Vocab Lord of the Flies

Question 1

specious

Answer 1

Adjective
superficially plausible, but actually wrong.
“Ralph had been deceived specious appearance of depth in a beach pool and he approached this one preparing to be disappointed”(12, Golding)

Question 2

effulgence

Answer 2

Noun
A state of being bright and radiant, splendor, brilliance.
“His lips quivered and the spectacles were dimmed with mist. “We may stay here till we die.” 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,Golding)

Question 3

enmity

Answer 3

Noun
the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.
“‘Get my clothes,’ muttered Ralph. “Along there.” He trotted through the sand, enduring the sun’s enmity, crossed the platform, and found his scattered clothes.”(page 14, Golding)

Question 4

decorous

Answer 4

adjective
in keeping with good taste and propriety; polite and restrained.
“A stone.” “No. A shell.” Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement.” (page 15, Golding)

Question 5

indignation

Answer 5

noun
anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment.
“He turned and raced after the other two. Piggy stood and the rose of indignation faded slowly from his cheeks. He went back to the platform.”(page 25, Golding)

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.”(page 31, Golding)

Question 7

ebullience

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, turned toward the forest, and began to pick his way over

Question 8

recrimination

Answer 8

)noun
b)an accusation in response to one from someone else.
c)”His voice lifted into the whine of virtuous recrimination. They stirred and began to shout him down.” (Page 43, Golding)

Question 9

tumult

Answer 9

a)noun
b)a loud, confused noise, especially one caused by a large mass of people.
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, Golding)

Question 10

furtive

Answer 10

a)adjective
b)attempting to avoid notice or attention, typically because of guilt or a belief that discovery would lead to trouble; secretive.
c) “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.”

Question 11

inscrutable

Answer 11

a)adjective
b)impossible to understand or interpret.
c) “Jack lifted his head and stared at the inscrutable masses of creeper that lay across the trail.”

Question 12

incredulous

Answer 12

a)adjective
b)(of a person or their manner) unwilling or unable to believe something.
c) “hey were silent again: Simon intent, Ralph incredulous and faintly indignant. He sat up, rubbing one shoulder with a dirty hand.”

Question 13

belligerence

Answer 13

a)Noun
b) aggressive or warlike behavior.
c) “Percival was mousecolored and had not been very attractive even to his mother; Johnny was well built, with fair hair and a natural belligerence.”

Question 14

chastisement

Answer 14

a)Verb
b)a severe criticism or punishment
c)“ Only Percival began to whimper with an eyeful of sand and Maurice hurried away. In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand.”

Question 15

incursion

Answer 15

a)noun
b)an invasion or attack, especially a sudden or brief one.
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.”

Question 16

disinclination

Answer 16

a)noun
b)a reluctance or lack of enthusiasm.
c) “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”

Question 17

derisive

Answer 17

Adjective
expressing contempt or ridicule.
“‘Not at night. There’s enough silly talk about beasts, without the littluns seeing you gliding about like a—’ The derisive laughter that rose had fear in it and condemnation.”(page 86, Golding)

Question 18

discursive

Answer 18

a ) adjective
b) digressing from subject to subject.
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.”

Question 19

incantation

Answer 19

a)Noun
b)a series of words said as a magic spell or charm.
c) “ Percival Wemys Madison, of the Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony, lying in the long grass, was living through circumstances in which the incantation of his address was powerless to help him.”

Question 20

interminable

Answer 20

adjective
endless (often used hyperbolically).
“An interminable dawn faded the stars out, and at last light, sad and grey, filtered into the shelter.”

Question 21

tremulously

Answer 21

a) Adverb
b)In a trembling, quivering, or shaking manner.
c) “Sam ’n Eric. Call them to an assembly. Quietly. Go on.” The twins, holding tremulously to each other, dared the few yards to the next shelter and spread the dreadful news. “

Question 22

leviathan

Answer 22

a) Noun
b) a very large aquatic creature, especially a whale.
c) “Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed streamed, and the water boiled over the table rock with a roar”

Question 23

decorum

Answer 23

a) noun
b)behavior in keeping with good taste and propriety.
c)”clothes, worn away, stiff like his own with sweat, put on, not for decorum or comfort but out of custom; “

Question 24

apprehension

Answer 24

a) noun
b) anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen.
c) “Ralph was full of fright and apprehension and pride.”

