Lord of the Flies vocabulary

Question 1

belligerence

Answer 1

aggressive, stubborn attitude

Question 2

contrite

Answer 2

sincerely sorry for shortcomings

Question 3

decorous

Answer 3

proper / in good taste

Question 4

ebullience

Answer 4

liveliness
“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…”

Question 5

enmity

Answer 5

ill-will

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

Question 6

errant

Answer 6

disobedient

Question 7

generic

Answer 7

without distinction; in general

“The smaller boys were known by the generic title of ‘littlun.’”

Question 8

interposed

Answer 8

intruded / got between
“The shell was interesting and pretty and worthy plaything; but the vivid phantoms of his day-dream still interposed between him and Piggy…”

Question 9

myriad

Answer 9

innumerable

Question 10

opaque

Answer 10

light can’t pass through

“The opaque, mad look came into his [Jack’s] eyes again.”

Question 11

rapt

Answer 11

completely absorbed

“Ralph gazed bewildered at his [Jack’s] rapt face.”

Question 12

specious

Answer 12

deceptive
“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.”

Question 13

tumult

Answer 13

uproar

“He [Piggy] paused in the tumult, standing, looking beyond them and down the unfriendly side of the mountain…”

Question 14

vicissitudes

Answer 14

difficulties / hardships
“Jack stood there, streaming with sweat, streaked with brown earth, stained by all the vicissitudes of a day’s hunting. “

Question 15

festooned

Answer 15

decorated

Question 16

eccentric

Answer 16

odd

Question 17

hiatus

Answer 17

break in time

Question 18

avidly

Answer 18

eagerly

Question 19

apalled

Answer 19

horrified, disgusted

Question 20

brandishing

Answer 20

waving about in a threatening manner

“Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife.”

Question 21

chasm

Answer 21

deep clefts or gores

“He [Ralph] was surrounded on all sides by chasms of empty air.”

Question 22

corpulent

Answer 22

with a large, bulky body
“Then as the blue material of the parachute collapsed the corpulent figure would bow forward, sighing, and the flies settle once more.”

Question 23

demure

Answer 23

modest
“Each of them [Jack & Roger] wore the remains of a black cap and ages ago they had stood in two demure rows and their voices had been the song of angels.”

Question 24

derision

Answer 24

ridicule

“Piggy once more was the center of social derision so that everyone felt cheerful and normal.”

Question 25

diffidently

Answer 25

with hesitation and respect
“Diffidently, Simon allowed his pace to slacken until he was walking side by side with Ralph and looking up at him through the coarse black hair…”

Question 26

embroiled

Answer 26

involved in conflict

“Piggy, finding himself uncomfortably embroiled, slid the conch to Ralph’s knees and sat down.”

Question 27

exulting

Answer 27

joyful

Question 28

fervor

Answer 28

intensity

Question 29

glowered

Answer 29

looking angrily

“Jack glowered.”

Question 30

inarticulate

Answer 30

unable to speak

“Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind’s essential illness.”

Question 31

interspersed

Answer 31

interwoven; with something at intervals in between
“Here there were wide spaces interspersed with thickets and huge trees and the rend of the ground led him up as the forest opened.”

Question 32

jeeringly

Answer 32

mockingly

Question 33

lamentation

Answer 33

weeping, crying

Question 34

ludicrous

Answer 34

ridiculous, absurd

Question 35

mutinously

Answer 35

rebelliously

“Mutinously, the boys fell silent or muttering.”

Question 36

sagely

Answer 36

wisely

“Everybody agreed [with Ralph] sagely.”

Question 37

sanctity

Answer 37

holiness, involiability
“The wood he fetched was close at hand, a fallen tree on the platform that they did not need for the assembly, yet to the others the sanctity of the platform had protected even what was useless there.”

Question 38

succulent

Answer 38

juicy

“The boys with the spit gave Ralph and Piggy each a succulent chunk [of meat].”

Question 39

taboo

Answer 39

rule that makes something forbidden

“I dunno, Ralph. I expect it’s him.” “Jack?” “Jack.” A taboo was evolving round that word too.”