Vocabulary in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

An informal, dismissive word for a place that is ugly, run-down, or depressing — used here as a contemptuous first impression of her own home.

A drink of alcohol taken late at night, typically at the end of an evening's socializing, used as a casual pretext for the guests' visit.

Relating to the teaching and academic staff of a college or university, used to describe the social world George and Martha inhabit.

To deliberately stir up anger or a strong reaction in someone, which is what Martha's invitation does to George from the very start of the evening.

Used here not as an oath but as an emphatic declaration of absolute certainty, intensifying a cutting insult directed at a spouse.

To legally end a marriage — used here as a weapon in an argument, implying the marriage is so hollow that the speaker would escape it if she could.

A German word for the eve of May Day, traditionally associated with witches' sabbaths and chaos; Albee uses it as the title of Act Two to signal a night of wild, destructive revelry.

A contemptuous idiom meaning someone who falls far short of what a real man should be — used as a direct, humiliating insult.

A figure of primal, all-encompassing female power and fertility — Martha uses it as a grandiose, mocking self-description to assert dominance over everyone present.

People who have completely failed or performed uselessly — used here as a sweeping dismissal of every man in the room.

To make someone feel deeply ashamed and worthless in front of others, which Martha describes as something George does to her repeatedly and without consequence.

An idiom meaning to attack someone emotionally and psychologically with such force that it feels like being ripped to pieces, used here to describe sustained verbal cruelty.

A condition in which a woman believes or claims to be pregnant when she is not — here it is the secret that trapped Nick into marrying Honey.

The ritual driving out of an evil spirit or a destructive force; Albee uses it as Act Three's title to suggest George is purging the damaging fantasy that has haunted their marriage.

A common garden flower with blossoms that open and close like a mouth; George's entrance carrying them is a deliberately strange, theatrical gesture loaded with irony.

A written message delivered by wire service, once the fastest form of long-distance communication — George claims to have received one announcing their son's death.

A false belief or comforting fiction that someone clings to in place of reality — the invented son is the central illusion the play finally destroys.

Used in the title and the repeated refrain as a pun on 'Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?' — it stands for the terror of facing life without comforting illusions, not merely a reference to the author.