Marry Shelly Vocab 1

Question 1

Deplore

Answer 1

To hate, dislike, or strongly disapprove of something. He bitterly deplored the false pride which led his friend to conduct so little worthy of the affection that united them (14).

Question 2

Pittance

Answer 2

A very small amount of money. She procured plain work; she plaited straw; and by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to support life (15).

Question 3

Sullen

Answer 3

Behaving in a gloomily silent manner; seemingly resentful because one refuses to talk or smile. I might have become sullen in my study, rough through the ardor of my nature, but that she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness (20).

Question 4

Fervent

Answer 4

Felt very strongly; characterized by an intensity of feeling. I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature (21).

Question 5

Imbibe

Answer 5

To drink a liquid; to take ideas into the mind. In what desert land have you lived, where no one was kind enough to inform you that these fancies which you have so greedily imbibed are a thousand years old and as musty as they are ancient? (26).

Question 6

Chimera

Answer 6

A monster from Greek mythology that has a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a snake’s tail; something that exists only in the imagination and not in reality. I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth (27).

Question 7

Transmute

Answer 7

To transform the form or nature of something. The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted, and that the elixir of life is a chimera (27).

Question 8

Indefatigable

Answer 8

Capable of working for a very long time without being fatigued. He said that ‘these were men to whose indefatigable zeal modern philosophers were indebted for most of the foundations of their knowledge’ (28).

Question 9

Deference

Answer 9

Behavior that shows the respect or esteem due to an elder or superior. I expressed myself in measured terms, with the modesty and deference due from a youth to his instructor (29).

Question 10

Application

Answer 10

The act or habit of applying oneself to a task; diligent effort. ‘I am happy,’ said M. Waldman, ‘to have gained a disciple; and if your application equals your ability, I have no doubt of your success’ (50).

Question 11

Dogmatism

Answer 11

The tendency to assert that one’s beliefs are true without considering the evidence or the opinions of others; arrogant assertion of opinion as truth. In M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature, that banished every idea of pedantry (29).

Question 12

Bestow

Answer 12

To give as a gift; to bequeath or confer a gift, honor, or right. Note: The word bestow is usually followed by the proposition upon. I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter (31).

Question 13

Ardent

Answer 13

Characterized by a warmth or intensity of feeling. I will not lead you on, unguarded and ardent as I then was, to your destruction and infallible misery (31).

Question 14

Exalt

Answer 14

To praise highly; to raise in rank, stature, or power. I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself, or one of simpler organization; but my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man (32).

Question 15

Magnitude

Answer 15

The size, extent, or importance of something. I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success. Nor could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any argument of its impracticability (32)

Question 16

Disquiet

Answer 16

To make someone worried or nervous. [T]he same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them (33).

Question 17

Engross

Answer 17

To engage the whole attention of someone. I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves — sights which before always yielded me supreme delight — so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation (34).