English Vocabulary · Grade 10 Live Review Preview

10th Grade Vocabulary Words

Tenth-grade reading asks learners to move confidently among literary analysis, argument, source evaluation, laboratory science, mathematics, computing, history, economics, psychology, philosophy, and the arts. This level emphasizes precise academic language, disciplinary meanings, connotation, word relationships, and the ability to interpret unfamiliar vocabulary in demanding context.

This independently authored 800-word beta curriculum is arranged in twenty-three pages of up to thirty-five words. Pages containing words 1–500 include five cloze questions drawn only from that enhanced range; words 501–800 remain fully visible and editable as list pages while expanded practice is developed. Every row includes an editable subject-field label and a conservative word-study note about transparent affixes, compound structure, capitalization, or dictionary base forms. The cited sources calibrate range and difficulty only; all learner-facing definitions, examples, quizzes, and descriptions are original KSSR copy.

Please note: the vocabulary lists for grades 9~11 have been selected to ensure no overlap with the previous grade level. If the words are too specialized or difficult for you, please go back to grade levels 4~8 and review the words on those pages.

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Words 106–140 of 800
#	Word	Details	Meaning	Sample sentence
106	dramatic tension	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: dramatic + tension. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	suspense created by conflict, uncertainty, or competing desires in a play	The hidden key maintains dramatic tension while the police search the room.
107	subtext	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: subtext is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	an implied meaning or motive beneath a character's spoken words	The polite invitation carries a subtext of warning.
108	epistolary novel	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: epistolary + novel. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a novel told through letters, messages, diary entries, or other documents	The epistolary novel lets readers compare three conflicting accounts of the disappearance.
109	frame narrative	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: frame + narrative. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	an outer story that introduces and contains one or more inner stories	A trial transcript forms the frame narrative around the witness's memories.
110	archetypal criticism	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: archetypal + criticism. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	interpretation that studies recurring character types, images, and story patterns	Archetypal criticism connects the descent into the cave with stories of symbolic rebirth.
111	feminist criticism	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: feminist + criticism. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	interpretation that examines gender, power, representation, and social roles	Feminist criticism asks why the women in the novel cannot inherit property.
112	Marxist criticism	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: Marxist + criticism. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	interpretation that examines class, labor, property, and material power	Marxist criticism focuses on who owns the factory and who bears its risks.
113	postcolonial criticism	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: postcolonial + criticism. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	interpretation that examines empire, colonization, identity, resistance, and cultural power	Postcolonial criticism explores why the map uses the colonizer's place names.
114	psychoanalytic criticism	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: psychoanalytic + criticism. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	interpretation that examines unconscious desire, conflict, repression, and symbolism	Psychoanalytic criticism reads the locked room as a sign of repressed memory.
115	formalism	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Suffix focus: -ism often names a belief, system, movement, or practice.	an approach that emphasizes a work's language, structure, and internal patterns	Formalism draws attention to the poem's repeated circles and interrupted meter.
116	structuralism	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Suffix focus: -ism often names a belief, system, movement, or practice.	an approach that studies underlying systems and oppositions that organize meaning	Structuralism examines the tale's repeated opposition between wilderness and home.
117	deconstruction	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Suffix focus: -tion commonly forms a noun naming an action, process, or result.	an approach that reveals tensions and unstable oppositions within language or argument	Deconstruction shows how the essay's definition of freedom depends on forms of control.
118	metafiction	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Suffix focus: -tion commonly forms a noun naming an action, process, or result.	fiction that openly draws attention to its own construction as fiction	The metafiction pauses so the narrator can debate how to end the chapter.
119	dystopian fiction	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: dystopian + fiction. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	fiction portraying an oppressive or severely damaged society	The dystopian fiction depicts a state that ranks citizens by every conversation.
120	zeugma	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: zeugma is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	a construction in which one word governs two others in different senses	“She opened the door and her mind” uses zeugma.
121	antanaclasis	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: antanaclasis is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	repetition of one word in two different senses	“If we do not hang together, we shall hang separately” uses antanaclasis.
122	hypophora	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: hypophora is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	a device in which a speaker asks a question and immediately answers it	The speech uses hypophora: “What must change? Our priorities must change.”
123	tricolon	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: tricolon is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	a series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses	“We listened, we learned, we acted” forms a tricolon.
124	ellipsis	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: ellipsis is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	deliberate omission of words that context allows readers to supply	“Mara chose tea; Luis, coffee” uses ellipsis by omitting chose in the second clause.
125	parenthesis	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: parenthesis is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	an interruption inserted into a sentence to add explanation or emphasis	The parenthesis “if the records are accurate” limits the historian's claim.
126	amplification	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Suffix focus: -ation commonly forms a noun naming an action, process, or result.	expansion of an idea through added detail, restatement, or intensity	The orator uses amplification by moving from one damaged home to an entire displaced city.
127	exigence	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Suffix focus: -ence commonly forms a noun naming an action, quality, or state.	the problem, event, or need that prompts a rhetorical response	A contaminated water supply creates the speech's exigence.
128	kairos	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: kairos is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	the strategic use of an appropriate moment or timing in communication	Releasing the proposal before the budget vote demonstrates kairos.
129	ethos	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: ethos is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	persuasive appeal based on credibility, character, or trustworthiness	The engineer builds ethos by acknowledging limitations in her own design.
130	pathos	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: pathos is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	persuasive appeal directed toward an audience's emotions and values	The survivor's testimony supplies pathos without replacing factual evidence.
131	logos	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: logos is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	persuasive appeal based on reasoning, structure, and evidence	Cost data and causal analysis strengthen the report's logos.
132	audience positioning	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: audience + positioning. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	language that encourages readers or listeners to adopt a particular role or viewpoint	The phrase “as responsible neighbors” uses audience positioning.
133	rhetorical purpose	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: rhetorical + purpose. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	the specific effect a communicator intends to achieve with an audience	The article's rhetorical purpose is to persuade residents to attend the hearing.
134	rhetorical strategy	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: rhetorical + strategy. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a planned method of using language, evidence, structure, or appeal to influence an audience	Defining technical terms is a rhetorical strategy for reaching nonspecialists.
135	rhetorical choice	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: rhetorical + choice. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a deliberate decision about wording, evidence, organization, or presentation	Opening with a personal story is a rhetorical choice that humanizes the statistics.
136	rhetorical effect	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: rhetorical + effect. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	the response or impression produced by a communication choice	The repeated short clauses create a rhetorical effect of urgency.
137	line of reasoning	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: line + of + reasoning. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	the connected sequence of claims and evidence leading to a conclusion	The second paragraph breaks the line of reasoning by introducing an unrelated example.
138	syllogism	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Suffix focus: -ism often names a belief, system, movement, or practice.	a deductive argument with two premises and a conclusion	The syllogism concludes that iron expands when heated because iron is a metal and heated metals expand.
139	enthymeme	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: enthymeme is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	an argument in which a premise or conclusion is left unstated because the audience is expected to supply it	“She is a citizen, so she may vote” is an enthymeme that assumes eligible citizens may vote.
140	major premise	noun Study Field: Grade 10 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: major + premise. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	the general statement in a syllogism	“All mammals breathe air” is the major premise of the argument.

