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_Heart of Darkness_ Vocabulary 1

3/20/2017

2 Comments

 

  1. estuary
    the wide part of a river where it nears the sea
    It was difficult to realize his work was not out there in the luminous estuary, but behind him, within the brooding gloom.
  2. ascetic
    characteristic of the practice of rigorous self-discipline
    He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, anascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol.
  3. benign
    pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence
    The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist on the Essex marsh was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds.
  4. diaphanous
    so thin as to transmit light
    The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist on the Essex marsh was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds.
  5. profound
    far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect
    Forthwith a change came over the waters, and the serenity became less brilliant but more profound.
  6. venerable
    impressive by reason of age
    We looked at the venerable stream not in the vivid flush of a short day that comes and departs for ever, but in the august light of abiding memories.
  7. rotund
    spherical in shape
    It had borne all the ships whose names are like jewels flashing in the night of time, from the GOLDEN HIND returning with her rotund flanks full of treasure, to be visited by the Queen's Highness and thus pass out of the gigantic tale, to the EREBUS and TERROR, bound on other conquests--and that never returned.
  8. sedentary
    requiring sitting or little activity
    He was a seaman, but he was a wanderer, too, while most seamen lead, if one may so express it, a sedentary life.
  9. propensity
    a disposition to behave in a certain way
    But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.
  10. calamity
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    Then the whole population cleared into the forest, expecting all kinds of calamities to happen, while, on the other hand, the steamer Fresleven commanded left also in a bad panic, in charge of the engineer, I believe.
  11. somnambulist
    someone who walks about in their sleep
    The slim one got up and walked straight at me--still knitting with down-cast eyes--and only just as I began to think of getting out of her way, as you would for a somnambulist, stood still, and looked up.
  12. scrutinize
    look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail
    Often far away there I thought of these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one introducing, introducing continuously to the unknown, the other scrutinizing the cheery and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes.
  13. erroneous
    containing or characterized by error
    'What you say is rather profound, and probably erroneous,' he said, with a laugh.
  14. emissary
    someone sent on a mission to represent another's interests
    Something like an emissary of light, something like a lower sort of apostle.
  15. sordid
    morally degraded
    Little Popo; names that seemed to belong to some sordid farce acted in front of a sinister back-cloth.
  16. languid
    lacking spirit or liveliness
    The idleness of a passenger, my isolation amongst all these men with whom I had no point of contact, the oily and languid sea, the uniform sombreness of the coast, seemed to keep me away from the truth of things, within the toil of a mournful and senseless delusion.
  17. lugubrious
    excessively mournful
    There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight; and it was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a camp of natives--he called them enemies!--hidden out of sight somewhere.
  18. declivity
    a downward slope or bend
    A rocky cliff appeared, mounds of turned-up earth by the shore, houses on a hill, others with iron roofs, amongst a waste of excavations, or hanging to the declivity.
  19. alacrity
    liveliness and eagerness
    He had a uniform jacket with one button off, and seeing a white man on the path, hoisted his weapon to his shoulder with alacrity.
  20. obliquely
    at a slanting angle
    Finally I descended the hill, obliquely, towards the trees I had seen.
  21. efface
    make inconspicuous
    "Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair.
  22. elicit
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    Further questions elicited from him that Mr. Kurtz was at present in charge of a trading-post, a very important one, in the true ivory-country, at the very bottom of there.
  23. yokel
    a person who is not intelligent or interested in culture
    Well, if a lot of mysterious niggers armed with all kinds of fearful weapons suddenly took to travelling on the road between Deal and Gravesend, catching the yokels right and left to carry heavy loads for them, I fancy every farm and cottage thereabouts would get empty very soon.
  24. imbecile
    having a mental age of three to seven years
    A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse.
  25. gesticulate
    show, express or direct through movement
    The pilgrims could be seen in knots gesticulating, discussing.
  26. exuberant
    produced or growing in extreme abundance
    The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks, branches, leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to topple over the creek, to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence.

modified from https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/263453​
2 Comments
Jackeline Ahtziri Martinez
3/26/2017 12:57:21

2.- Cromwell himself was no [ascetic] and saw no harm in honest sport.

3.- EuSacµovia, literally the state of being under the protection of a [benign] spirit, a "good genius"), in ethics, the name applied to theories of morality which find the chief good of man in some form of happiness.

5.- I love you, E. While placing the ring on the top of his index finger, a wave of [profound] sadness washed over him.

6.- He is a beneficent and [venerable] old man of the sea, full of wisdom and skilled in prophecy, but, like Proteus, he will only reveal what he knows under compulsion.

9.- When favorable opportunities occur, it often kills many more victims than it can devour at once, either to gratify its [propensity] for killing or for the sake of their fresh blood.

10.- It undoubtedly existed in pre-exilian Israel, especially in times of crisis or [calamity], for the appeasement of an offended deity

11.- Like a [somnambulist] aroused from her sleep Natasha went out of the room and, returning to her hut, fell sobbing on her bed.

13.- He was accused of [erroneous] doctrine, and the Spanish viceroy of Naples prohibited his preaching

22.- He told stories about his past as a historian, even [eliciting] a few laughs from members of the crowd

24.- Pierre continued, in French, to persuade the officer not to hold that drunken [imbecile] to account.





Reply
Edoardo Munoz
4/5/2017 22:39:52

Scrutinize is by far my favorite word in the entirety of this list. I think that we as future scholars relate immensely to it. We scrutinize to acquire knowledge and succeed in the academic world. We scrutinize during tutorials for the potential of a better AP score.

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