Vocabulary from " The Lowland" (excerpt) by Jhumpa Lahiri

"The Lowland" is about two brothers in India and the different paths their lives take. This excerpt is a portrait of their neighborhood and life at home.
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21 words 3 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. adjacent
    having a common boundary or edge
    Normally she stayed on the balcony, reading, or kept to an adjacent room as her brother and Udayan studied and smoked and drank cups of tea.
  2. repercussion
    a remote or indirect consequence of some action
    Much of the time their books on the behaviors of liquids and gases would sit ignored as they talked about the repercussions of Naxalbari, and commented on the day's events.
  3. stray
    wander from a direct course or at random
    The discussions strayed to the insurgencies in Indochina and in Latin American countries.
  4. insurgency
    an organized rebellion aimed at overthrowing a government
    The discussions strayed to the insurgencies in Indochina and in Latin American countries.
  5. newton
    force imparting acceleration of 1 m/sec/sec to 1 kilogram
    It was another example of Newton's second law of motion, he joked.
  6. skeptical
    marked by or given to doubt
    Manash was skeptical.
  7. porcelain
    ceramic ware made of a more or less translucent ceramic
    His arms were lean, his fingers too long for the small porcelain cups of tea her family served him, which he drained in just a few gulps.
  8. languid
    lacking spirit or liveliness
    His hair was wavy, the brows thick, the eyes languid and dark.
  9. embellish
    make more attractive, as by adding ornament or color
    His hands seemed an extension of his voice, always in motion, embellishing the things he said.
  10. nudge
    push against gently
    She carried them in, nudging open the door to the room with her shoulder.
  11. quadrangle
    a four-sided polygon
    Because she went to Presidency, and Calcutta University was just next door, she searched for him on the quadrangle, and among the bookstalls, at the tables of the Coffee House if she went there with a group of friends.
  12. filigree
    delicate and intricate ornamentation
    She crouched below the filigree, under the clothes drying on the line, worried that he would look up and see her.
  13. torso
    the body excluding the head and neck and limbs
    The material of the blouses was tailored to the shape of her upper torso, her breasts.
  14. tremor
    an involuntary vibration, as if from illness or fear
    He did this slowly, a mild tremor in his fingers forcing him to focus more than another person might on the task.
  15. decrepit
    worn and broken down by hard use
    Together they took in the stone buildings, with their decrepit grandeur, that lined the streets.
  16. grandeur
    the quality of being magnificent or splendid
    Together they took in the stone buildings, with their decrepit grandeur, that lined the streets.
  17. cornice
    the topmost projecting part of an entablature
    Their tired columns, their crumbling cornices, their sullied shades.
  18. sully
    make dirty or spotty
    Their tired columns, their crumbling cornices, their sullied shades.
  19. discreet
    marked by prudence or modesty and wise self-restraint
    Her face was supported by the discreet barrier of her hand. his arm hung over the edge, the burning cigarette was in his fingers.
  20. prominent
    conspicuous in position or importance
    They were prominent, the blood in them greenish gray, like a pointed archway below the skin.
  21. confection
    a food rich in sugar
    Narrow sweet shops, where trays of confections were studded with flies.
Created on Tue Nov 19 02:54:43 EST 2013 (updated Wed Nov 20 11:08:32 EST 2013)

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