Chronicle of a Death Foretold: List 1

by Gabriel García Márquez
When two brothers declare their intention to commit murder, no one in their town takes on the responsibility of preventing the crime.

This list covers pages 3–24 of the Vintage International edition, translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa.

Here are links to our lists for the novella: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
25 words 634 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ominous
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    She had a well-earned reputation as an accurate interpreter of other people’s dreams, provided they were told her before eating, but she hadn’t noticed any ominous augury in those two dreams of her son’s, or in the other dreams of trees he’d described to her on the mornings preceding his death.
  2. augury
    an event indicating important things to come
    She had a well-earned reputation as an accurate interpreter of other people’s dreams, provided they were told her before eating, but she hadn’t noticed any ominous augury in those two dreams of her son’s, or in the other dreams of trees he’d described to her on the mornings preceding his death.
  3. revel
    unrestrained merrymaking
    He had slept little and poorly, without getting undressed, and he woke up with a headache and a sediment of copper stirrup on his palate, and he interpreted them as the natural havoc of the wedding revels that had gone on until after midnight.
  4. falconry
    the art of training birds of prey to hunt and return
    During the partridge season he would also carry his falconry equipment.
  5. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    The last image his mother had of him was of his fleeting passage through the bedroom.
  6. prostrate
    throw down flat, as on the ground
    She had watched him from the same hammock and in the same position in which I found her prostrated by the last lights of old age when I returned to this forgotten village, trying to put the broken mirror of memory back together from so many scattered shards.
  7. valor
    courage when facing danger
    From his father he learned at a very early age the manipulation of firearms, his love for horses, and the mastery of high-flying birds of prey, but from him he also learned the good arts of valor and prudence.
  8. prudence
    discretion in practical affairs
    From his father he learned at a very early age the manipulation of firearms, his love for horses, and the mastery of high-flying birds of prey, but from him he also learned the good arts of valor and prudence.
  9. bazaar
    a sale of miscellany; often for charity
    They were never seen armed in town, and the only time they brought in their trained birds was for a demonstration of falconry at a charity bazaar.
  10. pontifical
    denoting or governed by or relating to a bishop or bishops
    But he explained to her that he’d got dressed up pontifical style in case he had a chance to kiss the bishop’s ring.
  11. pomp
    ceremonial elegance and splendor
    Santiago Nasar knew it was true, but church pomp had an irresistible fascination for him.
  12. furtive
    secret and sly
    Divina Flor, who was the daughter of a more recent mate, knew that she was destined for Santiago Nasar’s furtive bed, and that idea brought out a premature anxiety in her.
  13. estuary
    the wide part of a river where it nears the sea
    It had been built in the days when the river was so usable that many seagoing barges and even a few tall ships made their way up there through the marshes of the estuary.
  14. categorical
    not modified or restricted by reservations
    Victoria Guzmán, for her part, had been categorical with her answer that neither she nor her daughter knew that the men were waiting for Santiago Nasar to kill him.
  15. jubilation
    the utterance of sounds expressing great joy
    Santiago Nasar went through the shadowy house with long strides, pursued by roars of jubilation from the bishop’s boat.
  16. consummate
    make perfect; bring to perfection
    The message was on the floor when Santiago Nasar left home, but he didn’t see it, nor did Divina Flor or anyone else until long after the crime had been consummated.
  17. providential
    peculiarly fortunate or appropriate
    Indeed, it had been a providential happening, but of momentary value only.
  18. cassock
    a black garment reaching down to the ankles
    On the upper deck, beside the captain’s cabin, was the bishop in his white cassock and with his retinue of Spaniards.
  19. retinue
    the group following and attending to some important person
    On the upper deck, beside the captain’s cabin, was the bishop in his white cassock and with his retinue of Spaniards.
  20. solicitude
    a feeling of excessive concern
    He had contributed several loads of wood to the public solicitudes of Father Carmen Amador, and in addition, he himself had chosen the capons with the most appetizing combs.
  21. carouse
    celebrate or enjoy something in a noisy or wild way
    He’d been carousing with Santiago Nasar and me until a little before four; he hadn’t gone to sleep at his parents’, but stayed chatting at his grandparents’ house.
  22. contraband
    distributed or sold illicitly
    He recounted that 205 cases of contraband alcohol had been consumed and almost two thousand bottles of cane liquor, which had been distributed among the crowd.
  23. divination
    the art or gift of prophecy by supernatural means
    She seemed to have secret threads of communication with the other people in town, especially those her age, and sometimes she would surprise us with news so ahead of its time that she could only have known it through powers of divination.
  24. gestate
    develop in the mind; have the idea for
    That morning, however, she didn’t feel the throb of the tragedy that had been gestating since three o’clock.
  25. bedeck
    decorate
    They’d placed the sick people in the archways to receive God’s medicine, and women came running out of their yards with turkeys and suckling pigs and all manner of things to eat, and from the opposite shore came canoes bedecked with flowers.
Created on Wed Oct 23 16:11:53 EDT 2019 (updated Wed Oct 23 16:54:07 EDT 2019)

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