Vocabulary from
An American Childhood
By Annie Dillard
Improvise
“We kept running, block after block:
we kept improvising, backyard after
backyard, running a frantic course”
(Dillard 56).
Create and perform without
preparation
Example: When the actor
forgot his lines he had to
improvise.
Translucent
“I started making an iceball—a perfect
iceball, from perfectly white snow,
perfectly spherical, and squeezed
perfectly translucent so no snow
remained all the way through” (Dillard
54).
Allowing light, but not images,
through
Example: Frosted window
glass is translucent but not
transparent.
Simultaneous
“We kept improvising, backyard after backyard,
running a frantic course and choosing it
simultaneously, failing always to find small places
or hard places to slow him down” (Dillard 56).
Existing or occurring at the
same time
Examples:
 1. The two gunshots were
simultaneous.
 2. There was a simultaneous
release of the movie and its
soundtrack on CD.
Labyrinth
“He chased us through the
backyard labyrinths of ten
blocks” (Dillard 56)
A maze (in a garden)
formed by paths separated
by high hedges.
Example: He got lost in a
complex labyrinth of tunnels
and chambers.
Embark
“I had just embarked on the iceball
project when we heard tire chains
come clanking from afar” (Dillard
54).
 To start or begin something
important.
Examples:
Millions of Europeans
embarked for America in the
late 19th century.
He embarked on a new
Redundant
“If we listened at all, for the
chewing out was redundant, a
mere formality, and beside the
point” (Dillard 56).
No longer needed or useful
Example: He edited the
paper and removed any
redundant information or
statements.
Righteous
“He could only begin, ‘You stupid
kids,’ and continue in his ordinary
Pittsburg accent with his normal
righteous anger and the usual
common sense” (Dillard 57).
Right or moral
Example: A righteous man
can be trusted to act
honorably regardless of the
circumstances.
Perfunctory
“‘You stupid kids,’ he began
perfunctorily” (Dillard 56).
Done routinely with little
interest or care
Example: The violinist
delivered a perfunctory
performance that displayed
none of the passion and
warmth he was once known
Crenellated
“The cars’ tires laid behind them on
the snowy street a complex trail of
beige chunks like crenellated castle
walls” (Dillard 54).
Having rows of squares like
notches along a castle wall
Example: The archers used
the crenellated walls to shoot
at the enemy.