Vocabulary

• best known: Most widely or popularly recognized, famous, or familiar.
• as one: Acting or moving together at the same time.
• such as: For example; like
• in town: Present or available in the local area or city.
• stark contrast: A sharp, clear, and obvious difference between two things.
• to death: Extremely; to a great degree
• the following: Next in order or sequence.
• account of: A spoken or written description of an event.
• true nature: The inherent qualities or character of a person or thing.
• reveal: To show something that was hidden before
• desperate: Being beyond hope; prepared to do anything
• embrace: Act of holding someone closely
• realize: To become aware of or understand mentally
• evolve: To develop certain features
• poverty: State of being poor
• convince: To persuade someone, or make them feel sure
• ruin: To damage or completely destroy something
• psychological: Concerning the study of the mind
• miserable: Very unhappy
• intelligence: Collection of secret information about something
• exposure: Allowing light through a cameras lens onto film
• complex: Group of buildings all used for the same purpose
• sentence: (Of a judge) to decide the punishment of
• narrative: The telling of a story
• sacrifice: Person/animal killed in a sacrifice (to a god)
• shift: To change in position or direction
• reflect: To indicate or be a sign of something
• distress: State of great sadness, anxiety or pain
• portrait: Picture of a person's head and shoulders
• concern: To be about a particular topic
• military: Army or armed forces
• distinctive: Having a quality that is different from others
• society: A group who meet to share values or interests
• moral: In a way considered proper and good by most people
• contrast: To compare; to show clear, obvious differences
• radical: Person who believes in extreme political change
• turmoil: Very confused situation where things are not clear
• contemporary: Being modern, up -to-date, of this age
• complete: To finish or reach the end of doing something
• labor: To struggle to do something because it's difficult
• introduce: To open an essay to set the scene
• subject: The person, thing, or idea that is being discussed, described, or studied.
• rural: Concerning the country as opposed to the city
• urban: Concerning a city; located in a city
• scope: Opportunity for action or thought
• belief: Being sure that something exists or is true
• social: Involving activity with people, e.g. in free time
• conceive: To become pregnant
• leave: To go away from; depart
• arrest: To attract someone's attention and hold interest
• act: To behave in a certain way
• promise: To say you will certainly do something
• transcend: To achieve or go beyond normal limits of
• stark: Very clear and often unpleasant
• execution: Killing a person as a (usually legal) punishment
• pick: Sharp tool used for breaking the ground
• prepare: To make something ready for use
• innocence: Lack of guilt or responsibility for a crime
• pardon: To forgive for some error or fault; let off
• redemption: Trading in a voucher, debt, etc.
• abject: Very great (fear, poverty, loneliness etc.)
• critique: A review of the quality of a work
• saint: Person who is very good, kind or patient
• prose: Writing that is not a poem
• claustrophobic: Afraid of being trapped in a small place
• utopian: Being like an ideal society
• tsar: Title of the emperor of Russia before 1917