Vocabulary from Oedipus Rex

suppliant

• Meaning: One praying humbly for something
• Example: Characters in the play are sitting as suppliants with olive branches wrapped in wool

venerable

• Meaning: Impressive because of age
• "Profoundly honored" is another definition from the text
• Oedipus chose the priest because of his age and wisdom

obdurate

• Meaning: Showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings

welter

• Meaning: To toss, roll, or rise and fall in an uncontrolled way
• The priest uses an image of a sinking ship being pounded repeatedly by storms and blood (plague and hunger) to show the state of the kingdom

blight

• Meaning: A state or condition being devastated or run-down
• Examples of blights in the kingdom: harvest failure, flocks and herds dying, and deaths of women and babies during childbirth

beseech

• Meaning: To ask for or request earnestly

sluggard

• Meaning: An idle slothful person

extirpate

• Meaning: To destroy completely, as if down to the roots
• Creon uses agricultural images of a deeply-rooted sore to describe that the unpunished murderer of the rightful king must be extirpated because they are polluting the land

expiation

• Meaning: The act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing
• Oedipus does not know the details of the sins needing expiation but knows that no gallows could atone

suborn

• Meaning: To incite to commit a crime or an evil deed

unscathed

• Meaning: Not injured

recompense

• Meaning: Payment or reward, as for service rendered

teeming

• Meaning: Abundantly filled with especially living things

blanch

• Meaning: To turn pale, as if in fear
• The term "blench" is an alternate version
• Oedipus responds to the chorus of old men's suggestion, that the murderer of Laius might have run away because of the curse

adjure

• Meaning: To ask for or request earnestly, or "command solemnly"
• Oedipus starts his speech with two commands, and ends with an acknowledgement that he and the kingdom are praying for Teiresias to save them

taciturnity

• Meaning: The trait of being uncommunicative

flout

• Meaning: To treat with contemptuous disregard

stint

• Meaning: To supply sparingly and with restricted quantities
• Oedipus's wrath and choler is getting the better of him.
• Oedipus accuses Teiresias of being the mastermind behind Laius's murder.
• This provokes Teiresias to throw the truthful accusation back at Oedipus.

calumny

• Meaning: A false accusation of an offense

charlatan

• Meaning: A flamboyant deceiver
• "Mountebank" and "tricksy beggar-priest" are the same insult.
• Oedipus accuses Teiresias not only of being a false prophet for profit, but of conspiring with Creon to take his throne.

reverberate

• Meaning: To ring or echo with sound
• There are hints to Oedipus about his marriage but he is too mad to see them
• Oedipus believes Teiresias is being rude

petulance

• Meaning: An irritable feeling

glib

• Meaning: Artfully persuasive in speech

repose

• Meaning: Freedom from activity

stealthy

• Meaning: Marked by quiet and caution and secrecy

probity

• Meaning: Complete and confirmed integrity

truculent

• Meaning: Defiantly aggressive

mitigate

• Meaning: To lessen or try to lessen the seriousness or extent of

unrelenting

• Meaning: Not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty

roisterer

• Meaning: An especially noisy and unrestrained merrymaker

suffice

• Meaning: To be adequate, either in quality or quantity

ethereal

• Meaning: Of heaven or the spirit

emulous

• Meaning: Eager to surpass others

impious

• Meaning: Lacking piety or reverence for a god

overwrought

• Meaning: Deeply agitated especially from emotion

rebuke

• Meaning: Censure severely or angrily
• Synonyms of "rebuke" in the text include "chastise"
• Oedipus shames the herdsman into telling the truth because he does not want to

prevaricate

• Meaning: To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear

shroud

• Meaning: To cover as if with a burial garment

sanguine

• Meaning: A blood-red color

respite

• Meaning: A relief from harm or discomfort
• Another definition of the term: "postponing punishment"
• Oedipus had years of respite for murdering Laius and his traveling party and he had children
• Oedipus poked his own eyes out from emotional pain

fetter

• Meaning: A shackle for the ankles or feet

defile

• Meaning: To spot, stain, or pollute

abject

• Meaning: Most unfortunate or miserable
• Other definitions from the text: "of the most contemptible kind," "showing utter resignation or hopelessness," and "showing humiliation or submissiveness"
• Oedipus killed his father, married his mother, and fathered his own brothers and sisters

rancorous

• Meaning: Showing deep-seated resentment

derision

• Meaning: The act of treating with contempt

providence

• Meaning: The guardianship and control exercised by a deity

abashed

• Meaning: Feeling or caused to feel uneasy and self-conscious

disrepute

• Meaning: The state of being held in low esteem

destitute

• Meaning: Poor enough to need help from others

overwhelm

• Meaning: To overcome by superior force
• Fate is the superior force that overwhelmed Oedipus
• He is overwhelmed by grief, shame, and horror