Lord of the Flies

Question 1

specious (12)

Answer 1

adj

superficially plausible, but actually wrong.

“Ralph had been deceived before now by the specious appearance of depth in a beach pool and he approached this one preparing to be disappointed.” (Goldings, 12)

Question 2

effulgence (14)

Answer 2

noun

A state of being bright and radiant, splendor, brilliance.

“With that word the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence.” (Goldings, 14)

Question 3

enmity (14)

Answer 3

noun

the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.

“He [Ralph] trotted through the sand, enduring the sun’s enmity, crossed the platform and found his scattered clothes.” (Goldings, 14).

Question 4

decorous (15)

Answer 4

adj

in keeping with good taste and propriety; polite and restrained.

“Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement.” (Golding, 15)

Question 5

indignation (25)

Answer 5

noun

anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment.

“Piggy stood and the rose of indignation faded slowly from his cheeks.”(Goldings, 25).

Question 6

hiatus

Answer 6

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.” (Goldings, 31).

Question 7

ebullience (38)

Answer 7

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…” (Goldings, 38).

Question 8

recrimination (43)

Answer 8

noun

an accusation in response to one from someone else.

“His voice lifted into the whine of virtuous recrimination.” (Goldings, 43).

Question 9

tumult (43)

Answer 9

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.” (Goldings, 43).
Chapter 3

Question 10

furtive (49)

Answer 10

adjective

attempting to avoid notice or attention, typically because of guilt or a belief that discovery would lead to trouble; secretive.

“Jack himself shrank at this cry with a hiss of indrawn breath, and for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape-like among the tangle of trees.”(Goldings, 49).

Question 11

inscrutable (49)

Answer 11

adjective

impossible to understand or interpret.

“Jack lifted his head and stared at the inscrutable masses of creeper that lay across the trail.” (Goldings, 49).

Question 12

incredulous (53)

Answer 12

adjective

(of a person or their manner) unwilling or unable to believe something.

“They were silent again: Simon intent, Ralph incredulous and faintly indignant.” (Goldings, 53).

Question 13

belligerence (60)

Answer 13

noun

aggressive or warlike behavior.

“Percival was mouse-colored and had not been very attractive even to his mother; Johnny was well built, with fair hair and a natural belligerence.” (Goldings, 60).

Question 14

chastisement (60)

Answer 14

noun

a severe criticism or punishment

“In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand.” (Goldings, 60).

Question 15

incursion (61)

Answer 15

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.” (Goldings, 61).

Question 16

disinclination (65)

Answer 16

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.” (Goldings, 65).

Question 17

derisive (86)

Answer 17

Adjective

expressing contempt or ridicule.

“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.” (Goldings, 86).

Question 18

discursive (92)

Answer 18

noun

rambling going 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.” (Goldings, 92).

Question 19

incantation (94)

Answer 19

noun

a series of words said as a magic spell or charm.

“Percival…,lying in the long grass, was living through circumstances in which the incantation of his address was powerless to help him.” (Goldings, 94).

Question 20

interminable (99)

Answer 20

adjective

endless (often used hyperbolically).

“An interminable dawn faded the stars out, and at last light, sad and gray, filtered into the shelter.” (Goldings, 99).

Question 21

tremulously (99)

Answer 21

adjective

shaking or quivering slightly. / timid; nervous

“The twins, holding tremulously to each other, dared the few yard to the next shelter and spread the dreadful news.”(Goldings, 99).

Question 22

leviathan (105)

Answer 22

noun

a great sea monster defeated by God in the Old Testament Book of Job

“Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed streamed, and the water boiled over the table rock with a roar.” (This is figurative: the leviathan referred to here is a large table rock.) (Goldings, 105).

Question 23

decorum (110)

Answer 23

noun

behavior in keeping with good taste good etuqitte.

“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— He discovered with a little fall of the heart that these were the conditions he took as normal now and that he did not mind.” (Goldings, 110).

Question 24

apprehension (113)

Answer 24

noun

anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen.

“Ralph was full of fright and apprehension and pride.” (Goldings, 113).

Question 25

sagely (118)

Answer 25

adverb

in a profoundly wise manner.

“Everybody agreed, sagely.”(Goldings, 118).

