English 222
Ms. Dawes
Lord of the Flies
Vocabulary
1. Specious - adjective.
attractive
Plausible but actually fallacious. (2) Deceptively
2. Effulgence – noun. A brilliant radiance.
3. Furtive – adjective. Expressive of hidden motives or purposes; shifty.
4. Mortification – noun. A feeling of shame, humiliation or wounded pride.
5. Askew – adjective. To one side.
6. Hiatus – noun. A gap or an interruption in space, time, or continuity; a
break.
7. Errant – adjective. Roving especially in search of adventure. (2) Straying
from the proper course of standards. (3) Wandering outside the
established limits.
8. Recrimination – noun. A countercharge. To accuse in return.
9. Vicissitudes – noun. A change or variation. (b) The quality of being
changeable; mutability. (2) One of the sudden or unexpected changes or
shifts often encountered in one’s life, activities, or surroundings.
10. Tacit – adjective. Not spoken. (2) Implied by or inferred from actions or
statements.
11. Susurration – noun. A soft whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.
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12. Derisive – adjective. Mocking; jeering.
13. Diffidently = diffident – adjective. Lacking or marked by a lack of selfconfidence; shy and timid.
14. Leviathan – noun. Something unusually large of its kind, especially a ship.
(2) A very large animal. (3) A monstrous sea creature mentioned in the
Bible.
15. Covert – adjective. Not openly practiced, avowed, engaged in,
accumulated, or shown.
16. Impervious – adjective. Impossible to penetrate. (2) Impossible to
affect.
17. Rebuke – verb. To criticize or reprove sharply; reprimand. (2) To check
or repress.
18. Cessation – noun. A bringing or coming to an end; a ceasing.
19. Ululation – noun. A long loud emotional utterance; a howl or wail.
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English 222
Ms. Dawes
Lord of the Flies
Vocabulary
1. Proffer – verb. To offer for acceptance; tender. Noun – an offer
2. Motif – noun. A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary
work. (2) A dominant theme or central idea.
3. Emboss – verb. To mold or carve in relief. (2) To adorn; decorate.
4. Strident – adjective. Loud, harsh, grating or shrill.
5. Scutter – verb. To move with a clattering, scurrying sound.
6. Matins – noun. The service of public morning prayer.
7. Precentor – noun. A cleric who directs the choral services of a church or
cathedral.
8. Immure – verb. To confine within or as if within walls; imprison. (2) To
entomb in a wall.
9. Defiles – noun. A narrow gorge or pass that restricts lateral movement
as of troops. (2) A march in a line.
10. Ebullience – noun. Zestful enthusiasm.
11. Gesticulate – verb. To say or express by movement.
12. Festoon – noun. A string or garland, as of flowers, suspended in a loop or
curve between two points. Verb. To decorate.
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13. Pliant – adjective. Easily bent or flexed. (2) Easily altered or modified to
fit conditions; adaptable.
14. Caper – verb. To leap or frisk about, frolic.
15. Abyss – noun. An unfathomable chasm; an immeasurably profound depth
or void.
16. Inscrutable – adjective. Difficult to fathom or understand;
impenetrable.
17. Contrite – adjective. Feeling regret and sorrow for one’s sins or
offenses.
18. Declivity – noun. A downward slope.
19. Impalpable – adjective. Not perceptible to touch; intangible. (2)
Difficult to perceive or grasp by the mind.
20. Incursion – noun. A raid or invasion into foreign territory. (2) The act
of entering another’s territory or domain.
21. Detritus – noun. Loose fragments or grains that have been worn away
from rock; debris.
22. Vagrant – noun. One who wanders from place to place without a
permanent home or a means of livelihood. (2) a wanderer.
23. Swarthy – adjective. Having a dark complexion or color.
24. Indigo – noun. Any of various shrubs or herbs of the genus Indigofera
in the pea family. (2) Blue.
25. Idyl – noun. A scene or an event of a simple or tranquil nature. (2) A
carefree episode or experience.
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English 222
Ms. Dawes
Lord of the Flies
Vocabulary
1. Decorum - noun. Appropriateness of behavior or conduct; propriety.
(2) The conventions of polite behavior.
2. Inarticulate – adjective. Uttered without the use of normal words or
syllables; incomprehensible speech or language.
3. Tempestuous – adjective. Of, relating to, or resembling a tempest. (2)
stormy.
4. Discursive – adjective. Covering a wide field of subjects. (2)
Proceeding to a conclusion through reason.
5. Incantation – noun. Ritual recitation of charms or spells to produce a
magic effect.
6. Interminable – adjective.
endless.
Being or seeming to be without an end;
7. Embroil – verb. To involve in argument, contention, or hostile actions.
8. Plinth – noun. A block or slab on which a pedestal, column, or statue is
placed. (2) a continuous course of stones supporting a wall.
9. Dun – noun. An almost brownish gray to dull grayish brown color.
10. Scurfy – adjective. Scurf – noun. Scaly or shredded dry skin, such as
dandruff. (2) A loose scaly crust coating a surface, especially of a
plant.
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11. Pall – verb. To have a dulling, wearisome, or boring effect.
12. Runnels- noun. A rivulet; a brook. (2) a narrow channel of course.
13. Corpulent – adjective. Excessively fat.
14. Woebegone – adjective. Affected with or marked by deep sorrow,
grief or wretchedness.
15. Emphatic – adjective. Expressed or preformed with emphasis.
16. Myopia – noun. A visual defect in which distant objects appear
blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina
rather than on it; nearsightedness.
17. Talisman – noun. An object marked with magic signs, believed to
confer on its bearer supernatural powers or protection.
18. Inimical – adjective.
Unfriendly; hostile.
Injurious or harmful in effect; adverse.
(2)
19. Crepitate- verb. To make a crackling or popping sound.
20. Cordon – noun. A line of people, military posts, or ships stationed
around an area to enclose or guard it.
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