The Color Purple: List 5

by Alice Walker
In letters to God and each other, two sisters, Celie and Nettie, share the details of their trouble-filled lives in the American South and Africa.

This list covers pages 241–288 in the 1982 edition published by Harcourt.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
15 words 99 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. dejected
    affected or marked by low spirits
    They literally wiped the smiles off their faces along with the sweat, and returned, dejected, to their barracks.
  2. boisterous
    marked by exuberance and high spirits
    She and Olivia hugged. But it was a quiet, heavy embrace. Nothing like the boisterous, giggling behavior I expect from them.
  3. magnitude
    the property of relative size or extent
    The real reason, of course, is he can no longer bear his conflicting feelings about Tashi, who is beginning, I think, to appreciate the magnitude of her mistake.
  4. sojourn
    a temporary stay
    Our days are fuller than ever, our sojourn in England already a dream.
  5. preen
    dress or groom with elaborate care
    But I think she just so glad to see me. So I preen and pose for her and stuff myself with wonton soup and fried rice.
  6. speckle
    mark with small spots
    It was big and heavy and speckled like a chicken and sure enough, seem like you could hear the waves or something crashing against your ear.
  7. soliloquy
    a dramatic speech giving the illusion of unspoken reflection
    We read the papers and magazines from home, play any number of African games with the children. Rehearse the African children in parts of Shakespeare’s plays—Adam was always very good as Hamlet giving his To Be or Not to Be soliloquy.
  8. naive
    inexperienced
    When I think of them in America I see them as much younger than they appear here. Much more naive.
  9. mosey
    walk leisurely
    He wink at me, say, Well Sugar Pie, to Miss Eleanor Jane, time for us to mosey along.
  10. adobe
    sun-dried brick used in hot dry climates
    He live in a little mud looking house like they have out here, call adobe, so you know I feels right at home (smile).
  11. depression
    a sunken or lowered geological formation
    You know, Celie, in Africa there is a huge depression in the earth called the great rift valley, but it is on the other side of the continent from where we are.
  12. forthright
    characterized by directness in manner or speech
    Tashi announced her refusal to be married.
    And then, in that honest, forthright way of hers, she gave her reasons.
  13. befall
    happen or be the case in the course of events or by chance
    He assured Tashi that it was she he loved and that in America she would have country, people, parents, sister, husband, brother and lover, and that whatever befell her in America would also be his own choice and his own lot.
  14. salvation
    the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil
    Let her quit, say Sofia. It not my salvation she working for. And if she don’t learn she got to face judgment for herself, she won’t even have live.
  15. mantelpiece
    a shelf that projects from a wall above a fireplace
    She go right to the little purple frog perch on my mantlepiece.
Created on Mon Dec 12 11:45:26 EST 2016 (updated Tue Jul 29 12:31:35 EDT 2025)

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