Tone Vocab Words

Austere (adj.)

Stern, strict, frugal, unadorned

Iconoclastic (adj)

inclined to attack cherished beliefs and traditions

Didactic (adj)

intended primarily to instruct; intended to teach a moral lesson

Crepuscular (adj)

Having to do with twilight or shadowy areas (as in the darker and more hidden parts of human experience)

Maudlin (adj)

tearfully emotional; weakly and ineffectively sentimental

Boorish (adj)

Rude or insensitive

Discursive (adj)

Moving pointlessly from one subject to another; rambling

Elegiac (adj):

Expressing sorrow or lamentation; mournful after a death (elegy is a mournful poem after a death)

Quixotic (adj):

foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially : marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action; from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Insolent (adj)

contemptuous, rude, disrespectful, or brutal in behavior or language

Urbane (adj)

sophisticated; socially polished

Sycophantic (adj)

a manner of self-serving, servile flattery

Oracular (adj)

portentous; uttered or delivered as if divinely inspired or infallible

Prurient (adj)

preoccupied with lewd and lustful thoughts

Indignant (adj)

angry because of something unjust, unworthy, or mean

Obsequious (adj)

Humbly or excessively attentive (as to someone in authority); fawning

Admonitory (adj)

tending or serving to admonish (to warn; reproach with a warning)

Pedantic (adj)

ostentatious in one's learning; overly concerned with minute details in one's teaching