"The Minister's Black Veil": List 1

by Nathaniel Hawthorne
When a minister begins to wear a veil over his face, his community reacts with gossip, suspicion, and fear.

This list covers vocabulary from the beginning of the story to "...the only witness of this prodigy."

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. semblance
    the outward or apparent appearance or form of something
    All within hearing immediately turned about and beheld the semblance of Mr. Hooper pacing slowly his meditative way toward the meeting-house.
  2. swathe
    wrap in or as if in strips of cloth
    Swathed about his forehead and hanging down over his face, so low as to be shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on a black veil.
  3. unaccountable
    not to be explained
    A rumor of some unaccountable phenomenon had preceded Mr. Hooper into the meeting-house and set all the congregation astir.
  4. repose
    a disposition free from stress or emotion
    There was a general bustle, a rustling of the women's gowns and shuffling of the men's feet, greatly at variance with that hushed repose which should attend the entrance of the minister.
  5. perturbation
    a disposition that is confused or nervous and upset
    But Mr. Hooper appeared not to notice the perturbation of his people.
  6. countenance
    the appearance conveyed by a person's face
    It shook with his measured breath as he gave out the psalm, it threw its obscurity between him and the holy page as he read the Scriptures, and while he prayed the veil lay heavily on his uplifted countenance.
  7. omniscient
    knowing, seeing, or understanding everything
    The subject had reference to secret sin and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them.
  8. pathos
    a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow
    There was nothing terrible in what Mr. Hooper said—at least, no violence; and yet with every tremor of his melancholy voice the hearers quaked. An unsought pathos came hand in hand with awe.
  9. iniquity
    absence of moral or spiritual values
    Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl and the man of hardened breast, felt as if the preacher had crept upon them behind his awful veil and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought.
  10. visage
    the human face
    So sensible were the audience of some unwonted attribute in their minister that they longed for a breath of wind to blow aside the veil, almost believing that a stranger's visage would be discovered, though the form, gesture and voice were those of Mr. Hooper.
  11. indecorous
    not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society
    At the close of the services the people hurried out with indecorous confusion, eager to communicate their pent-up amazement, and conscious of lighter spirits the moment they lost sight of the black veil.
  12. ostentatious
    tawdry or vulgar
    Some gathered in little circles, huddled closely together, with their mouths all whispering in the centre; some went homeward alone, wrapped in silent meditation; some talked loudly and profaned the Sabbath-day with ostentatious laughter.
  13. intimate
    imply as a possibility
    A few shook their sagacious heads, intimating that they could penetrate the mystery, while one or two affirmed that there was no mystery at all, but only that Mr. Hooper's eyes were so weakened by the midnight lamp as to require a shade.
  14. vagary
    an unexpected and inexplicable change in something
    "But the strangest part of the affair is the effect of this vagary even on a sober-minded man like myself. The black veil, though it covers only our pastor's face, throws its influence over his whole person and makes him ghost-like from head to foot. Do you not feel it so?"
  15. scruple
    have doubts about
    A person who watched the interview between the dead and living scrupled not to affirm that at the instant when the clergyman's features were disclosed the corpse had slightly shuddered, rustling the shroud and muslin cap, though the countenance retained the composure of death.
Created on Thu Apr 23 13:46:25 EDT 2026 (updated Mon Aug 24 17:30:02 EDT 2026)

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