
The most poignant part of the movie was when the father finally made peace with his son. |
ebullience |
intense enthusiasm |
A sense of ebullience swept over the crowd when the matador defeated the bull. |
effusive |
emotionally unrestrained; gushy |
Gwyneth Paltrow was effusive in her thanks after winning the Oscar; she even burst into tears. |
Group 4
egregious |
conspicuously bad or offensive |
Forgetting to sterilize surgical tools before an operation would be an egregious error. |
flagrant |
extremely or deliberately shocking or noticeable |
His throwing the pie at his teacher was a flagrant sign of disrespect. |
frenetic |
wildly excited or active |
The pace at the busy office was frenetic; Megan never had a moment to catch her breath. |
gratuitous |
given freely; unearned; unwarranted |
The film was full of gratuitous sex and violence that was not essential to the story. |
superfluous |
extra; unnecessary |
If there is sugar in your tea, adding honey would be superfluous. |
alleviate |
to ease a pain or burden |
John took aspirin to alleviate the pain from the headache he got after taking the SAT. |
asylum |
a place of retreat or security |
The soldiers sought asylum from the bombs in the underground shelter. |
auspicious |
favorable, promising |
Our trip to the beach had an auspicious start; the rain stopped just as we started the car. |
Group 5
benevolent |
well-meaning; generous |
She was a kind and benevolent queen who was concerned about her subjects’ well-being. |
benign |
kind and gentle |
Uncle Charlie is a benign and friendly man who is always willing to help. |
mollify |
to calm or soothe |
Anna’s apology for scaring her brother did not mollify him; he was mad at her all day. |
reclamation |
the act of making something useful again |
Thanks to the reclamation project, the once unusable land became a productive farm. |
sanction |
to give official authorization or approval |
The students were happy when the principal agreed to sanction the use of calculators in math classes. |
dubious |
doubtful; of unlikely authenticity |
Jerry’s claim that he could fly like Superman seemed dubious—we didn’t believe it. |
fabricated |
made; concocted to deceive |
Fabio fabricated the story that he used to play drums for Metallica; he had never actually held drumsticks in his life. |
hypocrisy |
the practice of pretending to be something one is not; insincerity |
People who claim to be vegetarian but eat chicken and fish are guilty of hypocrisy. |
Group 6
slander |
false charges and malicious oral statements about someone |
After the radio host stated that Monica was a space alien, she sued him for slander. |
spurious |
not genuine |
The sportscaster made a spurious claim when he said that the San Antonio Spurs were undefeated. |
astute |
shrewd, clever |
Kevin is financially astute; he never falls for the tricks that credit card companies play. |
clandestine |
secretive |
The spies planned a clandestine maneuver that depended on its secrecy to work. |
coup |
a brilliantly executed plan |
It was quite a coup when I talked the salesperson into selling me this valuable cuckoo clock for five dollars. |
disingenuous |
not straightforward; crafty |
Mr. Gelman was rather disingenuous; although he seemed to be simply asking about your health, he was really trying to figure out why you’d been absent. |
ruse |
a crafty trick |
The offer of a free cruise was merely a ruse to get people to listen to their sales pitch. |
stratagem |
a clever trick used to deceive or outwit |
Planting microphones in the gangster’s home was a clever, but illegal, stratagem. |
Group 7
surreptitiously |
done by secretive means |
Matt drank the cough syrup surreptitiously because he didn’t want anyone to know that he was sick. |
wary |
on guard |
My father becomes wary whenever a salesman calls him on the phone; he knows that many crooks use the phone so that they can’t be charged with mail fraud. |
wily |
cunning |
In the children's cartoon "Roadrunner," Wily Coyote is a very wily character; he devises all sorts of clever traps to catch the Roadrunner. |
ambiguous |
open to more than one interpretation |
His eyes were an ambiguous color: Some thought they were brown, and some thought they were green. |
ambivalent |
simultaneously having opposing feelings; uncertain |
She had ambivalent feelings about her dance class: On one hand, she enjoyed the exercise, but on the other hand, she thought the choice of dances could be more interesting. |
apathetic |
feeling or showing little emotion |
When the defendant was found guilty on all charges, her face remained expressionless and she appeared to be entirely apathetic. |
arbitrary |
determined by impulse rather than reason |
The principal made the arbitrary decision that students could not wear hats in school without offering any logical reason for the rule. |
capricious |
impulsive and unpredictable |
The referee’s capricious behavior angered the players because he was inconsistent with his calls; he would call foul for minor contact, but ignore elbowing and kicking. |
Group 8
equivocate |
to avoid making a definite statement |
