- 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - profound
far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect
Forthwith a change came over the waters, and the serenity became less brilliant but more profound. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - erroneous
containing or characterized by error
'What you say is rather profound, and probably erroneous,' he said, with a laugh. - emissary
someone sent on a mission to represent another's interests
Something like an emissary of light, something like a lower sort of apostle. - sordid
morally degraded
Little Popo; names that seemed to belong to some sordid farce acted in front of a sinister back-cloth. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - obliquely
at a slanting angle
Finally I descended the hill, obliquely, towards the trees I had seen. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - gesticulate
show, express or direct through movement
The pilgrims could be seen in knots gesticulating, discussing. - 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