Vocabulary reading and practice

Reading an Argument Closely

Reading practice for pages 4–6. Five relevant words are highlighted.

English reading

An editorial’s exigence is the urgent school-board vote that prompted it. Its central argument is an enthymeme because the writer leaves the major premise unstated, assuming readers share it. A formalism reading examines structure and diction, while psychoanalytic criticism asks how fear and desire shape the speaker’s reasoning.

Reading comprehension

1. What is the editorial's exigence?

An urgent school-board vote is its exigence.

2. Why is the argument an enthymeme?

Its major premise is left unstated.

3. What does psychoanalytic criticism examine?

It examines how fear and desire shape reasoning.

Vocabulary quiz

Complete 5 review questions for this page.

1. “She is a citizen, so she may vote” is an ___ that assumes eligible citizens may vote.

Answer: enthymeme

2. ___ reads the locked room as a sign of repressed memory.

Answer: psychoanalytic criticism

3. A contaminated water supply creates the speech's ___.

Answer: exigence

4. “All mammals breathe air” is the ___ of the argument.

Answer: major premise

5. ___ draws attention to the poem's repeated circles and interrupted meter.

Answer: formalism

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Sources and curriculum references

These references guide selection and calibration. Definitions, sample sentences, readings, questions, and teaching notes are independently written and reviewed.

10th Grade Vocabulary Words

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