Act 1 - Overture Vocabulary

1. villainous- having a cruel, wicked, malicious nature or character.

2. persecuted-To oppress or harass with ill-treatment, especially because of race, religion, gender, or beliefs.

3. widower- a man who has lost his wife by death and has not remarried.

4. creed -any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination.

5. forbade-(past tense) To command (someone) not to do something.

6. ordinance- an authoritative rule or law; a decree or command.

7. magistrate- a civil officer charged with the administration of the law.

8. predilection- a tendency to think favorably of something in particular; partiality.

9. rankle- to continue to cause keen irritation or bitter resentment within the mind; fester; be painful.

10. marauded- To rove and raid in search of plunder.

11. parishioners- A member of a parish.

12. heathen- an irreligious, uncultured, or uncivilized person.

13. parochial- of or pertaining to a parish or parishes.

14. citadel- any strongly fortified place; stronghold.

15. homage- respect or reverence paid or rendered.

16. innate- existing in one from birth; inborn; native; inherent in the essential character of something.

17. ingratiating- charming; agreeable; pleasing. 18. autocracy- government in which one person has uncontrolled or unlimited authority over others; the government or power of an absolute monarch.

19. ideology - the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group; a philosophy.

20. perpetuation- to preserve from extinction or oblivion.

21. justification- a reason, fact, circumstance, or explanation that justifies or defends.

22. antagonistic- acting in opposition; hostile; unfriendly.

23. differentiation- To make a distinction between.

24. junta- a small group ruling a country, especially immediately after a coup d'état and before a legally constituted government has been instituted; a council.

25. insoluble- incapable of being dissolved.

26. paradox- a statement or proposition that seems self- contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

27. theocracy- a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the God's or deity's laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical (church attending) authorities.

28. forged- to form or make, especially by concentrated effort.

29. exclusion- an act or instance of excluding.

30. prohibition- a law or decree that forbids.

31. repression- to block or hold back.

32. manifestation- when something has materialized, or become apparent or evident.

33. injunction- a command, directive, or order.

34. Lucifer- a proud, rebellious archangel, identified with Satan, who fell from heaven; “the devil”.