Question 26

antagonism (118)

Answer 26

noun

active hostility or opposition

“Ralph sighed, sensing the rising antagonism, understanding that this was how Jack felt as soon as he ceased to lead.” (Goldings, 118).

Question 27

impervious (121)

Answer 27

adjective

unable to be affected by.

“So they sat, the rocking, tapping, impervious Roger and Ralph,” (Goldings, 121).

Question 27

bravado (122)

Answer 27

noun

a bold manner or a show of boldness intended to impress or intimidate.

“Ralph surprised himself, not so much by the quality of his voice, which was even, but by the bravado of its intention.”(Goldings, 112).

Question 27

contemptuous (124)

Answer 27

Adjective

showing contempt; scornful.

“Go up and see,” said Jack contemptuously, “and good riddance.”(Goldings, 124).

Question 28

cynicism (137)

Answer 28

noun

an inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest; skepticism.

“The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life.” (Goldings, 137).

Question 29

indignity (137)

Answer 29

noun

treatment or circumstances that cause one to feel shame or to lose one’s dignity.

“He opened his eyes quickly and there was the head grinning amusedly in the strange daylight, ignoring the flies, the spilled guts, even ignoring the indignity of being spiked on a stick.”(Goldings, 137).

Question 30

iridescent (138)

Answer 30

adjective

showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles.

“They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned. At last Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood—and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition.” (Goldings, 138).

Question 31

corpulent (146)

Answer 31

Adjective

(of a person) fat.

“Then as the blue material of the parachute collapsed the corpulent figure would bow forward, sighing, and the flies settle once more.” (Goldings, 146).

Question 32

parody (146)

Answer 32

verb

produce a humorously exaggerated imitation of (a writer, artist, or genre).

“The tangle of lines showed him the mechanics of this parody; he examined the white nasal bones, the teeth, the colors of corruption.” (Goldings, 146).

Question 33

succulent (149)

Answer 33

adjective
(of food) tender, juicy, and tasty.
“The boys with the spit gave Ralph and Piggy each a succulent chunk.” (Goldings, 149).

Question 34

gesticulating (156)

Answer 34

verb

use gestures, especially dramatic ones, instead of speaking or to emphasize one’s words.

“He was gesticulating, searching for a formula.” (Goldings, 156).

Question 35

stricken (156)

Answer 35

adjective

seriously affected by an undesirable condition or unpleasant feeling.

“That was murder…Ralph’s voice, low and stricken, stopped piggy’s gestures.” (Goldings, 156).

Question 36

convulsively (158)

Answer 36

adverb

assembling a convulsion in being violent, sudden, frantic, or spasmodic.

“Memory of the dance that none of them had attended shook all four boys convulsively.”(Goldings, 158).

Question 37

torrid (159)

Answer 37

adjective

very hot and dry.

“Sitting on the tremendous rock in the torrid sun, Roger received this news as an illumination.” (Goldings, 159).

Question 38

luminous (169)

Answer 38

adjective

full of or shedding light; bright or shining, especially in the dark.

“The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia.” (Goldings, 169).

Question 39

myopia (169)

Answer 39

noun

lack of imagination, foresight, or intellectual insigh

“The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia.” (Goldings, 169)

Question 40

propitiatingly (173)

Answer 40

adverb

the act of gaining or regaining the favor or goodwill of someone or something

“ Piggy nodded propitiating.” (Goldings, 173).

Question 41

truculent (177)

Answer 41

adjective

eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant.

“Truculently they squared up to each other but kept just out of fighting distance.” (Goldings, 177).

Question 42

inimical (187)

Answer 42

adjective

unfriendly; hostile.

” To carry he must speak louder; and this would rouse those striped and inimical creatures from their feasting by the fire.” (Goldings, 187 ).

Question 43

ululation (189)

Answer 43

noun

a long, high-pitched trilling sound resembling a howl, or the act of making such a sound, as to express grief or joy or as part of a musical performance

“’We’ve got to give signals like this’. Eric raised his head and achieved a faint ululation by breathing on his open mouth.”” (Goldings, 189).

Question 44

crepitation (194)

Answer 44

noun

a crackling or rattling sound

“He heard a curious trickling sound and then a louder crepitation as if someone were unwrapping great sheets of cellophane.” (Goldings, 194).