Catherine Holland – Reorganized Nabakov Vocab.
Alliteration - noun
Pronunciation:
ə-ˌli-tə-ˈrā-shən or
uh-lit-uh-rey-shuh
Etymology: ad- + Latin littera letter
Definition: The repetition of initial sounds, usually consonants, in two or more neighboring words or
syllables immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals.
Published sentence: "Churchill describes himself as one "who often, but without success, had prayed for
apt alliteration's artful aid," an example which is itself a proof of his failure, for alliteration is never
effective unless it runs upon consonants." - Encyclopedia Britannica
Original sentence: The general used the alliteration "brief bloody battle" to rally up his troops.
Memory tip: an alliteration includes the repetition of consonants in a sentence and in the word
alliteration, there are multiple L's T's I's and A's.
Allusion
**Pronunciation**:
[uh-loo-zhuh n]
Definitions:
1) A passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implications.
2) A figure of speech making casual reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event
3) An author's reference to another literary work, a cultural event, or an experience in the author's life
4) The act of alluding
5) Obsolete. a metaphor; parable.
Published Sentence: Most allusions are based on the assumption that there is a body of knowledge that
is shared by the author and the reader and that therefore the reader will understand the author’s
referent. -Britannica Online
Original Sentence: In many current articles or novels, writers often use allusions to refer to
Shakespeare.
Memory Tip: A novel that has an allusion in it will lead to a more knowledgeable conclusion. An allusion
is something that both the reader and writer should all have knowledge of and all be in on.
Analogy
Definition:
a. correspondence between the members of pairs or sets of linguistic forms that serves as a basis for the
creation of another form
b. similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar
Origin:late Middle English
(‘appropriateness, correspondence’); from French analogie
Latin -analogia
‘proportion', from Greek, from analogos
Original Sentence: The teacher used the analogy "a brain is like a sponge" to make her students apply
themselves to their studies.
Published Sentence: "The day dawns as a journey." - Day's Journey by Vivian
Gilbert Zabel
Memory tip: Analogies help create compatablities (in otherwise uncompatable
objects)
Aphorism
Pronunciation: af-uh-riz-uhm
Definition(s): 1. a concise statement of a principle; 2. a short wise saying; 3. a terse formulation of a
truth or sentiment (adage)
Published Sentence: "The only way to read a book of aphorisms without being bored is to open it at
random and, having found something that interests you, close the book and meditate." - Prince CharlesJosef de Ligne (Austrian field marshal and writer)
Original Sentences: 1.Complex issues do not lend themselves to being described in aphorisms. 2. My
mother recited Mark Twain's aphorism "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist
sees the opportunity in every difficulty" to me when I complained to her about the difficult science
project I had been assigned.
Memory Tip: a"phor" "ism" is "for" w"isdom"
Bourgeoisie
(boor-zhwah-zee)
Definition: the middle class; (in Marxist theory) the class that, in
contrast to the proletariat or wage-earning class, is primarily concerned
with property values
Published sentence: The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world
before it leaves the stage of history. - Buenaventura Durruti
Original sentence: Members of the bourgeoisie of 16th century France
were always looking for ways to improve their middle class status.
Memory Trick: The "boring" bourgeoisie lived "fancily".
Buxom
Definition: Having the characteristics of health, vigor, and
comeliness combined with a gay, lively manner; stout and rosy;
jolly; frolicsome
Pronunciation: [buhk-suhm]
Published sentence: A daughter fair, So buxom, blithe, and
debonair.--Milton
Original Sentence: The buxom girl happily frolicked across the field.
Memory Trick: A buxom person has SOME vigor like a young BUCK.
Ephemeral - n. & adj. Pronunciation: i-fem-rəl
Definitions:
Adjective: 1. Lasting one day only 2. Lasting a very short time
Noun 1. Anything short-lived
Original: The ephemeral life of the housefly lasts mere hours after it has
hatched.
Published: Laid out in a dazzling geometric design of diagonal oak slats,
the floor produced an almost ephemeral optical illusion-a threedimensional network that gave visitors the sense they were floating
through the gallery on a surface that changed with every step. Dan
Brown, The Da Vinci Code
Memory Tip: Think of a woman wearing a green hat for one day of the
year, St. Patrick’s Day. (female + emerald
ephemeral)
=
Explicit
Pronunciation: [ik-splis-it]
Definition:
a. adjective; fully and clearly expressed or formulated
b. adjective; described in a realistic manner
c. adjective; inappropriate
Published Sentence: In fact, it is one of the principal, if less explicit, purposes of the Autobiography to
combat the kind of moralism that had been characteristic of earlier traditions, particularly those of
Puritan America. ~Benjamin Franklin’s
Autobiography and the Education of
America by Steven Forde
Original Sentence: The pilot received
explicit instructions on the flight path over
the mountains.
Image:
Memory Trick: If you give _exp_licit instructions, then you won't need to _exp_lain what you mean later
Flaubert
Pronunciation:
(flō-bâr')
Definition: French writer considered a forerunner of
naturalism and known for his precise literary style. His works
include the novel Madame Bovary (1857) and the short story
"A Simple Heart" (1877).
Published Sample Sentence: "Flaubert despised realism and
said so over and over throughout his life; he loved only the
absolute purity of art."- Jean-Paul Satre in "Bloom on Gustave
Flaubert"
Original Sample Sentence: I’d compare his writing to
Flaubert’s because it is very stylistic and meticulously
created.
Memory Trick: Famous Frenchmen Flaubert flowed with
words.
Gustave Flaubert
Glean {Gleen}
Definition:
Verb. 1. to gather slowly and laboriously, bit by bit.
Published Sample Sentence: You could glean some useful
information if you listened more carefully.
