The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: Act 5

by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's famous tragedy tells the story of a Danish prince who must decide whether or not to avenge his father's death. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Act 4, Act 5
14 words 10137 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. courtier
    an attendant for a monarch
    Or of a courtier, which could say “Good morrow, sweet lord! How dost thou, sweet lord?”
  2. quiddity
    an evasion of an argument by raising irrelevant objections
    Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillities, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks?
  3. equivocation
    intentional vagueness or ambiguity
    How absolute the knave is! We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us.
  4. flagon
    a large metal or pottery vessel with a handle and spout
    He poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once.
  5. betoken
    be a signal for or a symptom of
    Who is this they follow?
    And with such maimèd rites? This doth betoken
    The corse they follow did with desp’rate hand
    Fordo its own life.
  6. requiem
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    We should profane the service of the dead
    To sing a requiem and such rest to her
    As to peace-parted souls.
  7. churlish
    rude and boorish
    I tell thee, churlish priest,
    A minist'ring angel shall my sister be,
    When thou liest howling.
  8. asunder
    widely separated especially in space
    Pluck them asunder.
  9. insinuation
    the act of gaining acceptance by subtle blandishments
    Their defeat
    Does by their own insinuation grow.
  10. verity
    conformity to reality or actuality
    But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great article...
  11. poniard
    a dagger with a slender blade
    The King, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses, against the which he has impawned, as I take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers, and so.
  12. germane
    relevant and appropriate
    The phrase would be more germane to the matter, if we could carry cannon by our sides.
  13. augury
    an event indicating important things to come
    Not a whit. We defy augury. There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come.
  14. upshot
    a phenomenon that is caused by some previous phenomenon
    ...So shall you hear
    Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
    Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
    Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,
    And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
    Fall’n on th’ inventors’ heads.
Created on Sat Apr 13 18:19:50 EDT 2013 (updated Tue Jul 15 19:34:00 EDT 2025)

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