On critical reading questions, I choose answers that equivocate; they use words such as could or may that make them difficult to disprove. |
indifferent |
not caring one way or the other |
The old fisherman was completely indifferent to the pain and hunger he felt; his only concern was catching the enormous marlin he had hooked. |
spontaneous |
unplanned, naturally occurring |
Dave is such a good musician that he can create a song spontaneously, without having to stop and think about it. |
whimsical |
subject to erratic behavior; unpredictable |
Egbert rarely behaved as expected; indeed, he was a whimsical soul whose every decision was anybody’s guess. |
inconsequential |
unimportant |
The cost of the meal was inconsequential to Quentin because he wasn’t paying for it. |
superficial |
concerned only with what is on the surface or obvious; shallow |
The wound on his leg was only superficial, even though it looked like a deep cut. |
tenuous |
having little substance or strength; shaky; unsure, weak |
Her grasp on reality is tenuous at best; she’s not even sure what year it is. |
trivial |
of little importance or significance |
Alex says he doesn't like trivia games because the knowledge they test is trivial; he prefers to spend his time learning more important things. |
Group 9
assiduous |
hard-working |
Spending hours in the hot sun digging out every tiny weed, Sidney tended her garden with assiduous attention. |
compelling |
forceful; urgently demanding attention |
By ignoring the problems in the city, the mayor gave people a very compelling reason to vote him out of office. |
diligent |
marked by painstaking effort; hard-working |
With a lot of diligent effort, they were able to finish the model airplane in record time. |
dogged |
stubbornly persevering |
Her first attempts resulted in failure, but her dogged efforts ultimately ended in success. |
endure |
to put up with; to survive a hardship |
It was difficult to endure the incredibly boring lecture given in class the other day. |
intrepid |
courageous; fearless |
The intrepid young soldier scaled the wall and attacked the enemy forces despite being outnumbered 50 to 1. |
maverick |
one who is independent and resists adherence to a group |
In the movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise was a maverick; he often broke the rules and did things his own way. |
obdurate |
stubborn; inflexible |
Leanna was so obdurate that she was unable to change her way of thinking on even the most minor issues. |
Group 10
obstinate |
stubbornly adhering to an opinion or a course of action |
Even though he begged them constantly, Jerry’s parents were obstinate in their refusal to buy him a Nintendo. |
proliferate |
to grow or increase rapidly |
Because the number of fax machines, pagers, and cell phones has proliferated in recent years, many new area codes have been created to handle the demand for phone numbers. |
tenacity |
persistence |
With his overwhelming tenacity, Clark was finally able to interview Brad Pitt for the school newspaper. |
vitality |
energy; power to survive |
After a few days of rest, the exhausted mountain climber regained his usual vitality. |
assimilation |
to absorb; to make similar |
The unique blend of Mexican culture was formed by the assimilation of the cultures of the Native Americans and the Spanish. |
consensus |
general agreement |
After much debate, the committee came to a consensus, although they differed on minor points. |
context |
circumstances of a situation; environment |
The senator complained that his statements had been taken out of context and were therefore misleading; he said that if the newspaper had printed the rest of his speech, it would have explained the statements in question. |
derived |
copied or adapted from a source |
Many AP English Language and Composition questions are derived from older questions—the details may have been changed, but the same basic concept is being tested. |
Group 11
incumbent |
imposed as a duty; obligatory |
Since you are the host it is incumbent upon you to see that everyone is having fun. |
malleable |
easily shaped or formed; easily influenced |
Gold is malleable; it is easy to work with and can be hammered into very thin sheets. |
subdue |
to restrain; to hold back |
It took four officers to subdue the fugitive because he fought like a madman. |
acquire |
developed or learned; not naturally occurring |
A love of opera is an acquired taste; almost nobody likes it the first time he or she hears it. |
conception |
the ability to form or understand an idea. |
Most people have no conception of the enormous amount of genetic information present in a single living cell. |
conviction |
a fixed strong belief. |
Although he privately held onto his convictions, threats by the church caused Galileo to publicly denounce his theory that the Earth orbited the sun. |
dogmatic |
stubbornly adhering to unproved beliefs |
Doug was dogmatic in his belief that exercising frequently boosts one’s immune system. |
enlightening |
informative; contributing to one’s awareness |
