Romeo and Juliet: Act 2

by William Shakespeare
Sparks fly when Romeo and Juliet meet, but their families are sworn enemies locked in an ancient feud. Learn these words from Shakespeare's classic tale of star-crossed love.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Act 4, Act 5
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. invocation
    an incantation used in conjuring or summoning
    That were some spite. My invocation
    Is fair and honest, and, in his mistress’ name,
    I conjure only but to raise up him.
  2. entreat
    ask for or request earnestly
    Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
    Having some business, do entreat her eyes
    To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
  3. doff
    remove
    Romeo, doff thy name,
    And, for thy name, which is no part of thee,
    Take all myself.
  4. enmity
    a state of deep-seated ill-will
    Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
    Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet,
    And I am proof against their enmity.
  5. fain
    in a willing manner
    Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny
    What I have spoke; but farewell compliment.
  6. perverse
    marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict
    Or, if thou thinkest I am too quickly won,
    I’ll frown and be perverse and say thee nay,
    So thou wilt woo, but else not for the world.
  7. impute
    attribute or credit to
    ...Therefore pardon me,
    And not impute this yielding to light love,
    Which the dark night hath so discoverèd.
  8. sallow
    unhealthy looking
    Jesu Maria, what a deal of brine
    Hath washed thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline!
  9. rancor
    a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will
    In one respect I’ll thy assistant be,
    For this alliance may so happy prove,
    To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.
  10. lamentable
    bad; unfortunate
    Why, is not this a lamentable thing, grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these fashion-mongers, these pardon-me's, who stand so much on the new form that they cannot sit at ease on the old bench?
  11. scurvy
    of the most contemptible kind
    Scurvy knave!
  12. knave
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
    Scurvy knave!
  13. feign
    give a false appearance of
    But old folks, many feign as they were dead,
    Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and pale as lead.
  14. poultice
    a medical dressing spread on a cloth and applied to the skin
    Is this the poultice for my aching bones?
  15. countervail
    oppose and mitigate the effects of by contrary actions
    Amen, amen. But come what sorrow can,
    It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
    That one short minute gives me in her sight.
Created on Thu Aug 22 14:11:13 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Jul 15 15:25:33 EDT 2025)

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