English Vocabulary · Grade 9 Live Review Preview

9th Grade Vocabulary Words

Ninth grade marks the transition to high-school reading and writing across literature, argument, research, biology, physical and Earth science, algebra, computing, world history, civics, and geography. This level develops precise academic and domain-specific vocabulary while strengthening context, nuance, source evaluation, figurative language, and evidence-based communication.

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 the expanded practice layer is developed. Each row includes a subject-field label and an editable word-study note about a transparent affix, compound structure, capitalization, or dictionary base form. The cited Grade 9 resources calibrate difficulty and study skills 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	flash-forward	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: flash + forward. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a scene that interrupts the present action to show a later event	A brief flash-forward reveals the abandoned town twenty years after the storm.
107	in medias res	adverb Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: in + medias + res. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	beginning a story in the middle of its action	The epic opens in medias res, with the sailors already trapped in the whirlpool.
108	parallel plot	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: parallel + plot. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	one of two or more story lines that develop beside each other and illuminate shared ideas	The immigrant daughter's journey forms a parallel plot with her grandmother's wartime escape.
109	braided narrative	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: braided + narrative. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a work that alternates among several connected story lines or voices	The braided narrative joins three families through the history of one house.
110	narrative reversal	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: narrative + reversal. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a major change that redirects a story or overturns expectations	The apparent villain's rescue of the hero creates a narrative reversal.
111	story world	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: story + world. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	the imagined setting, history, rules, and inhabitants of a narrative	Maps and legends make the fantasy's story world feel internally consistent.
112	narrative frame	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: narrative + frame. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	an outer situation that surrounds and introduces a story told within it	The interview provides a narrative frame for the explorer's recollections.
113	narrative pace	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: narrative + pace. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	the apparent speed at which a story moves through events	Brief sentences and omitted details quicken the narrative pace during the chase.
114	scene summary	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: scene + summary. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	compressed narration that reports events rather than presenting them moment by moment	A scene summary covers the uneventful months between the two expeditions.
115	temporal shift	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: temporal + shift. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a movement from one time period to another within a text	The phrase “years earlier” signals a temporal shift into the character's childhood.
116	retrospective narration	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: retrospective + narration. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	storytelling in which a narrator looks back on completed events	Retrospective narration allows the older speaker to question his youthful decisions.
117	unfolding narration	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: unfolding + narration. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	storytelling that presents events as the narrator experiences them	Unfolding narration limits the reader to clues available in the immediate moment.
118	omniscient narrator	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: omniscient + narrator. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a storyteller who can reveal the thoughts and experiences of many characters	The omniscient narrator moves from the captain's fear to the crew's private doubts.
119	limited narrator	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: limited + narrator. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a storyteller whose knowledge stays close to one character's perceptions	Because the limited narrator follows Mei, the reader does not know what her rival planned.
120	objective narrator	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: objective + narrator. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a storyteller who reports observable actions and speech without revealing private thoughts	The objective narrator describes the argument but never explains either person's feelings.
121	anaphora	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: anaphora is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	repetition of a word or phrase at the beginnings of successive clauses or lines	The speech uses anaphora in “We will study, we will organize, we will act.”
122	epistrophe	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: epistrophe is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	repetition of a word or phrase at the ends of successive clauses or lines	The speaker uses epistrophe by ending three sentences with “for our children.”
123	antimetabole	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: antimetabole is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	repetition of words in reverse grammatical order	“We shape our tools, and our tools shape us” is an antimetabole.
124	chiasmus	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: chiasmus is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	a reversed arrangement of grammatical structures or ideas	The phrase “She has all my love; my heart belongs to her” forms a chiasmus.
125	asyndeton	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: asyndeton is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	deliberate omission of conjunctions between related words or clauses	The command “Run, hide, wait” uses asyndeton to create urgency.
126	polysyndeton	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Prefix focus: poly- means many.	deliberate repetition of conjunctions between words or clauses	The sentence links “rain and wind and darkness” with polysyndeton to prolong the storm.
127	litotes	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: litotes is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	understatement that affirms an idea by denying its opposite	Calling the championship victory “not a small achievement” uses litotes.
128	aporia	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: aporia is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	a deliberate expression of doubt or uncertainty used for reflection or persuasion	The essay uses aporia when the narrator asks whether any choice could have been just.
129	synesthesia	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: synesthesia is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	figurative language that describes one sense through terms associated with another	The phrase “a sharp yellow note” uses synesthesia by combining sight and sound.
130	implied metaphor	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: implied + metaphor. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a comparison suggested through word choice without directly naming both things	“The rumor spread its wings” contains an implied metaphor comparing the rumor to a bird.
131	conceit	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Base-form focus: conceit is the dictionary headword; compare its inflected or derived forms in context.	an elaborate and sustained comparison between notably different things	The poem develops a conceit that compares memory to a many-roomed house.
132	sensory imagery	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: sensory + imagery. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	language that appeals to one or more physical senses	Sensory imagery lets readers hear the shutters and smell smoke from the fire.
133	visual imagery	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: visual + imagery. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	descriptive language that creates a picture in the reader's mind	Visual imagery presents the moon as a silver coin above black roofs.
134	auditory imagery	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: auditory + imagery. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	descriptive language that evokes sound	Auditory imagery captures the hiss of rain against the windows.
135	tactile imagery	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: tactile + imagery. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	descriptive language that evokes touch, texture, or temperature	Tactile imagery makes the icy railing feel painfully cold.
136	olfactory imagery	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: olfactory + imagery. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	descriptive language that evokes smell	Olfactory imagery fills the kitchen with cinnamon and wood smoke.
137	gustatory imagery	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: gustatory + imagery. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	descriptive language that evokes taste	Gustatory imagery emphasizes the bitter peel and sweet fruit.
138	symbolic pattern	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: symbolic + pattern. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	a repeated arrangement of images or events that carries an additional meaning	The recurring locked doors form a symbolic pattern of exclusion.
139	recurring motif	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: recurring + motif. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	an image, phrase, situation, or idea repeated throughout a work	The migrating birds become a recurring motif connected to freedom.
140	free indirect discourse	noun Study Field: Grade 9 literature, rhetoric, and language term Word study: Term structure: free + indirect + discourse. Study the complete expression as one field-specific unit.	third-person narration that adopts a character's thoughts or language without a reporting phrase	Free indirect discourse lets the narration echo Lian's irritation without writing “she thought.”

Vocabulary reading and practice

Time and Voice in Fiction

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

English reading

A novelist alternates scene summary with vivid dialogue to control pace. A recurring motif of stopped clocks signals each temporal shift. Through free indirect discourse, the narration briefly adopts a character’s private vocabulary without quotation marks. Even litotes—calling a disastrous meeting “not ideal”—reveals how that character hides fear behind understatement.

Reading comprehension

1. What signals each temporal shift?

A recurring motif of stopped clocks signals it.

2. What does free indirect discourse reveal?

It reveals a character's private language within the narration.

3. How does litotes characterize the speaker?

The understatement shows the character hiding fear.

Vocabulary quiz

Complete 5 review questions for this page.

1. The migrating birds become a ___ connected to freedom.

Answer: recurring motif

2. A ___ covers the uneventful months between the two expeditions.

Answer: scene summary

3. Calling the championship victory “not a small achievement” uses ___.

Answer: litotes

4. ___ lets the narration echo Lian's irritation without writing “she thought.”

Answer: free indirect discourse

5. The phrase “years earlier” signals a ___ into the character's childhood.

Answer: temporal shift

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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.

9th Grade Vocabulary Words

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