Term 2 Vocabulary
Activity 1
servile: adj. of or befitting a slave or a menial position; meanly or cravenly submissive
Alice had always maintained a servile attitude around people with money.
Bob Cratchit’s servile disposition was ultimately served by Scrooges’ charity.
quagmire: n. soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot; a difficult, or precarious position
The quadratic equation put me in a quandary; if I unable to solve the problem I will surely be in
a quagmire concerning my grade.
Because the candidate was caught in a scandal he faced the quagmire of regaining popularity.
anachronism: n. an error in chronology; especially: a chronological misplacing of persons, events,
objects, or customs in regard to each other
The family who made everything from bread to clothes from scratch, seemed to be an
anachronism in our time of pre-made products.
In Somewhere in Time, a play write finds himself an anachronism when he experience time travel.
surreptitious: adj. done, made, or acquired by stealth; acting or doing something clandestinely
The woman had a surreptitious relationship with her employee.
The renegade surreptitiously divulged the scandalous information to his former enemy.
wheedle: v. to influence or entice by soft words or flattery; to gain or get by wheedling
Albert wheedled and coaxed but James would not be swayed by such flattery.
The car salesman wheedled the woman into buying a more expensive car model than planned.
Activity 2
Sentence: I feel I even walk like that: crouched over, my spine constricting to a question mark, my bones
leached of calcium and porous as limestone.
Reason: I liked the use of constricting in this sentence. When you are crouched over your spine
does feel compact. I think that most writers would have said “bend” but constricting is more
truthful and descriptive.
Sentence: I am leashed, it looks like, manacled: cobwebbed, that’s closer.
Reason: In the story wool yarn is being wrapped around her wrists. I liked the use of cobwebbed
in context of the story. The woman who is wrapping the yarn around her is in charge of her, her
spider, and she is the servant, the victim of the spider.
Sentence: This idea hangs between us, almost visible, almost palpable; heavy, formless, dark; collusion
of a sort, betrayal of a sort.
Reason: This sentence feels like a string of thoughts. The protagonist is agreeing to a very
dangerous deal. This sentence is appropriate for the occasion because in all her anxiety I think
that incomplete thoughts really would be running through her head.
Sentence: Then she sighs, rises heavily, and wipes her hands with ostentation on her apron, to show me
how much trouble I am.
Reason: I liked the use of ostentation in this sentence. Usually ostentation is associated with
wealth. But it still matches the definition to display or attract attention.
Sentence: Maybe you would be able to work it out together, as if the two of you were a puzzle that could
be saved; otherwise, one of you, most likely the man, would go wandering off on a trajectory of his own.
Reason: Trajectory is a stiff, scientific word. In the book the protagonist is talking about the
formula and pattern of love. I like the word trajectory because is matches the feeling that the
components of love are inevitable and a simple, predictable process.
Activity 3