Into the Wild
Vocabulary
Directions —
As you read the quote from Into
the Wild and the additional
sentence (if provided), write down
what you believe is the correct
definition. Use context clues, the
terms and definitions that you’ve
received (do not use the
handout), and the image to help
you determine the meaning.
contumacious: rebellious; stubbornly or
willfully disobedient to authority
 “The prospect of fording this lattecolored torrent discourages most
people from traveling any farther.
Thompson, Samel, and Swanson,
however, are __________________
Alaskans with a special fondess
for driving where motor vehicles
aren’t designed to be driven” (11)
incongruously: lacking in harmony,
compatibility or appropriateness; unsuitably
 “A vintage International
Harvester from the 1940’s, the
derelict vehicle is located
twenty-five miles west of Healy
as the raven flies, rusting
__________________ in the
fireweed beside the
Stampede, just beyond the
boundary of Denali National
Park” (10),
 Barbara told stories
__________________ to different
friends who consequently
found out and would never
trust her again.
unsullied: unblemished; faultless
 "Alaska has long been a
magnet for dreamers and
misfits, people who think the
__________________ enormity of
the Last Frontier will patch all
of the holes in their lives" (4).
 On our vacation, we went to
an isolated island that was
__________________ by tourist
attractions.
convivial: hospitable, welcoming, and
enjoyable
 “The living arrangements were
loose and __________________.
The four or five inhabitants
took turns cooking for one
another, went drinking
together, and chased woman
together, without success”
(18).
itinerant: traveling from place to place; a
person who travels from place to place
 “The Slabs functions as the
seasonal capital of a teeming
__________________ society—a
tolerant, rubber-tired culture
comprising the retired, the
exiled, the destitute, the
perpetually unemployed” (43).
 Because the traveling
salesman hated his
__________________ lifestyle, he
was happy to be nearing his
age of retirement.
egress: means to go out of or leave a place
 “…water came rushing down
from the high country, he had just
enough time to gather his tent
and belongings and save them
from being swept away. There
was nowhere to move the car,
however, as the only route of
__________________ was now a
foaming, full-blown river” (28).
congenial: pleasant because of a personality,
qualities, or interests that are similar to one's own;
amiable
 “The more they talked, the less
Alex struck Gallien as a
nutcase. He was
__________________ and
seemed well educated.
 While Hank’s team acts
__________________ after a win,
they secretly wish that they
could rub it in the other team’s
face.
indolently: showing a disposition to avoid
exertion; slothfully; lazily
 “Emasculated by dams
and diversion canals, the
lower Colorado burbles
__________________ from
reservoir to reservoir
through some of the
hottest, starkest country on
the continent” (32).
desiccated: dried; lacking moisture;
dehydrated
 “Away from the lakeshore the
land rises gently and then
abruptly to form the
__________________, phantasmal
badlands of Anza-Borrego” (49).
 It is possible to __________________
fruit for storage by leaving it on
trays out in the sun.
onerous: involving an amount of effort and
difficulty that is oppressively burdensome
 “He had spent the previous
four years, as he saw it,
preparing to fulfill an absurd
and __________________ duty:
to graduate college” (22).
 When Joe agreed to help his
father cut the grass, he did not
realize the chore would be so
__________________.
taciturn: reserved or uncommunicative
in speech; saying little
 "Samuel Walter McCandless,
Jr., fifty-six years old, is a
bearded __________________
man..." (103).
 By nature, Sheila is a
__________________ woman
who keeps her thoughts to
herself.
fulminate: to issue a heated verbal
attack
"...McCandless's face
would darken with
anger and he'd
__________________
about his parents or
politicians or the
endemic idiocy of
mainstream
American life" (52).
gregarious: fond of company;
sociable; outgoing
 “He was intensely private but
could be convivial and
__________________ in extreme”
(115).
opprobrium: harsh criticism; the public
disgrace arising from someone's shameful
conduct.
 “The article about McCandless in
Outside generated a large
volume of mail, and not a few
letters of the letters heaped
__________________ on
McCandless—and on me, as well,
the author of the story, for
glorifying what some thought was
a foolish, pointless death” (70-71)
phantasmal: ghostly; unreal; illusory
 “Away from the lakeshore the
land rises gently and then
abruptly to form the desiccated,
__________________ badlands of
Anza-Borrego” (49).
 The __________________ aura
occasionally lures unwary
travelers to their doom.
Moldering: slowly decaying or
disintegrating; rotting
“Immediately inside
the door is the torn
mattress, stained and
__________________,
on which
McCandless expired”
(178).
Sanctimonious: making a show of being
morally superior to other people; selfrighteous
“…Chris would fixate
on his father’s own
less than sterling
behavior many years
earlier and silently
denounce him as a
__________________
hypocrite” (122).
Idyll- an extremely happy, peaceful, or
picturesque experience or scene
 “…the contentment that
began in mid-May
resumed and seemed to
continue through early
July. Then, in the midst of
this __________________,
came the first of two
pivotal setbacks” (168).
Incorrigible- uncontrollable; incapable
of being reformed.
 “…he was no tightlipped, perpetually grim
do-gooder who frowned
on fun. To the contrary,
he enjoyed tipping a
glass now and then and
was an
__________________ ham”
(115).
Extemporaneous- spoken or done
without preparation; impromptu
“Chris took his Datsun
on another
prolonged,
__________________
road trip” (124).