Excerpts from "How Shakespeare Changed Everything"

To find out how true that claim is, read the nonfiction book by Stephen Marche. To find out how Shakespeare might have changed the world by inventing teenagers, check out this list.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 9 Unit 5's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: As You Like It, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, Is Shakespeare still relevant, Shakespeare marathon, Iraq learns from Shakespeare, How Shakespeare Changed Everything, Kentucky inmates turned actors, Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy, Texting Makes U Stupid, give the Bard the heave-ho
10 words 75 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. exaggeration
    making to seem more important than it really is
    Shakespeare described the terrifying beauty of the adolescent so early in its development, and so definitively and so thoroughly, that it is only a slight exaggeration to say that he invented teenagers as we know them today.
  2. humiliation
    an instance causing you to lose prestige or self-respect
    Romeo and Juliet, his extended study of the humiliations and glories of adolescence, is the biggest hit of all time
  3. staggering
    so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm
    Hamlet--Shakespeare's other great play about adolescence--is the only piece performed more regularly onstage, and when you consider how often and how successfully Romeo and Juliet has been adapted into other media, into operas and ballads and musicals, its popularity is even more staggering.
  4. adolescent
    a person who is older than 12 but younger than 20
    But Shakespeare, unlike Garrick, never spares his adolescents their ridiculousness.
  5. inarticulate
    without or deprived of the use of speech or words
    Shakespeare leaves us with an inarticulate impression that the young lovers are somehow strange and magical.
  6. absurdity
    the state or quality of being ridiculous
    Shakespeare loves his teenagers as he paints them in all their absurdity and nastiness.
  7. idealize
    consider or render as the best or most appropriate type
    That basic honesty, neither idealizing nor afraid, has kept Romeo and Juliet fresh.
  8. swagger
    a proud stiff pompous gait
    Justin Bieber, with his swagger coach and overwhelming fame, comes appropriately from Stratford, the home of North America's biggest Shakespeare festival.
  9. category
    a general concept that marks divisions or coordinations
    Shakespeare created this category of humanity, which now seems as organic to us as the spring.
  10. loathing
    hate coupled with disgust
    In place of nostalgia and loathing, Shakespeare would have us look at teenagers in a spirit of wonder, even the spotty ones and the awkward ones and the wild ones.
Created on Tue Sep 30 13:23:17 EDT 2014 (updated Tue Sep 30 18:22:47 EDT 2014)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.