The Rosetta Stone was enlightening because it allowed linguists to begin to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs, which had previously been a mystery. |
Group 12
impression |
a feeling or understanding resulting from an experience |
It was my impression that I was supposed to throw a curve ball, but I must have been wrong because the catcher didn’t expect it. |
intuition |
the power of knowing things without thinking; sharp insight |
It is said that some people have intuition about future events that allows them to predict the future. |
misconception |
an incorrect understanding or interpretation |
His belief that storks bring babies was just one of his many misconceptions. |
perception |
awareness; insight |
The detective’s perception of people’s hidden feelings makes it easy for him to catch liars. |
perspective |
point of view |
People from the North and South viewed the Civil War from different perspectives—each side’s circumstances made it difficult for them to understand the other side. |
profound |
having a great depth or seriousness |
There was a profound silence during the ceremony in honor of those who died during World War II. |
inherent |
inborn; built-in |
One of the inherent weaknesses of the AP English Language and Composition exam is that a multiple-choice test, by definition, cannot allow students to be creative in their answers. |
innate |
possessed from birth; inborn |
Cats have an innate ability to see well in the dark; they are born with this skill and do not need to develop it. |
Group 13
inveterate |
long established; deep-rooted; habitual |
Stan has always had trouble telling the truth; in fact, he’s an inveterate liar. |
omnipotent |
all-powerful |
He liked to think that he was an omnipotent manager, but he really had very little control over anything. |
proximity |
closeness |
I try to sit far away from Roxy—I don’t like sitting in proximity to her because she wears too much perfume. |
elusive |
difficult to capture, as in something actually fleeting |
The girl’s expression was elusive; the painter had a hard time recreating it on the canvas. |
emigrate /immigrate |
to leave one’s country or region and settle in another |
Many Jews left Russia and immigrated to Israel after it was founded in 1948. |
transient |
passing away with time; passing from one place to another |
Jack Dawson enjoyed his transient lifestyle; with nothing but the clothes on his back and the air in his lungs, he was free to travel wherever he wanted. |
transitory |
short-lived or temporary |
The sadness she felt was only transitory; the next day her mood improved. |
affable |
easy-going; friendly |
We enjoyed spending time with Mr. Lee because he was such a pleasant, affable man. |
Group 14
amenable |
responsive; agreeable |
Since we had been working hard all day, the group seemed amenable to my suggestion that we all go home early. |
camaraderie |
good will between friends |
There was great camaraderie among the members of the team; they were friends both on and off the field. |
cordial |
friendly; sincere |
Upon my arrival at camp, I received a warm and cordial greeting from the counselors. |
facetious |
playfully humorous |
Although the teacher pretended to be insulting his favorite student, he was just being facetious. |
impinge |
hinder; interfere with |
By not allowing the students to publish a newspaper, the school was impinging upon their right to free speech. |
lament |
express grief for; mourn |
After Beowulf was killed by the dragon, the Geats wept and lamented his fate. |
melancholy |
sadness; depression |
Joy fell into a state of melancholy when her Coldplay CD got scratched. |
sanction |
an economic or military measure put in place to punish another country |
In 1962, the United States imposed economic sanctions on Cuba to protest Fidel Castro’s dictatorship; travel and trade between the countries are severely restricted to this day. |
Group 15
truncated |
shortened; cut off |
The file Chris downloaded from the Internet was truncated; the end of it was missing. |
aesthetic |
having to do with the appreciation of beauty. |
The arrangement of paintings in the museum was due to aesthetic considerations; as long as the paintings looked good together, it didn’t matter who painted them or when they were painted. |
anthology |
a collection of literary pieces |
This anthology contains all of William Shakespeare’s sonnets, but none of his plays. |
contemporary |
current, modern; from the same time |
Contemporary music is very different from the music of the 1920s. Pocahontas and William Shakespeare were contemporaries; they lived during the same time, though not in the same place. |
dilettante |
one with an amateurish or superficial understanding of a field of knowledge |
You can’t trust Betsy’s opinion because she’s just a dilettante who doesn’t understand the subtleties of the painting. |
eclectic |
made up of a variety of sources or styles |
Lou’s taste in music is eclectic; he listens to everything from rap to polka. |
excerpt |
a selected part of a passage or scene |
