LOF Vocab Flashcards
specious
adjective
superficially plausible, but actually wrong
“Ralph had been deceived now before now by the specious appearance of the depth in a beach pool and he approached this one preparing to be disappointed”
effulgence
noun
the quality of shining brightly
“With that word the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence.”(14)
enmity
noun
the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something
“He trotted through the sand, enduring the sun’s enmity, crossed the platform and found his scattered clothes”(14)
decorous
adjective
in keeping with good taste and propriety; polite and restrained.
“‘No. A shell.’ ’ Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement.”
indignation
noun
anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment
“Piggy stood and the rose of indignation faded slowly from his cheeks.”
hiatus
noun
a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process.
“There came a pause, a hiatus, the pig continued to scream and the creepers to jerk, and the blade continued to flash at the end of a bony arm.”
ebullience
Noun
the quality of being cheerful and full of energy; exuberance
“Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children, he picked up the conch, turned toward the forest, and began to pick his way over the tumbled scar.”
recrimination
noun
an accusation in response to one from someone else
“His voice lifted into the whine of virtuous recrimination.”
tumult
noun
a loud, confused noise, especially one caused by a large mass of people
“He paused in the tumult, standing, looking beyond them and down the unfriendly side of the mountain to the great patch where they had found dead wood.”
furtive
adjective
attempting to avoid notice or attention, typically because of guilt or a belief that discovery would lead to trouble; secretive
“There was a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy”
inscrutable
adjective
impossible to understand or interpret
“Jack lifted his head and stared at the inscrutable masses of creeper that lay across the trail.”
incredulous
adjective
(of a person or their manner) unwilling or unable to believe something
“They were silent again: Simon intent, Ralph incredulous and faintly indignant.”
belligerence
noun
aggressive or warlike behavior
“Percival was mousecolored and had not been very attractive even to his mother; Johnny was well built, with fair hair and a natural belligerence.”
chastisement
noun
severe criticism; a rebuke or strong reprimand.
“In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand”
incursion
noun
an invasion or attack, especially a sudden or brief one
“Perhaps food had appeared where at the last incursion there had been none; bird droppings, insects perhaps, any of the strewn detritus of landward life.”
disinclination
noun
a reluctance or lack of enthusiasm.
“There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor”
derisive
adjective
expressing contempt or ridicule.
“The derisive laughter that rose had fear in it and condemnation”
discursive
adjective
digressing from subject to subject
“The assembly shredded away and became a discursive and random scatter from the palms to
the water and away along the beach, beyond night-sight.”
incantation
Noun
a series of words said as a magic spell or charm
“Percival Wemys Madison, of the Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony, lying in the long grass, was living through circumstances in which the incantation of his address was powerless to help him.”
interminable
Adjective
endless
“An interminable dawn faded the stars out, and at last light, sad and grey, filtered into the shelter”
tremulously
Adverb
characterized by or affected with trembling or tremors
“The twins, holding tremulously to each other, dared the few yards to the next shelter and spread the dreadful news.”
leviathan
Noun
a very large aquatic creature, especially a whale, and with the Devil
“Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed streamed and the water boiled over the table rock with a roar.”
decorum
noun
behavior in keeping with good taste and propriety.
“Not one of them was an obvious subject for a shower, and yet—hair, much too long, tangled here and there, knotted round a dead leaf or a twig; faces cleaned fairly well by the process of eating and sweating but marked in the less accessible angles with a kind of shadow; clothes, worn away, stiff like his own with sweat, put on, not for decorum or comfort but out of custom; the skin of the body, scurfy with brine—”
apprehension
noun
anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen.
“Ralph was full of fright and apprehension and pride.”