Question 25

sagely

Answer 25

a) adverb
b) in a profoundly wise manner.
c) “Ralph nodded. He pointed at the forest. Everybody agreed, sagely.”

Question 26

antagonism

Answer 26

a) noun
b) active hostility or opposition.
c) “Ralph sighed, sensing the rising antagonism, understanding that this was how Jack felt as soon as he ceased to lead.”

Question 27

impervious

Answer 27

a) adjective
b) not allowing fluid to pass through.
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.”

Question 28

bravado

Answer 28

a) adjective
b) a bold manner or a show of boldness intended to impress or intimidate.
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.”

Question 29

contemptuous

Answer 29

a) adjective
b) showing contempt; scornful.
c) ““Go up and see,” said Jack contemptuously, “and good riddance.””

Question 30

cynicism

Answer 30

a) noun
b) an inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest; skepticism.
c) “Even if he shut his eyes the sow’s head still remained like an after-image. The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life.”

Question 31

indignity

Answer 31

a) noun
b) treatment or circumstances that cause one to feel shame or to lose one’s dignity.
c) “ ignoring the flies, the spilled guts, even ignoring the indignity of being spiked on a stick”

Question 32

iridescent

Answer 32

adjective
showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles.
“ They tickled under his nostrils and played leapfrog on his thighs. They were black and iridescent green and without number;”

Question 33

corpulent

Answer 33

a) adjective
b) fat.
c)”Then as the blue material of the parachute collapsed the corpulent figure would bow forward, sighing, and the flies settle once more.”

Question 34

parody

Answer 34

a) noun
b) an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
c) “He crawled forward and soon he understood. The tangle of lines showed him the mechanics of this parody;”

Question 35

succulent

Answer 35

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

Question 36

skip

Answer 36

hi

Question 37

gesticulating

Answer 37

a) verb
b)use gestures, especially dramatic ones, instead of speaking or to emphasize one’s words.
c) “He was gesticulating, searching for a formula.”

Question 38

stricken

Answer 38

a) verb
b) afflicted or overwhelmed by or as if by disease, misfortune, or sorrow.
c) “Ralph’s voice, low and stricken, stopped Piggy’s gestures.”

Question 39

convulsively

Answer 39

a) adverb
b) resembling a convulsion in being violent, sudden, frantic, or spasmodic.
c) “Memory of the dance that none of them had attended shook all four boys convulsively.”

Question 40

torrid

Answer 40

a) adjective
b)very hot and dry.
c) “Sitting on the tremendous rock in the torrid sun, Roger received this news as an illumination.”

Question 41

luminous

Answer 41

a) adjective
b) full of or shedding light; bright or shining, especially in the dark.
c) “The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia.”

Question 42

myopia

Answer 42

a) Noun
b) nearsightedness.
c) “The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia.”

Question 43

propitiatingly

Answer 43

a) adverb
b) in a propitiating manner
c) ““I hadn’t,” said Ralph loudly. “I knew it all the time. I hadn’t forgotten.” Piggy nodded propitiatingly. “You’re chief, Ralph.”

Question 44

truculent

Answer 44

a) adjective
b) eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant.
c) “Truculently they squared up to each other but kept just out of fighting distance.”

Question 45

inimical

Answer 45

a) adjective
b) tending to obstruct or harm.
c) “To carry he must speak louder; and this would rouse those striped and inimical creatures from their feasting by the fire.”

Question 46

ululation

Answer 46

a) verb
b) howl or wail as an expression of strong emotion, typically grief.
c) “Eric raised his head and achieved a faint ululation by beating on his open mouth. Then he glanced behind him nervously.”

Question 47

crepitation

Answer 47

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.”