"Sweat"

Life in Florida can be sweaty. For Delia, the main character in the short story by Zora Neale Hurston, her physical discomfort is made worse by hard work, an abusive husband, and a rattlesnake. Feel the heat through this list.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 11 Unit 5's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: The Harlem Renaissance, The New Negro, To Usward, Lift Every Voice and Sing, On 'From the Dark Tower' , How It Feels to Be Colored Me, Sweat, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mother to Son, critical reviews
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. aggravate
    exasperate or irritate
    "You sho is one aggravatin' nigger woman!" he declared and stepped into the room.
  2. glare
    look at with a fixed or angry gaze
    He picked up the whip and glared down at her.
  3. truculent
    defiantly aggressive
    She saw that Sykes had kicked all of the clothes together again, and now stood in her way truculently, his whole manner hoping, praying, for an argument.
  4. dismay
    the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles
    His wife gave a little scream of dismay, and quickly gathered them together again.
  5. defy
    resist or confront with resistance
    She was on her feet; her poor little body, her bare knuckly hands bravely defying the strapping hulk before her.
  6. rile
    disturb, especially by minor irritations
    Well, you better quit gittin' me riled up, else they'll be totin' you out sooner than you expect.
  7. brutal
    able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
    Two months after the wedding, he had given her the first brutal beating.
  8. listless
    lacking zest or vivacity
    The village men on Joe Clarke's porch even chewed cane listlessly.
  9. collapse
    break down, literally or metaphorically
    Even conversation had collapsed under the heat.
  10. nullify
    make ineffective by counterbalancing the effect of
    But Bertha nullified this to a degree, by coming to Delia's house to call Sykes out to her at the gate.
  11. interlude
    an intervening period or episode
    Delia and Sykes fought all the time now with no peaceful interludes.
  12. repulse
    force or drive back
    Two or three times Delia had attempted a timid friendliness, but she was repulsed each time.
  13. breach
    a personal or social separation
    It was plain that the breaches must remain agape.
  14. smite
    inflict a heavy blow on, with the hand, a tool, or a weapon
    The heat streamed down like a million hot arrows, smiting all things living upon the earth.
  15. wither
    shrink, as with a loss of moisture
    Grass withered, leaves browned, snakes went blind in shedding and men and dogs went mad.
  16. torment
    intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
    She stood for a long time in the doorway in a red fury that grew bloodier for every second that she regarded the creature that was her torment.
  17. broach
    bring up a topic for discussion
    That night she broached the subject as soon as Sykes sat down to the table.
  18. stricken
    grievously affected especially by disease
    Outside Delia heard a cry that might have come from a maddened chimpanzee, a stricken gorilla.
  19. intermittent
    stopping and starting at irregular intervals
    A tremendous stir inside there, another series of animal screams, the intermittent whirr of the reptile.
  20. extinguish
    put an end to; kill
    She could scarcely reach the Chinaberry tree, where she waited in the growing heat while inside she knew the cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish that eye which must know by now that she knew.
Created on Mon Nov 17 07:57:50 EST 2014 (updated Mon Nov 17 09:21:29 EST 2014)

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