Vocab Lists

Front 1

Whittle

List 2

Back 1

To cut small bits or pare shavings from.

Hint 1

Jack had stopped whittling.

Front 2

Underlay

List 2

Back 2

To place something under or beneath something else.

Hint 2

There lay another of those pieces of pink squareness that underlay the structure of the island.

Front 3

Discursive

List 2

Back 3

Tending to cover a wide range of subjects.

Hint 3

The assembly shredded away and became a discursive and random scatter from the palms to the water and away along the beach, beyond night sight.

Front 4

Hiatus

List 2

Back 4

An interruption in the intensity or amount of something.

Hint 4

There came a pause, a hiatus, the pig continued to scream and the creepers to jerk, and the blade continued to flash at the end of a bony arm.

Front 5

Tensely

List 2

Back 5

In a stressed manner.

Hint 5

The assembly, sensing a crisis, was tensely expectant.

Front 6

Snivel

List 2

Back 6

Cry or wine with snuffling.

Hint 6

Piggy sniveled and Simon shushed him quickly as though he had spoken too loudly in church.

Front 7

Crass

List 2

Back 7

Lacking sensitivity, refinement, or intelligence.

Hint 7

Crass was worn away in front of each trunk but grew tall and untrodden in tile center of the triangle.

Front 8

Emboss

List 2

Back 8

To carve, mold, or stamp on a surface so that it stands out in relief.

Hint 8

Between the point, worn away in a little hole, and the pink lips of the mouth, lay eighteen inches of shell with a slight spiral twist and covered with a delicate, embossed pattern.

Front 9

Dangle

List 2

Back 9

To hang freely.

Hint 9

There was a speck above the island, a figure dropping swiftly beneath a parachute, a figure that hung with dangling limbs.

Front 10

Impalpable

List 2

Back 10

Not perceptible (visible) to the touch.

Hint 10

With impalpable organs of sense, they examined this new field.

Front 11

Ludicrous

List 3

Back 11

Laughably and obviously absurd; foolish.

Hint 11

But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains.

Front 12

Ineffectual

List 3

Back 12

Insufficient to produce a result; useless.

Hint 12

Piggy tiptoes to the triangle, his ineffectual protest made, and joined the others.

Front 13

Jeer

List 3

Back 13

To abuse vocally; to taunt or mock.

Hint 13

A sound, half-laugh, half-jeer, rose among the seated boys.

Front 14

Inarticulate

List 3

Back 14

Incomprehensible; unable to speak with clarity.

Hint 14

Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express to express mankind's essential illness.

Front 15

Leviathan

List 3

Back 15

Something very large; giant sea creature in the bible.

Hint 15

Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed steamed, and the water rolled over the table rock with a roar.

Front 16

Clamor

List 3

Back 16

A loud outcry; great expression of discontent.

Hint 16

Between the flashes of lightning the air was dark and terrible; and the boys followed him, clamourously.

Front 17

Mutinously

List 3

Back 17

Unruly; insubordinate or constituting a mutiny.

Hint 17

Mutinously, the boys fell silent of muttering.

Front 18

Crestfallen

List 3

Back 18

Dispirted and depressed; dejected

Hint 18

"I don't remember this cliff," said Jack, crestfallen.

Front 19

Impervious

List 3

Back 19

Incapable of being penetrated or affected.

Hint 19

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

Front 20

Enterprise

List 3

Back 20

An undertaking or business organization; industrious.

Hint 20

The darkness and desperate enterprise gave the night a kind of dentist's chair unreality.

Front 21

Egregious

List 4

Back 21

Extremely bad

Hint 21

The food was egregious, as we all got food poisoning an hour after eating it.

Front 22

Odious

List 4

Back 22

Instilling hatred or intense displeasure.

Hint 22

He had to repay the odious debt to the Council.

Front 23

Prosaic

List 4

Back 23

Plain, lacking livliness

Hint 23

The woman's prosaic qualities made it very hard for anyone to find her in a crowded room.

Front 24

Vex

List 4

Back 24

To confuse or annoy

Hint 24

My cat vexed me as I was writing a paper by walking across the keyboard.

Front 25

Capricious

List 4

Back 25

Subject to whim, fickle

Hint 25

But Henry, despite a violent and capricious temper, had a strong taste for the work of a legislator and administrator.

Front 26

Assiduous

List 4

Back 26

Hard-working, diligent

Hint 26

The assiduous student always turned his work in on time.

Front 27

Feral

List 4

Back 27

Wild, savage

Hint 27

The feral cat did not appreciate human contact, and would run away at the sight of them.

Front 28

Decry

List 4

Back 28

To criticize openly

Hint 28

Her mother decried her potatoes in front of the family for being too salty.

Front 29

Burnish

List 4

Back 29

To polish, shine

Hint 29

I burnished my antiques once a week to keep them in good condition, and to ensure they look good for my guests.

Front 30

Zephyr

List 4

Back 30

A gentle breeze

Hint 30

The zephyr during the hot August day made the heat bearable.

