Vocabulary

Vocab

Lauren Rekhelman

1)   Repugnance

-       Inconsistency or incompatibility of ideas or statements

-       Noun

-       All their repugnance was contained in the neat balance of the triangles- a balance that soothed him, transferred some of its equilibrium to him.

-       The repugnance of two people’s political beliefs can often lead to much dislike and tension.

2)   Abate

-       To become less intense. To be soothed or alleviated.

-       Verb (or, as used in the book, abated is an adjective)

-       Shadrack was suffering from a blinding headache, which was not abated by the comfort he felt when the policemen pulled his hands away from what he thought was a permanent entanglement with his shoelaces.

-       The lightning flashes were so frequent, and the thunder so loud, that not even the mother could abate her child’s fear. 

3)   Unequivocal

-       Leaving no doubt.

-       Adjective

-       A black so definite, so unequivocal, it astonished him.

-       It is an unequivocal fact that everyone has to die at some point. 

4)   Quell

-  Put an end to, typically through force.

- Verb

- . . . This tall, proud woman, this woman who was very particular about her friends, who slipped into church with unequaled elegance, who could quell a roustabout with a look . . .

- Her presence was so intimidating that she could quell an argument just by entering a room.

5)   Guile

-       Sly or cunning intelligence

-       Noun

-       Her flirting was sweet, low and guileless.

-       In folk tales and fables, it is common for the character of the fox to have much guile in its personality.

6)   Fastidious

-       Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail.

-       Adjective

-       She liked the last place least . . . because her love mate’s tendency was always to fall asleep afterward and Hannah was fastidious about whom she slept with.

-       In her painting, the artist chose her colors with fastidious care.

7)   Vitriol

-       Cruel and bitter criticism

-       Noun

-       She was unquestionably a kind and generous woman and that . . . made them defend her from any vitriol that newcomers or their wives might spill.

-       When people spread vitriol about somebody it is often untrue and can be extremely harmful.

8)   Insouciant

-       Casually lacking of concern. Indifferent.

-       Adjective

-       Nel’s grimy intractable children looked like three wild things happily insouciant in the May shine.

-       The man’s insouciant attitude towards the giant squid waltzing down 5^th avenue was quite strange.

 

9)   Contrive

- create or bring about by deliberate use of skill or artifice.

- Verb (used as another one of those weird verb/ adjectives in the book- contrived)

- Their evidence against Sula was contrived, but their conclusions about her were not.

- The judge threw out the case because she said the prosecutor had contrived the evidence.

10)                  Pariah

-       An outcast

-       Noun

-       She was a pariah, then, and knew it. Knew that they despised her and believed that they framed their hatred as disgust for the easy way she lay with men.

-       In Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem, the main character becomes a Pariah because he begins to think differently from everyone else in his community.