Julius Caesar: Act 3

by William Shakespeare
Brutus is a trusted confidant of the Roman general Julius Caesar, but when he becomes convinced that Caesar's ambitions are a threat to the republic, he plots his friend's assassination. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Act 4, Act 5

Here are links to our lists for other plays by William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Hamlet, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. puissant
    powerful
    Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,
    Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat
    An humble heart.
  2. firmament
    the sphere on which celestial bodies appear to be projected
    If I could pray to move, prayers would move me.
    But I am constant as the Northern Star,
    Of whose true fixed and resting quality
    There is no fellow in the firmament.
  3. unassailable
    immune to attack; incapable of being tampered with
    Yet in the number I do know but one
    That unassailable holds on his rank,
    Unshaked of motion.
  4. prostrate
    lying face downward
    Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down,
    And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say:
    Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest;
    Caesar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving.
  5. misgiving
    painful expectation
    I wish we may; but yet have I a mind
    That fears him much, and my misgiving still
    Falls shrewdly to the purpose.
  6. oration
    an instance of formal speaking
    There shall I try,
    In my oration, how the people take
    The cruel issue of these bloody men,
    According to the which thou shalt discourse
    To young Octavius of the state of things.
  7. discourse
    carry on a conversation
    There shall I try,
    In my oration, how the people take
    The cruel issue of these bloody men,
    According to the which thou shalt discourse
    To young Octavius of the state of things.
  8. commonwealth
    a political system in which power lies in a body of citizens
    Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony, who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit of his dying — a place in the commonwealth — as which of you shall not?
  9. grievous
    of great gravity or crucial import
    The noble Brutus
    Hath told you Caesar was ambitious.
    If it were so, it was a grievous fault,...
  10. coffer
    the funds of a government, institution, or individual
    He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
    Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.
  11. testament
    a legal document disposing of property after a death
    But here’s a parchment with the seal of Caesar.
    I found it in his closet. ’Tis his will.
    Let but the commons hear this testament.
  12. bequeath
    leave or give, especially by will after one's death
    And they would go and kiss dead Caesar’s wounds
    And dip their napkins in his sacred blood—
    Yea, beg a hair of him for memory

    And, dying, mention it within their wills,
    Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
    Unto their issue.
  13. dint
    force or effort
    O, now you weep, and I perceive you feel
    The dint of pity. These are gracious drops.
  14. plebeian
    one of the common people
    Plebeians exit with Caesar’s body.
  15. thither
    to or toward that place; away from the speaker
    And thither will I straight to visit him.
Created on Mon Mar 11 13:55:23 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Jul 15 17:13:39 EDT 2025)

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