Vocabulary Flashcards
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Fledged
to cover with or as if with feathers or down.
“The beached was fledged with palm trees.”
Motif
a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work.
Here the beach was interrupted abruptly by the square motif of the landscape;
Efflorescence
the action or process of developing and unfolding as if coming into flower: blossoming
It was clear to the bottom and bright with the efflorescence of tropical weed and coral.
Specious:
having deceptive attraction or allure; having a false look of truth or genuineness
Ralph had been deceived before now by the specious appearance of depth in a beach pool.
Effulgence:
a brilliant radiance; a shining forth.
The lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence.
Enmity:
he state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.
He trotted through the sand, enduring the sun’s enmity,
Fulcrum
The support about which a lever turns
Ralph used one hand as a fulcrum and pressed down with the other till the shell rose.
Embossed:
To raise or represent, to decorate, to cause to bulge out
Eighteen inches of shell with a slight spiral twist and covered with a delicate, embossed pattern.
Intricacies:
A complex part, action,
A deep, harsh note boomed under the palms, spread through the intricacies of the forest.
Eccentric:
deviating from the recognized or customary character
“The boys, marching in step in two parallel lines and dressed in strangely eccentric clothing.”
Matins:
Morning Prayer;
He’s threw a faint,”said Merridew. “He did in Gib.; and Addis; and at matins over the precentor.”
Precentor
The person presiding over a chior.
He’s threw a faint,”said Merridew. “He did in Gib.; and Addis; and at matins over the precentor.”
Pallidly
deficient in color; very pale
The choir boy who fainted looked pallidly at Ralph
Mortification:
a sense of humiliation and shame caused by something that wounds one’s pride.
The choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification
Suffusion:
spread over or through in the manner of fluid or light.
“The suffusion drained away from Jack’s face
Pallor:
Unusual or extreme or extreme paleness as from fear, ill health, or death.
Now that the pallor of his faint was over, he was a skinny, vivid little boy
Dispersal:
The act or process of breaking up and spreading out.
There was a great dispersal.
Askew:
out of line; not organized in an orderly fashion
Some force had wrenched and shattered these cubes so askew, the were often piled on each other.
Surmounted:
to mount upon; get on the top of; mount upon and crossover.
The most usual feature of the rock was a pink cliff surmounted by askewed block
Skewed
to distort especially from a true value or symmetrical form
The most usual feature of the rock was a pink cliff surmounted by a skewed block;
Immured:
To imprison; To shut in; seclude or confine
“Immured in these tangles, at perhaps their most difficult moment, Ralph turned to the others.”
Defiles
a narrow passage or gorge
“The boys chose their way through defiles and over heaps of sharp stone”
Lavishly
using or giving in great amounts; prodigal
The overflow of flowers hung down the vent and spilled lavishly among the canopy of the forest.”
Bastion:
a fortified area or position
There was another island; a rock, almost detached, standing like pink bastion
