Vocabulary
The Chrysalids
Chapter 1
Sunday precepts: rules to guide or direct human behavior
Definition of Man: the religious definition of a normally formed human being as David’s society
believed it should be
Blasphemy: by the terms of David’s society, a malformed human being
Offence: a malformed animal or vegetable
Germinate: to begin to develop
Cleft: a crack, a split (for example: in wood)
Rote: a set, mechanical way of doing things (ie. Repeating the times tables in math)
Cold-poulticed: a soft, moist mixture of mustard and herbs, spread on a cloth, and applied to a
sore or injury.
Chapter 2
Nicholson’s Repentances: repentance means a turning away from the path of disobedience to
the prescribed method of behavior. This book was obviously a guide to mortality for the people
of Waknuk.
mutant: an animal or human that has some basic physical or mental alteration; a freak
deviation: a marked departure from the accepted pattern; in David’s society, mutants are
deviations
midden: refuse heap or manure pile
leeward: the side away from the wind; a sheltered place
wattle: framework of twigs interlaced, used for roofs, walls and fences
wraith: a ghost
meticulousness: excessive attention to small details
Chapter 3
norm: the standard, or the average; in this case, whatever was considered normal by the
teachings of the Waknuk society
Implacable: that which cannot be pacified; relentless, without mercy
Chapter 4
helve: the handle of an axe
sub judice: a case that is still before the court, awaiting a ruling, is said to be sub judice
spinney: a small area of brush or undergrowth
ethics: a set of moral principles stating how men must act
attested pedigrees: certified documents signed by witnesses to prove genuine the ancestral
line of an animal
rick: a large stack, as of hay
dissemble: pretend
demise: discontinuance or ending of operation
peroration: concluding part of a speech
rectitude: uprightness; goodness, morality
pedant: a person who makes a display of his learning
trenchant: sharp, mentally alert, keen
Chapter 5
No vocabulary
Chapter 6
Abetting a concealment: helping to hide a deviate
Saprophytes: organisms that live off dead matter
Badlands: Waknuk’s name for country that was so affected by Tribulation that it was believed
to be unreclaimable, or totally beyond hope of ever supporting life.
Chapter 7 has no vocabulary
Chapter 8
Poker-work texts: the practice of burning sayings or proverbs into wood or leather. These were
the signs that hung in David’s home.
Funking: shrinking back because of fear or uncertainty.
Fruition: state of bearing fruit; hence, realization, as in one’s hopes or plans
Chapter 9
Echelon: an arrangement of men in a series of rows, but patterned like steps
Stoking: arranging sheafs of grain into mounds for drying and curing
Chapter 10 has no vocabulary
Chapter 11
Orthodoxy: sound and correct opinion; in this case, correct qualities
Amorphous splodge: shapeless splotch
Retroussé: turned-up
Tribunal: a court of justice; in this case, a court which rules on deviations
Propitious: favorable, promising
Abeyance: a condition of suspended activity
Propreitorial: arising from or showing awareness of ownership
Overt: open; not secret
Chapter 12
Sealand: probably what we know as New Zealand
Spoor: trail or track
Hobble the horses: tie or fasten their legs together loosely so that they can graze, but not run
away
Imminent: threatening to occur immediately
Chapter 13
Disemboweled: torn open so the bowels come out
Sententiously: speaking as if one were a judge settling the question
Chapter 14
Symbiosis: a blending into one; close association
Aberrate: to deviate from the normal
Miscegenate: a mixture of types
Homogeneal: of a similar kind or nature
Consensus: agreement in opinion
Chapter 15
Has no vocabulary
Chapter 16
Tableau: sometimes called a living picture; usually, it is a group of people standing transfixed in
reaction to some incident
Appliqué: an adornment sewn onto a dress
Treacle: viscous, sticky substance
Chapter 17
Apologia: a defense or justification of the way one conducts his life
Superior variant: a type of series; in this case, a type of human species that is better than
others