We read an excerpt from Romeo and Juliet in which Juliet says, “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” |
genre |
describing a category of artistic endeavor |
Gene enjoyed only science-fiction movies; in fact, he never went to see anything that was not in that genre. |
Group 16
medley |
an assortment or a mixture, especially of musical pieces |
At the concert, the band played a medley of songs from its first album, cutting an hour’s worth of music down to five minutes. |
mural |
a large painting applied directly to a wall or ceiling surface |
The mural on the wall of the library showed the signing of the Declaration of Independence. |
narrative |
(adj.) characterized by the telling of a story, (n.) a story |
Tony gave us a running narrative of the game, since he was the only one who could see over the fence. |
parody |
an artistic work that imitates the style of another work for comic effect |
The Onion is a satirical publication that is a parody of other, non-satirical newspapers that give real, true news. |
realism |
artistic representation that aims for visual accuracy |
His photographs have a stark realism that conveys the true horror of the war. |
virtuoso |
a tremendously skilled artist |
Some people say that Jason Loewenstein is a guitar virtuoso because of his amazing work in Sebadoh—others say that his music is just noise. |
decorous |
proper; marked by good taste |
The class was well-behaved and the substitute was grateful for their decorous conduct. |
equanimity |
the quality of being calm and even-tempered; composure |
She shows great equanimity; she did not panic even in the face of catastrophe. |
Group 17
modest |
quiet or humble in manner or appearance |
Although Mr. Phillips is well-off financially, he lives in a modest, simple home. |
propriety |
appropriateness of behavior |
Anyone who blows his nose on the tablecloth has no sense of propriety. |
prudent |
exercising good judgment or common sense |
It wouldn’t be prudent to act until you’ve considered every possible outcome. |
serene |
calm |
The quiet seaside resort provided a much-needed vacation in a serene locale. |
staid |
unemotional; serious |
Mr. Carver had such a staid demeanor that he remained calm while everyone else celebrated the team’s amazing victory. |
stoic |
indifferent to pleasure or pain; impassive |
Not one to complain, Jason was stoic in accepting his punishment. |
condemn |
to express strong disapproval of; denounce |
Homer Simpson condemned Mayor Quimby for allowing the schoolchildren to drink spoiled milk; he was outraged and let the mayor know it. |
discredit |
to cause to be doubted |
The claim that pi is exactly equal to 3 can be discredited simply by careful measurement. |
Group 18
disparage |
to speak of in a slighting way or negatively; to belittle |
Glen disparaged Wanda’s work as being careless and unoriginal. |
pejorative |
describing words or phrases that belittle or speak negatively of someone |
Teachers should refrain from using such pejorative terms as numbskull when dealing with students who need encouragement. |
plagiarism |
the act of passing off the ideas of writing of another as one’s own. |
The author was accused of plagiarism when an older manuscript was discovered that contained passages that she had used, word for word, in her own book. |
vilify |
to make vicious statements about |
Chad issued a series of pamphlets that did nothing but vilify his opponent, but his cruel accusations were not enough to win him the election. |
brusque |
rudely abrupt |
Mr. Weird was a brusque teacher who didn’t take time to talk to or listen to his students. |
caustic |
bitingly sarcastic or witty |
He had a very caustic wit, and he seldom told a joke without offending someone. |
fractious |
quarrelsome; unruly |
Leonard was a fractious child who disagreed with everything and refused to listen. |
incorrigible |
unable to be reformed |
She is absolutely incorrigible; no matter how many times you punish her, she goes right ahead and misbehaves. |
Group 19
ingrate |
an ungrateful person |
It is a true ingrate who can accept favor after favor and never offer any thanks. |
insolent |
insulting in manner or speech |
It was extremely insolent of him to stick his tongue out at the principal. |
notorious |
known widely and usually unfavorably; infamous |
Al Capone was a notorious gangster in the 1930s; he was feared throughout America. |
pugnacious |
combative; belligerent |
Lorenzo was a pugnacious child who settled his differences by fighting with people. |
reprehensible |
worthy of blame |
It was reprehensible of the girls to spit their gum in their teacher’s water bottle; they had detention for a week. |
brittle |
easily broken when subjected to pressure |
That antique vase is so brittle that it may break at any moment. |
deleterious |
having a harmful effect; injurious |
Although it may seem unlikely, taking too many vitamins can actually have a deleterious effect on your health. |
enmity |
mutual hatred or ill-will |
There was a great enmity between the opposing generals, and each wanted to destroy the other. |
Instructions for the Quiz
Answer the questions.
Quiz