Front 31

Cerebral

List 5

Back 31

Of or relating to the brain

Hint 31

He suffered from Cerebral Palsy, a congenital disorder of movement, muscle tone, or posture.

Front 32

Susceptible

List 5

Back 32

Yielding readily to or capable of

Hint 32

Children are much more susceptible to contracting an illness than adults.

Front 33

Impediment

List 5

Back 33

Something immaterial that interferes with action or progress

Hint 33

His speech impediment made it hard for the class to follow along as he was giving his presentation.

Front 34

Woe

List 5

Back 34

Misery resulting from affliction

Hint 34

The novel was about the woes faced by a boy who was living in an abusive home.

Front 35

Whimper

List 5

Back 35

Cry weakly or softly

Hint 35

The puppy whimpered as the family left him alone in the kennel for the first time.

Front 36

Perseverance

List 5

Back 36

Persistent determination

Hint 36

It was his fifth attempt to solve a math equation, and if it wasn't for his perseverance he would have quit long ago.

Front 37

Persistent

List 5

Back 37

Never-ceasing

Hint 37

The dog continued to scratch at the door persistently until her own let her in.

Front 38

Ambidextrous

List 5

Back 38

Equally skillful with each hand

Hint 38

The ambidextrous artist was lucky because when one hand got tired, she simply switched to the other to paint.

Front 39

Minion

List 5

Back 39

Servile or fawning dependent

Hint 39

The minions of the man listened to him and didn't think twice about the orders he gave them.

Front 40

Decrepit

List 5

Back 40

Worn and broken down by hard use

Hint 40

The decrepit notebook had a missing front cover, and was filled inside and out.

Front 41

Half-Breed (n.)

List 6

Back 41

Offensive term for an offspring of parents of different races (especially of Caucasian and Native American ancestry.)

Hint 41

The mother was full Native American, and when her son married a Half-Breed, she was rejected by the woman.

Front 42

Vow (n. or v.)

List 6

Back 42

Promise

Hint 42

During the wedding the couple gave each other their vows, which caused the crowd to cry.

Front 43

Pummel (v.)

List 6

Back 43

Strike, usually with the fist

Hint 43

The bar fight ended with a pummel to the drunk man's face.

Front 44

Stroll (v.)

List 6

Back 44

To walk leisurely and with no apparant aim

Hint 44

I took my dog for a stroll around the park.

Front 45

Bureau (n.)

List 6

Back 45

An administrative unit of government

Hint 45

He represented the United States Bureau of Education at the International Congress of Educators at Brussels in 1880.

Front 46

Impending (v.)

List 6

Back 46

To lose in time; about to occur

Hint 46

The impending verdict was read and the court's silence was broken as the man was sentenced to life in prison.

Front 47

Rummage (v.)

List 6

Back 47

Search haphazardly

Hint 47

I rummaged through my bedroom to find my cell phone, but it turned out to just be in the kitchen.

Front 48

Petrify (v.)

List 6

Back 48

To change into stone

Hint 48

The petrified fossil of a dinosaur was found many years after the animal had perished.

Front 49

Articulate (adj. or v.)

List 6

Back 49

Characterized by clear, expressive language

Hint 49

The articulate speech could make anybody agree with the politicians views.

Front 50

Tautology (n.)

List 6

Back 50

A statement that is necessarily true

Hint 50

When the lawyer spoke to the jury, he used tautology to make the jurors aware of his point without being repetitive.

Front 51

Illiterate

List 7

Back 51

Not able to read or write

Hint 51

Although my Grandma was illiterate, she could speak with such clarity you would never know of her impediment.

Front 52

Dilate

List 7

Back 52

To make or become wider

Hint 52

The girl's eyes dilated as she filled with anger before her first fist fight.

Front 53

Redundancy

List 7

Back 53

Repitition of an act needlessly

Hint 53

The redundant information given by my math teacher would never serve purpose later in life.

Front 54

Secede

List 7

Back 54

Withdraw from an organization or policy.

Hint 54

The United State's seceded from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War.

Front 55

Monotonous

List 7

Back 55

Sounded or spoke in a tone unvarying by pitch

Hint 55

The monotonous Biology teacher made it hard to retain information that would be needed to pass his tests.

Front 56

Mode

List 7

Back 56

A particular functioning condition or arrangement

Hint 56

When she's in work mode, she can be the most productive person I know.

Front 57

Subtle

List 7

Back 57

Difficult to grasp by the mind or analyze

Hint 57

The subtle clue made it impossible to solve the mystery of where the treasure was hidden.

Front 58

Earnest

List 7

Back 58

Showing sincere and intense conviction

Hint 58

After he broke up with her, he apologized and was very earnest with his words and body language.

Front 59

Taut

List 7

Back 59

Pulled or drawn tight

Hint 59

Standing at the line waiting for the race to start, her calves her taut and ready.

Front 60

Retroactive

List 7

Back 60

Affecting things past

Hint 60

Junior's retroactive suit made the boys in the gym jealous of all the female attention he was getting.