Lord of the Flies

Question 1

specious

Answer 1

a. adjective
b. Having a false look of truth or genuineness
c. “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” (page 12).

Question 2

effulgence

Answer 2

a. noun
b. Radiant splendor
c. “With that word the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence” (page 14).

Question 3

enmity

Answer 3

a. noun
b. Positive, active, or typically mutual hatred or ill will.
c. “He trotted through the sand, enduring the sun’s enmity, crossed the platform and found his scattered clothes” (page 14).

Question 4

decorous

Answer 4

a. adjective
b. Following the established traditions of refined society and good taste.
c. “Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement” (page 15).

Question 5

indignation

Answer 5

a. noun
b. An intense emotional state of displeasure with someone or something
c. “Piggy stood and the rose of indignation faded slowly from his cheeks” (page 25).

Question 6

hiatus

Answer 6

noun
An open space in a barrier

Question 7

ebullience

Answer 7

a. noun
b. The quality of being cheerful or full of energy.
c. “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” (page 38).

Question 8

recrimination

Answer 8

a) noun
b) an angry statement in which you accuse or criticize a person who has accused or criticized you
c) “His voice lifted into the whine of virtuous recrimination” (page 43).

Question 9

tumult

Answer 9

a) noun
b) a state of noisy, confused activity.
c) “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” (page 43).

Question 10

furtive

Answer 10

a) adjective
b) acting shady, sketchy

Question 11

inscrutable

Answer 11

a) adjective
b) mysterious
c) “Jack lifted his head and stared at the inscrutable masses of creeper that lay across the trail” (page 49).

Question 12

incredulous

Answer 12

a) adjective
b) inclined to doubt or questioned claims; skeptical

Question 13

belligerence

Answer 13

a) noun
b) an inclination to fight or quarrel

Question 14

chastisement

Answer 14

a) noun
b) suffering, loss, or hardship imposed as response to a crime or offense

Question 15

incursion

Answer 15

a) noun
b) a sudden attack on an entrance into hostile territory.
c) “. 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” (page 61).

Question 15

disinclination

Answer 15

a) noun
b) a lack of willingness or desire to do or accept something

Question 16

derisive

Answer 16

a) adjective
b) so foolish or pointless as to be worthy of scornful laughter
c) “The derisive laughter that rose had fear in it and condemnation”(86).

Question 17

discursive

Answer 17

a) adjective
b) passing from one topic to another (as in rambling)
c) “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”(92).

Question 18

incantation

Answer 18

a) noun
b) a spoken word or set of words believed to have magic power (as in spell)

Question 19

interminable

Answer 19

a) adjective
b) disapproving tone: having or seeming to have no end; continuing for a very long time (as in continuous).
c) “An interminable dawn faded the stars out, and at last light, sad and grey, filtered into the shelter” (99).

Question 20

tremulously

Answer 20

a) adjective
b) easily frightened
c) “The twins, holding tremulously to each other, dared the few yards to the next shelter and spread the dreadful news” (99).

Question 21

leviathan

Answer 21

a) adjective
b) unusually large
c) “Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed streamed, and the water boiled over the table rock with a roar” (105).

Question 22

decorum

Answer 22

a) noun
b) socially acceptable behavior
c) “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”

Question 23

apprehension

Answer 23

a) noun
b) suspicion or fear of future harm or misfortune (as in dread)

Question 24

antagonism

Answer 24

a) noun
b) actively expressed hostility or opposition

Question 24

sagely

Answer 24

a) adverb
b) in a sage or wise manner
c) “Everybody agreed, sagely” (118).

Question 25

impervious

Answer 25

a) adjective
b) 1: not allowing entrance or passage
2: not capable of being damaged or harmed
c) “So they sat, the rocking, tapping, impervious Roger and Ralph, fuming; round them the close sky was loaded with stars, save where the mountain punched up a hole of blackness” (121).

Question 26

bravado

Answer 26

a) noun
b) blustering swaggering conduct

Question 27

contemptuous

Answer 27

a) adjective
b) manifesting, feeling, or expressing deep hatred or disapproval ; feeling or showing contempt

Question 28

cynicism

Answer 28

a) noun
b) cynical attitude or quality(cynical means to believe people do things out of self interest)
c) “The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life” (137).

Question 28

indignity

Answer 28

a) noun
b) an act that offends against a person’s dignity or self respect.
c) “ 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” (137).

Question 29

iridescent

Answer 29

a) adjective
b) having or exhibiting iridescence
c) “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” (138).

Question 30

corpulent

Answer 30

a) adjective
b) having a large bulky body
c) “ Then as the blue material of the parachute collapsed the corpulent figure would bow forward, sighing, and the flies settle once more” (146).

Question 31

parody

Answer 31

a) noun
b) a feeble or ridiculous imitation

Question 32

succulent

Answer 32

a) adjective
b) full of juice; moist and tasty

Question 33

gesticulating

Answer 33

a) verb
b) making movements with your hands or arms

Question 34

stricken

Answer 34

a) adjective
b)
afflicted or overwhelmed, as if by disease, misfortune, or sorrow.
Hit or wounded as if by a missile
c) “Ralph’s voice, low and stricken, stopped Piggy’s gestures. He bent down and waited. Ralph, cradling the conch, rocked himself to and fro” (156).

Question 35

convulsively

Answer 35

a) adjective
b) resembling a convulsion in being violent, sudden, frantic, or spasmodic.

Question 35

torrid

Answer 35

a) adjective
b) parched with heat especially of the sun.

Question 36

luminous

Answer 36

a) adjective
b) emitting or reflecting usually steady, suffused, or glowing light

Question 37

myopia

Answer 37

a) noun
b) a condition in which the visual images come to a focus in front of the retina resulting especially in a defective vision of distant objects. Nearsightedness
c) “ The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia” (169).

Question 37

propitiatingly

Answer 37

a) Adverb
b) So as to appease or consolidate
c) “Piggy nodded propitiatingly” (173).

Question 38

truculent

Answer 38

a) adjective
b) aggressively or self assertive
c) “Truculently they squared up to each other but kept just out of fighting distance” (177).

Question 39

inimical

Answer 39

a) adjective
b) unfriendly, hostile, being adverse often by reason of hostility or malevolence
c) “To carry he must speak louder; and this would rouse those striped and inimical creatures from their feasting by the fire” (187).

Question 40

ululation

Answer 40

a) noun
b) a howl or a rhythmical sound usually to express sorrow or joy

Question 41

crepitation

Answer 41

a) noun
b) a crackling or rattling sound
c) “He heard a curious trickling sound and then a louder crepitation as if someone were unwrapping great sheets of cellophane” (194).