Lord of the Flies vocabulary Flashcards
belligerence
aggressive, stubborn attitude
contrite
sincerely sorry for shortcomings
decorous
proper / in good taste
ebullience
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…”
enmity
ill-will
“He [Ralph] trotted through the sand, enduring the sun’s enmity, crossed the platform and found his scattered clothes.”
errant
disobedient
generic
without distinction; in general
“The smaller boys were known by the generic title of ‘littlun.’”
interposed
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…”
myriad
innumerable
opaque
light can’t pass through
“The opaque, mad look came into his [Jack’s] eyes again.”
rapt
completely absorbed
“Ralph gazed bewildered at his [Jack’s] rapt face.”
specious
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.”
tumult
uproar
“He [Piggy] paused in the tumult, standing, looking beyond them and down the unfriendly side of the mountain…”
vicissitudes
difficulties / hardships
“Jack stood there, streaming with sweat, streaked with brown earth, stained by all the vicissitudes of a day’s hunting. “
festooned
decorated
eccentric
odd
hiatus
break in time
avidly
eagerly
apalled
horrified, disgusted
brandishing
waving about in a threatening manner
“Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife.”
chasm
deep clefts or gores
“He [Ralph] was surrounded on all sides by chasms of empty air.”
corpulent
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.”
demure
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.”
derision
ridicule
“Piggy once more was the center of social derision so that everyone felt cheerful and normal.”
diffidently
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…”
embroiled
involved in conflict
“Piggy, finding himself uncomfortably embroiled, slid the conch to Ralph’s knees and sat down.”
exulting
joyful
fervor
intensity
glowered
looking angrily
“Jack glowered.”
inarticulate
unable to speak
“Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind’s essential illness.”
interspersed
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.”
jeeringly
mockingly
lamentation
weeping, crying
ludicrous
ridiculous, absurd
mutinously
rebelliously
“Mutinously, the boys fell silent or muttering.”
sagely
wisely
“Everybody agreed [with Ralph] sagely.”
sanctity
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.”
succulent
juicy
“The boys with the spit gave Ralph and Piggy each a succulent chunk [of meat].”
taboo
rule that makes something forbidden
“I dunno, Ralph. I expect it’s him.” “Jack?” “Jack.” A taboo was evolving round that word too.”
