Scarlet Letter 5-8 Flashcards
(23 cards)
Intangible
Hard to pin down or identify
“Or by whatever other intangible circumstances there were”
Inscrutable
Of an obscure nature
“Dark, inscrutable forest”
Ascetic
Practicing great self denial
“anything beyond a subsistence, of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child.”
Imbibe
Receive into the mind and retain
“She grew to have a dread of children; for they had imbibed from their parents a vague idea of something horrible”
Insidious
Intended to entrap
“Could they be other than the insidious whispers of the bad angel, who would fain have persuaded the struggling woman..”
Contumaciously
Stubbornly disobedient
“a mystic sisterhood would contumaciously assert itself, as she met the sanctified frown of some matron”
Aver
To declare or affirm solemnly as true
“They averred that the symbol was not mere scarlet cloth, tinged in an earthly dye-pot”
Procure
Get by special effort
Despondency
Feeling downcast and disheartened and hopeless
“She could recognize her wild, desperate, defiant mood, the flightiness of her temper, and even some of the very cloud-shapes of gloom and despondency that had brooded in her heart.”
Prolific
Bearing in abundance, especially in offspring
“They were now illuminated by the morning radiance of a young child’s disposition, but, later in the day of earthly existence, might be prolific of the storm and whirlwind.”
Caprice
Sudden desire
“As to any other kind of discipline, whether addressed to her mind or heart, little Pearl might or might not be within its reach, in accordance with the caprice that ruled the moment.”
Inexplicable
Incapable of being explained or accounted for
Anathema
a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication
“If the children gathered about her, as they sometimes did, Pearl would grow positively terrible in her puny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them, with shrill, incoherent exclamations, that made her mother tremble, because they had so much the sound of a witch’s anathemas in some unknown tongue.”
Adverse
Contrary to your interests or welfare
“It was inexpressibly sad—then what depth of sorrow to a mother, who felt in her own heart the cause—to observe, in one so young, this constant recognition of an adverse world, and so fierce a training of the energies that were to make good her cause in the contest that must ensue.”
Imperious
Having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy
“Often, nevertheless, more from caprice than necessity, she demanded to be taken up in arms; but was soon as imperious to be let down again, and frisked onward before Hester on the grassy pathway, with many a harmless trip and tumble.”
Dauntless
Invulnerable to fear or intimidation
Extant
Still in existence; not extinct or destroyed or lost
“This was a large wooden house, built in a fashion of which there are specimens still extant in the streets of our older towns now moss-grown”
Cabalistic
Having a hidden or secret meaning
“It was further decorated with strange and seemingly cabalistic figures and diagrams”
Burnish
Polish and make shiny
“all, and especially the helmet and breastplate, so highly burnished as to glow with white radiance, and scatter an illumination everywhere about upon the floor.”
Panoply
A complete and impressive array
“This bright panoply was not meant for mere idle show, but had been worn by the Governor on many a solemn muster and training field, and had glittered, moreover, at the head of a regiment in the Pequod war.”
Exigency
A sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action
“For, though bred a lawyer, and accustomed to speak of Bacon, Coke, Noye, and Finch, as his professional associates, the exigencies of this new country had transformed Governor Bellingham into a soldier, as well as a statesman and ruler.”
Expatiate
Add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of
“in a loose gown and easy cap—such as elderly gentlemen loved to endue themselves with, in their domestic privacy—walked foremost, and appeared to be showing off his estate, and expatiating on his projected improvements.”
Depravity
Moral perversion;impairment of virtue or moral principles
““Here is a child of three years old, and she cannot tell who made her! Without question, she is equally in the dark as to her soul, its present depravity, and future destiny! Methinks, gentlemen, we need inquire no further.””
