Winesburg, Ohio: Sophistication

by Sherwood Anderson
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Here are links to our lists for the Winesburg, Ohio anthology of short stories:
The Book of the Grotesque, Hands, Paper Pills, Mother, The Philosopher, Nobody Knows, Godliness, A Man of Ideas, Adventure, Respectability, The Thinker, Tandy, The Strength of God, The Teacher, Loneliness, An Awakening, "Queer," The Untold Lie, Drink, Death, Sophistication, Departure
15 words 26 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. whinny
    make a characteristic sound, of a horse
    Night came on, horses whinnied, the clerks in the stores ran madly about, children became lost and cried lustily, an American town worked terribly at the task of amusing itself.
  2. sophistication
    the quality or character of being intellectually worldly
    The sadness of sophistication has come to the boy. With a little gasp he sees himself as merely a leaf blown by the wind through the streets of his village.
  3. pedantic
    marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning
    The young man was of a pedantic turn of mind and she felt at once he would not do for her purpose.
  4. profoundly
    to a great depth psychologically
    She thought that the months she had spent in the city, the going to theaters and the seeing of great crowds wandering in lighted thoroughfares, had changed her profoundly.
  5. thoroughfare
    a public road from one place to another
    Buggies and wagons almost filled the narrow thoroughfare.
  6. medley
    a collection containing a variety of kinds of things
    The medley of sounds got on young Willard's nerves. Everywhere, on all sides, the sense of crowding, moving life closed in about him.
  7. prance
    move or step in a lively, spirited, or showy way
    A crowd had gathered in front of the barn and before the crowd walked Wesley, prancing up and down boasting.
  8. windbag
    a person who talks a great deal about uninteresting topics
    "Old windbag," he sputtered. "Why does he want to be bragging? Why don't he shut up?"
  9. cosmopolitan
    a sophisticated person who has traveled in many countries
    Although he had also been raised in an Ohio town, the instructor began to put on the airs of the city. He wanted to appear cosmopolitan.
  10. pompous
    puffed up with vanity
    To the girl his voice sounded pompous and heavy.
  11. reflective
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    One conceals oneself standing silently beside the trunk of a tree and what there is of a reflective tendency in his nature is intensified.
  12. minute
    characterized by painstaking care and detailed examination
    It was as though her woman's hand was assisting him to make some minute readjustment of the machinery of his life.
  13. reverence
    a feeling of profound respect for someone or something
    He began to think of the people in the town where he had always lived with something like reverence. He had reverence for Helen.
  14. crest
    the top line of a hill, mountain, or wave
    When they had come to the crest of Waterworks Hill they stopped by a tree and George again put his hands on the girl's shoulders.
  15. chasten
    correct by punishment or discipline
    In some way chastened and purified by the mood they had been in, they became, not man and woman, not boy and girl, but excited little animals.
Created on Thu Feb 18 14:10:30 EST 2021 (updated Thu Feb 25 08:58:35 EST 2021)

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