GOUNIS Oedipus the King Class Vocab

Mrs. Gounis (United States of America)
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. supplication
    a humble request for help from someone in authority
    Why are you seated there on the altar, with these branches of supplication?
  2. laurel
    a wreath of foliage worn on the head as an emblem of victory
    I guess that his news is joyful. For on his head is a crown of laurel in bloom.
  3. solicitude
    a feeling of excessive concern
    You have done well, Creon, and Apollo has too, to show this solicitude for the murdered man.
  4. atonement
    the act of making amends for sin or wrongdoing
    What new form of atonement will you demand?
  5. indictment
    an accusation of wrongdoing
    If he is afraid to speak up, I order him to speak even against himself, and so escape the indictment, for he will suffer no unpleasant consequence except exile; he can leave Thebes unharmed.
  6. beseech
    ask for or request earnestly
    Look. All of us here, on our knees, beseech you.
  7. defilement
    the state of being polluted
    You are the murderer, you are the unholy defilement of this land.
  8. impunity
    exemption from punishment or loss
    Do you think you can go on like this with impunity forever?
  9. hindrance
    any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome
    While you are here you are a hindrance, a nuisance, once out of the way you won't annoy me anymore.
  10. hearsay
    gossip passed around by word of mouth
    On what evidence? His own knowledge, or hearsay?
  11. swindle
    deprive of by deceit
    Oh he keeps his own lips clear of responsibility--he send a swindling prophet in to speak for him.
  12. calamitous
    having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences
    Apollo sent me away with my question unanswered but he foretold a dreadful, calamitous future for me--to lie with my mother and beget children men's eyes would not bear the sight of--
  13. beget
    have children
    Apollo sent me away with my question unanswered but he foretold a dreadful, calamitous future for me--to lie with my mother and beget children men's eyes would not bear the sight of--
  14. goad
    a pointed instrument used to provoke into motion
    When the old man saw me coming past the wheels he aimed at my head with a two-pronged goad, and hit me.
  15. defile
    spot, stain, or pollute
    With these hands that killed him I defile the dead man's marriage bed.
  16. divinity
    a supernatural being who is worshipped
    I am the victim of some harsh divinity; what other explanation can there be?
  17. despot
    a cruel and oppressive dictator
    The despot is the child of violent pride, Pride that vainly stuffs itself With food unseasonable, unfit...
  18. involuntary
    not subject to the control of the will
    And it will soon expose them to the light of day -- horrors deliberately willed, not involuntary.
  19. rave
    talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
    It must have been some supernatural being that showed the raving man where she was; it was not one of us.
  20. incest
    sexual relation between persons too closely related to marry
    You made an incestuous breed of father, brother, son-bride, wife, mother--all the most shameful things known to man.
  21. appall
    strike with disgust or revulsion
    Do not leave him there in full view, an object of dread and horror which appalls the holy rain and the daylight.
  22. impious
    lacking piety or reverence for a god
    It was I who proclaimed that everyone should expel the impious man...
  23. furrow
    a long shallow trench in the ground
    How could the furrows which your father plowed bear YOU in silence for so long?
  24. contemptuously
    without respect; in a disdainful manner
  25. lament
    a cry of sorrow and grief
  26. reproach
    express criticism towards
    These are the many reproaches you will hear.
  27. reverence
    a feeling of profound respect for someone or something
    I shall go no more to reverence in Delphi...
  28. conspiracy
    a plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act
    Did you think I wouldn't notice this conspiracy of yours creeping up on me in the dark?
  29. affliction
    a cause of great suffering and distress
    Oh why do you speak of that old affliction?
  30. blight
    any plant disease resulting in withering without rotting
    There is a blight on the crops of the land, on the ranging herds of cattle, on the stillborn labor of our women.
Created on Wed Nov 20 08:13:55 EST 2013 (updated Wed Sep 10 12:41:43 EDT 2025)

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