Things Fall Apart Vocabulary
arduous (adj.)
“It was a brief resting period between the exacting and
arduous planting season and the equally exacting but
light-hearted month of harvests.” (pg. 34)
Definition: full of hardships; difficult
Synonyms: troublesome, trying, exhausting
Antonyms: easy, simple
audacity (noun)
“Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would
have the audacity to bang on his door.” (pg. 76)
Definition: reckless boldness or daring; willingness to
challenge others
Synonyms: courage, bravery; nerve
Antonyms: fear; modesty, courtesy
benevolent (adj.)
“But it was really not true that Okonkwo’s palmkernels had been cracked for him by a benevolent
spirit.” (pg. 27)
Definition: charitable; intending to help others
Root: bene- good or well
Synonyms: generous, kind, giving
Antonyms: malevolent, selfish, hurtful
capricious (adj.)
“But
his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of
failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more
intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods
and of magic…” (pg. 13)
Definition: unpredictable, impulsive
Synonyms: flighty, fickle, mercurial
Antonyms: consistent, predictable
derision (noun)
“The Lord shall have them in derision.”
Definition: ridicule; mockery
Synonyms: scorn, disrespect, insult
Antonyms: flattery, compliment
effeminate (adj.)
“At the beginning of their journey the men of
Umuofia talked and laughed about the locusts,
about their women, and about some effeminate
men who had refused to come with them.”
Definition: having feminine traits; delicate
Synonyms: womanly, dainty, maternal
Antonyms: manly, masculine
esoteric (adj.)
“The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices:
Am oyim de de de de! filled the air as the spirits of the
ancestors, just emerged from the earth, greeted themselves
in their esoteric language.”
Definition: understood by or meant for a
select few; mysterious
Root: eso - within
Synonyms: private, secretive
Antonyms: obvious, common, known
exacting (adj.)
“Yam, the king of crops, was a very exacting king.”
(pg. 33)
Definition: rigid or severe in demands or requirements
Synonyms: demanding, challenging, rigorous
Antonyms: giving, mild
feign (verb)
“…Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble
aloud about women and their troubles.” (pg. 52)
Definition: to fake or to imitate deceptively
Synonyms: to pretend, deceive
Antonyms: to be honest; to reveal
harbinger (noun)
“At first, a fairly small swarm came. They were the
harbingers sent to survey the land.” (pg. 56)
Definition: somebody or something that foreshadows
a future event
Synonyms: omen; messenger, herald
improvident (adj.)
“Unoka…was lazy and improvident and was
quite incapable of thinking about
tomorrow.” (pg. 4)
Definition: lacking foresight, failing to think
about the future
Roots: im - not
Synonyms: thoughtless, careless, shortsighted
Antonyms: attentive, careful, cautious
incipient (adj.)
Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years
old but was already causing his father great
anxiety for his incipient laziness.” (pg. 13)
Definition: beginning or developing
Root: in – into, upon
Synonyms: budding, evolving, starting
Antonyms: dying, withering; mature
miscreant (adj. or noun)
“A sudden fury rose within him and he felt a strong
desire to take up his machete, go to the church and
wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang.”
Definition: depraved, villainous, or base
Root: mis – bad, badly
Synonyms: corrupt, wicked, or unprincipled
Antonyms: good, moral, wholesome
poignant (adj.)
“But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached
to each other that such moments became less
frequent and less poignant.” (pg. 34)
Definition: intense; emotional, sentimental
Synonyms: powerful; touching, moving
Antonyms: calm, numb, unaffecting
voluble (adj.)
“Tortoise was very happy and voluble as he flew
among the birds, and he was soon chosen as the
man to speak for the party because he was a great
orator.”
Definition: characterized by a ready and continuous
flow of words
Synonyms: talkative, prolix, chatty
Antonyms: speechless, tight-lipped, reserved