Lord Of The Flies Vocabulary

Front 1

efflorescence

Back 1

the process of developing and unfolding as if coming into flower: BLOSSOMING

Hint 1

The water was clear to the bottom and bright with the *efflorescence* of tropical weed and coral.

Front 2

specious

Back 2

having a false look of truth or genuineness

Hint 2

Ralph had been decieved before now by the *specious* appearance of depth in a beach pool and he approached this one preparing to be disappointed.

Front 3

enmity

Back 3

a strong active hatred

Hint 3

[Ralph] trotted through the sand, enduring the sun's *enmity*, crossed the platform and found his scattered clothes.

Front 4

irrelevance

Back 4

the quality of having no importance to the matter at hand

Hint 4

The shell was interesting and pretty and a worth plaything; but the vivid phantoms of his day-dream still interposed between him and Piggy, who in theis context was an *irrelevance*.

Front 5

incredulous

Back 5

not believing

Hint 5

They were twins and the eye was shocked and *incredulous* at such cheery duplication.

Front 6

furtive

Back 6

describing something/someone secretive and sly

Hint 6

There was a slight, *furtive* boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy.

Front 7

pallidly

Back 7

having an abnormally pale or wan complexion

Hint 7

...the choir boy who had fainted sat up against a palm trunk, smiled *pallidly* at Ralph and said that his name was Simon...

Front 8

suffusion

Back 8

the quality of being spread over as with light

Hint 8

The *suffusion* drained away from Jack's face.

Front 9

pliant

Back 9

something easily moved or influenced

Hint 9

Here the roots and stems of creepers were in such tangles that the boys had to thread through them like *pliant* needles.

Front 10

immure

Back 10

to enclose: IMPRISON

Hint 10

*Immured* in these tangles, at perhaps their most difficult moment, Ralph turned with shining eyes to the others.

Front 11

hiatus

Back 11

an interruption in time: a BREAK

Hint 11

[Jack] raised his arm in the air. There came a pause, a *hiatus*, the pig continued to flash at the end of a bony arm...

Front 12

ebullience

Back 12

lively, enthusiastic expression of thoughts or feelings: EXUBERANCE

Hint 12

Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless *ebullience* of the children, [Piggy] picked up the conch, turned toward the forest, and began to pick his way over the tumbled scar.

Front 13

inscrutable

Back 13

not easily understood or interpreted

Hint 13

Jack lifted his head and stared at the *inscrutable* masses of creeper that lay across the trail.

Front 14

vicissitude

Back 14

fluctuation of state or condition; "the ups and downs"

Hint 14

Jack stood there, streaming with ssweat, streaked with brown earth, stained by all the *vicissitudes* of a day's hunting.

Front 15

indignant

Back 15

angered or aloof because of something unjust or mean

Hint 15

They were silent again: Simon intent, Ralph incredulous and faintly *indignant*.

Front 16

rapt

Back 16

absorbed by emotion

Hint 16

Ralph gazed bewildered at [Jack's] *rapt* face.

Front 17

tacit

Back 17

implied but not actually spoken

Hint 17

Jack nodded, as much for the sake of agreeing as anything, and by *tacit* consent [he and Ralph] left the shelter and went toward the bathing pool.

Front 18

malevolently

Back 18

showing ill will or hate

Hint 18

Piggy grabbed and put on the glasses. He looked *malevolently* at Jack.

Front 19

reverence

Back 19

honor or respect

Hint 19

Ralph felt a kind of affectionate *reverence* for the conch, even though he had fished the thing out of the lagoon himself.

Front 20

festoon

Back 20

to hang a decorative strip between two points

Hint 20

Here the breeze was fitful and allowed the strings of the parachute to tangle and *festoon*; and the figure sat, its helmeted head between its knees, held by a comlication of lines.

Front 21

diffidently

Back 21

hesitant due to lack of self-confidence

Hint 21

*Diffidently*, Simon allowed his pace to slacken until he was walking side by side with Ralph and looking up at him through the coarse black hair that now fell to his eyes.

Front 22

plinth

Back 22

a square block serving as a base or foundation

Hint 22

The squareness of the rock allowed a sort of *plinth* around it, so that to the right, over the lagoon, one could inch along a ledge and turn the corner out of sight.

Front 23

guano

Back 23

bat or bird poo

Hint 23

Nothing but what you might expect: pink, tumbled boulders with *guano* layered on them like icing.

Front 24

obtuseness

Back 24

the quality of lacking sharpness or quickness, physically or intellectually

Hint 24

...but here, faced with the blunt *obtuseness* of the ocean...one was clamped own, one was helpless one was ondemned, one was--

Front 25

impervious

Back 25

incapable of being affected or damaged

Hint 25

So they sat, the rocking, tapping, *impervious* Roger and Ralph, fuming.

Front 26

gesticulate

Back 26

to make gestures

Hint 26

[Piggy] was *gesticulating*, looking for a formula.

Front 27

torrid

Back 27

giving off intense heat: SCORCHING

Hint 27

Sitting on the tremendous rock in the *torrid* sun, Roger recieved this news as an illumination.

Front 28

truculently

Back 28

showing ferocity: SAVAGELY

Hint 28

*Truculently* [Jack and Ralph] squared up to each other but kept just out of fighting distance.

Front 29

ululation/ululate

Back 29

a/to howl or wail

Hint 29

It was an ululation over by the seashore- and now the next savage answered and the next.

Front 30

effulgence

Back 30

radiant splendor: BRILLIANCE

Hint 30

With that word [die] the heat seemed to increse till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding *effulgence*.