The Stranger: Part One: Chapters 4–6

by Albert Camus
Translated by Matthew Ward, Camus’s seminal 1942 novel follows Meursault — a young Frenchman in Algeria — who is condemned for his unemotional response to the death of his mother.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part One: Chapters 1–3, Part One: Chapters 4–6, Part Two: Chapters 1–3, Part Two: Chapters 4–5
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. skim
    remove from the surface
    As you swam, you had to skim off the foam from the crest of the waves with your mouth, hold it there, then roll over on your back and spout it out toward the sky.
  2. delicate
    exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing
    This made a delicate froth which disappeared into the air or fell back in a warm spray over my face.
  3. shrill
    having or emitting a high-pitched and sharp tone or tones
    First we heard a woman’s shrill voice and then Raymond saying, “You used me, you used me. I’ll teach you to use me.”
  4. flustered
    thrown into a state of agitated confusion
    From a distance I noticed old Salamano standing on the doorstep. He looked flustered.
  5. incoherent
    without logical or meaningful connection
    He was looking all over the place, turning around, peering into the darkness of the entryway, muttering incoherently, and then he started searching the street again with his little red eyes.
  6. vague
    lacking clarity or distinctness
    He told me he wanted to talk to me about a plan of his that was still pretty vague.
  7. appeal
    be attractive to
    I’d be able to live in Paris and to travel around for part of the year as well. “You’re young, and it seems to me it’s the kind of life that would appeal to you.”
  8. ambition
    a strong drive for success
    He looked upset and told me that I never gave him a straight answer, that I had no ambition, and that that was disastrous in business.
  9. proposition
    a suggestion offered for acceptance or rejection
    Then I told her about my boss’s proposition and she said she’d love to see Paris.
  10. meticulously
    in a manner marked by extreme care of details
    One by one, and with great care, she checked off almost every program. Since the magazine was about a dozen pages long, she meticulously continued this task throughout the meal.
  11. zeal
    excessive fervor to do something or accomplish some end
    I had already finished and she was still checking away with the same zeal.
  12. vaudeville
    a genre of variety show with songs, comic acts, etc.
    When he was young he’d wanted to go into the theater: in the army he used to act in military vaudevilles.
  13. pension
    regular payment to allow a person to subsist without working
    But he had ended up working on the railroads, and he didn’t regret it, because now he had a small pension.
  14. furtive
    marked by quiet and caution and secrecy
    For the first time since I’d known him, and with a furtive gesture, he offered me his hand, and I felt the scales on his skin.
  15. repulsive
    offensive to the mind or senses
    But he’d put on a straw hat, which made Marie laugh, and his forearms were all white under the black hairs. I found it a little repulsive.
  16. indifference
    the trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things
    They were still in the same place and they were looking with the same indifference at the spot where we’d just been standing.
  17. outskirts
    area relatively far from the center, as of a city or town
    We got off in the outskirts of Algiers. The beach wasn’t far from the bus stop.
  18. plateau
    a relatively flat raised area of land
    But we had to cross a small plateau which overlooks the sea and then drops steeply down to the beach.
  19. veranda
    a porch along the outside of a building
    We walked between rows of small houses behind green or white fences, some with their verandas hidden behind the tamarisks, others standing naked among the rocks.
  20. promontory
    a natural elevation
    Before we reached the edge of the plateau, we could already see the motionless sea and, farther out, a massive, drowsy-looking promontory in the clear water.
  21. trawler
    a fishing boat that drags a net to catch fish
    And way off, we saw a tiny trawler moving, almost imperceptibly, across the dazzling sea.
  22. stunning
    strikingly beautiful or attractive
    Referring to Marie, he said, “She’s stunning, and I’d even say charming.”
  23. mannerism
    a behavioral attribute that is distinctive to an individual
    After that I didn’t pay any more attention to this mannerism of his, because I was absorbed by the feeling that the sun was doing me a lot of good.
  24. jut
    extend out or project in space
    From inside the bungalows bordering the plateau and jutting out over the water, we could hear the rattling of plates and silverware.
  25. grim
    harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
    The doctor had told him that it was nothing, but Raymond looked pretty grim. Masson tried to make him laugh. But he still wouldn’t say anything.
  26. adversary
    someone who offers opposition
    But without taking his eyes off his adversary, Raymond asked me, “Should I let him have it?”
  27. stifle
    smother or suppress
    The sea gasped for air with each shallow, stifled little wave that broke on the sand.
  28. molten
    reduced to liquid form by heating
    For two hours the day had stood still; for two hours it had been anchored in a sea of molten lead.
  29. indistinct
    not clearly defined or easy to perceive or understand
    All I could feel were the cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead and, indistinctly, the dazzling spear flying up from the knife in front of me.
  30. reel
    be dizzy, disoriented, or bewildered
    The scorching blade slashed at my eyelashes and stabbed at my stinging eyes. That’s when everything began to reel.
Created on Thu Aug 10 08:45:03 EDT 2017 (updated Wed Jun 28 09:58:28 EDT 2023)

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