Wordwright Definitions

1. Wordwright Definitions

2. Litter • A number of young brought forth by a multiparous animal at birth; a litter of puppies or a litter of kittens • Distrust—to regard with doubt or suspicion; have no trust in

3. prevail • To be widespread or current; exist everywhere • Silence prevailed at the funeral • To be or prove superior in strength; they prevailed over their enemies in battle • To succeed; win out • She hoped that the right side might prevail

4. Idyll • A poem or prose composition, usually describing pastoral scenes or events or any charmingly simple episode • A simple descriptive or narrative piece in verse or prose • A brief or inconsequential romantic affair

5. From the Questions • Propriety-conformity to established standards of socially acceptable behavior • Appropriateness to the purpose or circumstances • Metrical—composed in meter or verse (such as pentameter or tetrameter) • Maudlin—tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental—a maudlin story of a little orphan and her lost dog.

6. From the Questions—cont. • Prosaic—commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact or unimaginative; a prosaic mind • of or having the character or form of prose rather than poetry • Incantatory—magic; magical ceremonies (incantation) • Incantation—the chanting or uttering of words purporting to have magical power

7. From the questions—cont • Exhortation—an utterance, discourse, or address conveying urgent advice or recommendations • Wary—watchful; being on one’s guard against danger • Characterized by caution—to give someone a wary look

8. From the questions--cont • Aphoristic—of, like, or containing aphorisms (wise sayings). His sermons were richly aphoristic. • Aphorism—a terse saying embodying a general truth; an astute observation. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton • Onomatopoeia—the formation of a word—cuckoo, meow, honk or boom—by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.

9. From the questions--cont • Tentative—unsure; uncertain; not definite or positive; hesitant; a tentative smile on his face • Paradox—a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth; a self-contradictory and false proposition. Any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature

10. From the questions--cont • Flippant—frivolously disrespectful; shallow or lacking in seriousness • Peroration—a long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language • In rhetoric– the concluding part of a speech (or written communication) in which the speaker or writer restates the principal points and urges them with greater force and earnestness.

11. Chiasmus • A reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases. • Ex. Parallel—He went to the country, and she went to town. • Ex. Chiasmus—He went to the country, to the town went she.