Lord of the Flies Vocab

Question 1

Specious

Answer 1

Adjective

misleading in appearance, especially misleadingly attractive

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

Question 2

Effulgence

Answer 2

Adjective

shining brightly; radiant

“With that word the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence.”

Question 3

Enmity

Answer 3

Noun

the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something

“He trotted through the sand, enduring the sun’s enmity, crossed the platform and found his scattered clothes.”

Question 4

Decorous

Answer 4

Adjective

in keeping with good taste and propriety; polite and restrained

“Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement.”

Question 5

Indignation

Answer 5

Noun

anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment

“Piggy stood and the rose of indignation faded slowly from his cheeks.”

Question 6

Hiatus

Answer 6

Noun

a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process

“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.”

Question 7

Ebullience

Answer 7

Noun

the quality of being cheerful and full of energy; exuberance

“Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children, he picked up the conch, turned toward the forest, and began to pick his way over the tumbled scar”

Question 8

Recrimination

Answer 8

Noun

an accusation in response to one from someone else

“His voice lifted into the whine of virtuous recrimination.”

Question 9

Tumult

Answer 9

Noun

a loud, confused noise, especially one caused by a large mass of people

“He paused in the tumult, standing, looking beyond them and down the unfriendly side of the mountain to the great patch where they had found dead wood.”

Question 10

Furtive

Answer 10

Adjective

attempting to avoid notice or attention, typically because of guilt or a belief that discovery would lead to trouble; secretive

“Jack himself shrank at this cry with a hiss of indrawn breath, and for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape-like among the tangle of trees.”

Question 11

Inscrutable

Answer 11

Adjective

impossible to understand or interpret

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

Question 12

Incredulous

Answer 12

Adjective

(of a person or their manner) unwilling or unable to believe something

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

Question 13

Belligerence

Answer 13

Noun

aggressive or warlike behavior

”Johnny was well built, with fair hair and a natural belligerence.”

Question 14

Chastisement

Answer 14

Noun

a severe criticism or punishment

“In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand.”

Question 15

Incursion

Answer 15

Noun

an invasion or attack, especially a sudden or brief one

“Perhaps food had appeared where at the last incursion there had been none; bird droppings, insects perhaps, any of the strewn detritus of landward life.”

Question 16

Disinclination

Answer 16

Noun

a reluctance or lack of enthusiasm

“There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor.”

Question 17

Derisive

Answer 17

Adjective

expressing contempt or ridicule.

“The derisive laughter that rose had fear in it and condemnation”

Question 18

Discursive

Answer 18

Adjective

digressing from subject to subject

“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.”

Question 19

Incantation

Answer 19

Noun

a series of words said as a magic spell or charm

“Percival Wemys Madison, of the Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony, lying in the long grass, was living through circumstances in which the incantation of his address was powerless to help him.”

Question 20

Interminable

Answer 20

Adjective

endless (often used hyperbolically)

“An interminable dawn faded the stars out, and at last light, sad and grey, filtered into the shelter.”

Question 21

Tremulously

Answer 21

Adjective

shaking or quivering slightly

“The twins, holding tremulously to each other, dared the few yards to the next shelter and spread the dreadful news.”

Question 22

Leviathan

Answer 22

Noun

a very large aquatic creature, especially a whale

“Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed streamed, and the water boiled over the table rock with a roar.”

Question 23

Decorum

Answer 23

Noun

behavior in keeping with good taste and propriety

“Not one of them was an obvious subject for a shower, and yet–hair, much too long, tangled here and there, knotted round a dead leaf or a twig; faces cleaned fairly well by the process of eating and sweating but marked in the less accessible angles with a kind of shadow; clothes, worn away, stiff like his own with sweat, put on, not for decorum or comfort but out of custom; the skin of the body, scurfy with brine–”

Question 24

Apprehension

Answer 24

Noun

anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen

“Ralph was full of fright and apprehension and pride.”

Question 25

Sagely

Answer 25

Adverb

in a profoundly wise manner

“Everybody agreed, sagely”

Question 26

Antagonism

Answer 26

Noun

active hostility or opposition

“Ralph sighed, sensing the rising antagonism, understanding that this was how Jack felt as soon as he ceased to lead.”

Question 27

Impervious

Answer 27

Adjective

unable to be affected by

“So they sat, the rocking, tapping, impervious Roger and Ralph, fuming; round them the close sky was loaded with stars, save where the mountain punched up a hole of blackness.”

Question 28

Bravado

Answer 28

Noun

a bold manner or a show of boldness intended to impress or intimidate

“Ralph surprised himself, not so much by the quality of his voice, which was even, but by the bravado of its intention.”

Question 29

Contemptuous

Answer 29

Adjective
b) showing contempt; scornful.
c) “”Go up and see,” said Jack contemptuously, “and good riddance.””

Question 30

Cynicism

Answer 30

Noun

an inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest; skepticism.

“The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life.”

Question 31

Indignity

Answer 31

Noun

treatment or circumstances that cause one to feel shame or to lose one’s dignity

He opened his eyes quickly and there was the head grinning amusedly in the strange daylight, ignoring the flies, the spilled guts, even ignoring the indignity of being spiked on a stick.

Question 32

Iridescent

Answer 32

Adjective

showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles

“They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned.

Question 33

Corpulent

Answer 33

Adjective

(of a person) fat

“Then as the blue material of the parachute collapsed the corpulent figure would bow forward, sighing, and the flies settle once more.”

Question 34

Parody

Answer 34

Noun

an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.

“Piggy and the parody were so funny that the hunters began to laugh.”

Question 35

Succulent

Answer 35

Adjective

(of food) tender, juicy, and tasty

“The boys with the spit gave Ralph and Piggy each a succulent chunk.”

Question 36

Gesticulating

Answer 36

Verb

use gestures, especially dramatic ones, instead of speaking or to emphasize one’s words.

“He was gesticulating, searching for a formula.”

Question 37

Stricken

Answer 37

Adjective

seriously affected by an undesirable condition or unpleasant feeling

“Ralph’s voice, low and stricken, stopped Piggy’s gestures.”

Question 38

Convulsively

Answer 38

Adjective

resembling a convulsion in being violent, sudden, frantic, or spasmodic.

“Memory of the dance that none of them had attended shook all four boys convulsively.”

Question 39

Torrid

Answer 39

Adjective

very hot and dry

“Sitting on the tremendous rock in the torrid sun, Roger received this news as an illumination.”

Question 40

Luminous

Answer 40

Adjective

full of or shedding light; bright or shining, especially in the dark.

“The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia.”

Question 41

Myopia

Answer 41

Noun

Nearsightedness.

“The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia.”

Question 42

Propitiatingly

Answer 42

Adverb

win or regain the favor of (a god, spirit, or person) by doing something that pleases them

“Piggy nodded propitiatingly.”

Question 43

Truculent

Answer 43

Adjective

eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant

“Truculently they squared up to each other but kept just out of fighting distance.”

Question 44

Inimical

Answer 44

Adjective

tending to obstruct or harm

“To carry he must speak louder; and this would rouse those striped and inimical creatures from their feasting by the fire.”

Question 45

Ululation

Answer 45

Verb

howl or wail as an expression of strong emotion, typically grief

“Eric raised his head and achieved a faint ululation by beating on his open mouth. Then he glanced behind him nervously.”

Question 46

Crepitation

Answer 46

Noun

a crackling or rattling sound

He heard a curious trickling sound and then a louder crepitation as if someone were unwrapping great sheets of cellophane.”