thane
The heroic epic poem Beowulf and William Shakespeare's Macbeth contain several vocabulary words, and familiarizing yourself with their definitions might make the works easier to understand.
The Beowulf quotes were taken from Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney, and the Macbeth quotes were retrieved using Open Source Shakespeare.
thane
- (noun) In medieval Scottish and Anglo-Saxon history: a chief of a clan; a land owner, chiefly one granted land in return for military service
Beowulf
p. 109: "He inspected the vault: with sword held high, its hilt raised to guard and threaten, Hygelac's thane scouted by the wall in Grendel's wake." ("Hygelac's thane" refers to Beowulf.)
Macbeth
Macbeth meets three witches who offer him prophecies concerning his rank, thereby beginning …
keen
The heroic epic poem Beowulf contains several vocabulary words, and familiarizing yourself with their definitions might make the work easier to understand. The quotes are taken from Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney.
| The first page of Beowulf |
keen
- (adjective) sharp; having incisive insight; intense; enthusiastic; sharpened, as an edge
- (noun) a highly emotional expression of grief or mourning
- (verb) to wail in a highly emotional manner, usually in grief or in mourning
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p.41: "The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly as keen or courageous as you claim to be Grendel would never had got away with such unchecked atrocity…"
p. 77: "The woman wailed and sang keens…"
p. 173: "… whose keen-edged sword, an heirloom inherited …
insouciant
We recommend using news and quotation search engines to find examples of words in context, as this can be helpful in understanding their definitions and connotations.
A search on Google News for "insouciant Ocean's Thirteen" produced these results:
"Clooney, Pitt, Damon: as insouciant as ever, tossing off the repartee with an ease that borders on sedation." - Willamette Week
"…Steven Soderbergh… recaptures the insouciant rat-pack spirit that made his initial remake of Ocean’s Eleven so enjoyable…" - Straight.com
"..in Ocean's Thirteen, the insouciant charm wears off early, and what seemed carefree about the earlier films comes to seem careless…" - Seattle Weekly
aesthetic,
enervate
We recommend using news and quotation search engines to find examples of words in context, as this can he helpful in understanding their definitions and connotations. We searched for this word and found the following quote, and we paraphrased it to demonstrate its meaning.
"Hou's slow, subtle style will enervate some viewers and refresh others." - Michael Barrett, Express News
His deliberate aesthetic will have a relaxing effect on some people and an energizing effect on others.
amiable,
coquettish,
haggle,
impetuously,
procure,
tenet,
vacillate
Reviewing word lists and making associations among words can make it easier to remember their definitions and connotations.
Heidi Klum has an avidity for shopping at flea markets and she shares her tenets for procuring bargains: 1. if you are vacillating over an item, do not buy it; 2. be coquettish; 3. do not act impetuously; 4. when haggling over a price, name an amount lower than you think you should pay; 5. be amiable.
This entry continues with
definitions of the words in bold. |
- avidity - (noun) eagerness
- vacillate - (verb) to go back and forth, as from one opinion or belief to another
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impetuous - (adjective) impulsive
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