Key terms & definitions

A card-sorting task that assesses reasoning and the ability to change strategy when a sorting rule changes; performance is linked to frontal-lobe functioning.

Understanding and sound judgement that help a person recognise right and wrong and act appropriately.

A character who appears foolish, or performs foolishness, while revealing insight that supposedly wiser characters lack.

In Freud’s theory of dreaming, the satisfaction of an unconscious desire through a dream.

Quick, inventive intelligence expressed through clever language, often involving jokes, comparisons and unexpected replies.

The Anglo-Saxon council of leading nobles and churchmen that advised the king.

The supposed use of supernatural powers, particularly harmful magic associated with the Devil, which early modern people could treat as a serious crime.

The deliberate search for people believed to practise witchcraft, involving accusations, investigations and prosecutions.

A natural contraceptive method in which the penis is withdrawn from the vagina before ejaculation; also called coitus interruptus.

Physical or psychological symptoms occurring when substance use is stopped or reduced after repeated use.

The agreement between the UK and EU setting out the terms of the UK’s departure, including financial obligations arising from membership.

A narrative technique that delays information needed to understand events, encouraging readers to question and interpret clues.

Keeping information from the reader temporarily or permanently, often creating uncertainty.

Delaying information so that its later revelation can generate curiosity, suspense or surprise.

Delaying important information and later revealing it to shape curiosity, suspense or interpretation.

Delaying the disclosure of information to characters or the audience, creating uncertainty, suspense or a later revelation.

Choosing an item without returning it before the next choice, so fewer options remain.

A character who observes an event and gives an account of it, allowing readers to encounter events through that character’s perspective.

Showing Christian faith through what a person says and how they live.

A person who provides evidence relevant to a case, helping the police or court establish the facts.

A recorded account of what a person saw, heard or otherwise knew about an event.

A movement which challenged women’s unequal treatment and restrictive social expectations, including through public protest and direct action.

A feeling of fascination and amazement, for example at the beauty or complexity of nature.

A habitat combining trees with open areas of vegetation grazed by animals.

Fibrous material produced by breaking down wood, providing cellulose for products including manufactured textile fibres.

A finish that changes timber's colour while allowing its grain to remain visible.

An animal-based natural fibre, commonly obtained from sheep, used for warm clothing and other textiles.

The buying and selling of sheep’s wool, which could be used to make cloth.

A title used in John’s Gospel for the eternal Son of God, who became human as Jesus.

A representation of a chemical reaction that gives the full names of the substances involved rather than their chemical formulae.