Our Sample Sentence: The beggars gleaned money from the
people passing by.
Memory Trick: You feel glee when you glean.
IMPLICIT im-ˈpli-sət
Definition:
1.) implied; rather than expressly stated
2.)capable of being understood from something else though unexpressed
3.) having no doubts or reservations
4.)involved in the nature or essence of something though not revealed,
expressed, or developed
Published sentence: "But Mr. Keyes's implicit accusation that I was not a
true Christian nagged at me, and I was also aware that my answer did not
adequately address the role my faith has in guiding my own values and my
own beliefs." - Barrack Obama "Call to Renewal" Keynote Address
Original Sentence: Although he said not to worry, the implicit message was
that there was bad news.
Photo:(When a server hands you a check, the implicit message is for you to
leave.)
Memory Trick: Implicit sounds like imply.
Objective- noun
Pronunciation: [uh b-jek-tiv]
Definition: something toward which effort is directed : an aim, goal, or end of
action
Published Sentence: “I was once asked if a big business man ever reached his
objective. I replied that if a man ever reached his objective he was not a big
business man."-Charles M. Schwab
Original Sentence: The army's goal and objective was to find Saddam
Hussein.
Memory Trick: contains the word object(an object is something to work
towards)
Propagandist-Noun[prop-uh-gan-dist]
Definition: ( A person who disseminates messages calculated to
assist some cause or some
government.http://dictionary.die.net/propagandist)
Published sentence: The propagandist's purpose is to make one
set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.
- Huxley, Aldous Leonard
Memory Trick: In biology, "ist" means a person, and
propagandist sounds similar to propaganda which is the material
dissemated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or
cause.
Original Sentence: Hilary Clinton acted as a propagandist when
she gave her support to the Obama campaign.
Propagation- Noun. [prop-uh-gey-shuhn]
Definition:
1.Multiplication or increase, as by natural reproduction.
2.The process of spreading to a larger area or greater number; dissemination.
3.Physics :The act or process of propagating, especially the process by which a disturbance, such as the
motion of electromagnetic or sound waves, is transmitted through a medium such as air or water
Published Sentence: "An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does
truth become error because nobody sees it."-Mohandas Gahndi
Memory Trick: Propagation sounds like the combination of the words; propaganda and nation >
propagation
Image:
Provincial - adjective/noun
Pronounciation:[pruh-vin-shuhl]
Definition:
1. belonging or peculiar to some particular province; local (adj.)
2. having or showing the manners, viewpoints, etc., considered characteristic of unsophisticated
inhabitants of a province; rustic; narrow or illiberal; parochial (adj.)
3. noting or pertaining to the styles of architecture, furniture, etc., found in the provinces, esp. when
imitating styles currently or formerly in fashion in or around the capital (adj.)
4. a person who lacks urban sophistication or broad-mindedness (noun)
Published Sentence: "Well-educated professional women ... made me feel uncomfortably provincial"
(J.R. Salamanca)
Original Sentence: Teachers rarely look for provincial students in the search to pass their knowlegde on
to the next generation.
Memory trick: The word province is in provincial. Think of a rural, unsophisticated province which is
similar to the actual definition of provincial.
Subjective (Adjective)
Pronunciation: (suhb-jek-tiv)
Definition: placing excessive emphasis on one's own moods, attitudes, opinions, etc.; unduly egocentric.
Published Sentence: "It (the movie) creates characters we come to care about. That’s because of the
performances, because of the direction, because of the writing, and because of the superlative technical
quality of the entire production." - Roger Ebert
Original Sentence: Your opinion on the matter lacks credibility due to the fact that it is subjective
opinion, lacking any real facts to back it up.
Memory Trick: Subjective has the
word "subject" in it, so just try and
remember that you have opinions that
make you think a certain way about a
subject, and therefore your are
viewing that subject in a subjective
manner.
Sullen- adjective
Pronunciation:[suhl-uhn]
Definition: Showing irritation or ill humor by a gloomy
silence or reserve.
Published Sentence: To be wrathful and sullen is a sin in
the christian religion. -Dr. Gerald's World Literature
Original Sentence:The sullen girl lowered her frowning
face as her big brother teased her in front of her friends.
Memory Tip:Sullen starts with an 'S' and so does its
close synonym, 'S'omber.
Thesis - Noun
Pronunciation:[ˈthē-səs]
Definition: a position or proposition that a person (as a candidate for scholastic honors) advances and
offers to maintain by argument
Published Sentence: "He is writing a thesis on the works of John Milton."
Original Senctence: The thesis of the paper on John Adams was that he was not truly responsible for the
results of the Alien and Sedition Acts, it was just the result of a Federalist controlled congress.
Memory Tip: The thorough thesis threw the thoughts of the thirty thousand men.
Tone - Noun
Pronunciation:[ˈtōn]
Definition: The attitude that a writer takes
towards a subject or character. It may be
characterized as serious, humorous, sarcastic,
satirical, solemn, objective, etc.
Published Sentence: "We are not won by
arguments that we can analyze, but by tone and
temper; by the manner, which is the man
himself." - Louis D. Brandeis
Original Sentence: The tone of the speaker at
the funeral was very solemn.
Memory Tip: When you use a phone, you always have a tone.
Trifle
Pronunciation: Tri-fle
Definition:
Noun- an article or thing of very little value.
Verb- to pass or spend (time) idly or frivolously or to deal lightly or without due seriousness or respect
Published Sentence:Beware how you trifle with your marvelous inheritance, this great land of ordered
liberty, for if we stumble and fall, freedoand civilization everywhere will go down in ruin. ~Henry Cabot
Lodge
Original Sentence:Mary Lou sat trifling with her hair, while she waited for the teacher to dismiss the
class.
Memory Tip: "Oh how time trifles by doing nothing!"