Lady Windermere's Fan: Act II

by Oscar Wilde
In this play, Oscar Wilde explores the relationship between a husband and wife who each have reason to suspect the other of being unfaithful. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act I, Act II, Act III, Act IV
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. revive
    restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state
    Just let me see your card. I’m so glad Lady Windermere has revived cards.
  2. capital
    first-rate
    Capital place, London! They are not nearly so exclusive in London as they are in Sydney.
  3. indifference
    apathy demonstrated by an absence of emotional reactions
    I might be married to her; she treats me with such demmed indifference.
  4. dignified
    formal or stately in bearing or appearance
    MRS. ERLYNNE enters, very beautifully dressed and very dignified.
  5. rash
    imprudently incurring risk
    It was terribly rash of you to come!
  6. faithless
    having the character of a traitor; disloyal
    You have quite neglected me lately. I have not seen you since yesterday. I am afraid you’re faithless.
  7. radical
    a person who has revolutionary ideas or opinions
    He thinks like a Tory, and talks like a Radical, and that’s so important nowadays.
  8. saunter
    walk leisurely and with no apparent aim
    DUMBY. Hope to goodness she won’t speak to me! [Saunters towards LADY PLYMDALE.]
  9. dowager
    a dignified and high-status older woman
    What a bore it is to have to be civil to these old dowagers!
  10. nonchalance
    the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care
    DUMBY. [With perfect nonchalance.] Delighted!
  11. indignation
    a feeling of righteous anger
    LADY PLYMDALE glares with indignation at MR. DUMBY.
  12. entreaty
    earnest or urgent request
    He insisted on her coming—against my entreaties—against my commands.
  13. sneer
    smile contemptuously
    I feel that every woman here sneers at me as she dances by with my husband.
  14. weary
    physically and mentally fatigued
    He would come to you when he was weary of others; you would have to comfort him.
  15. enmity
    a state of deep-seated ill-will
    Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.
  16. hypocrisy
    pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not have
    But there are moments when one has to choose between living one’s own life, fully, entirely, completely—or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands.
  17. censure
    harsh criticism or disapproval
    You would stand anything rather than face the censure of a world, whose praise you would despise.
  18. delicate
    easily broken or damaged or destroyed
    You have taken Agatha out on the terrace, and she is so delicate.
  19. beckon
    summon with a wave, nod, or some other gesture
    DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Agatha, darling! [Beckons her over.]
  20. vulgar
    lacking refinement or cultivation or taste
    There are lots of vulgar people live in Grosvenor Square, but at any rate there are no horrid kangaroos crawling about.
  21. sensible
    showing reason or sound judgment
    Sensible woman, Lady Windermere. Lots of wives would have objected to Mrs. Erlynne coming. But Lady Windermere has that uncommon thing called common sense.
  22. innocence
    the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong
    And Windermere knows that nothing looks so like innocence as an indiscretion.
  23. indiscretion
    a petty misdeed
    And Windermere knows that nothing looks so like innocence as an indiscretion.
  24. scorn
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    LADY WINDERMERE watches, with a look of scorn and pain, MRS. ERLYNNE and her husband.
  25. picturesque
    suggesting or suitable for an artistic composition
    Then we will talk of it on the terrace. Even business should have a picturesque background.
  26. margin
    an amount beyond the minimum necessary
    But seriously, what do you say to £2000? £2500, I think. In modern life margin is everything.
  27. bondage
    the state of being under the control of another person
    He may do as he chooses now with his life. I have done with mine as I think best, as I think right. It is he who has broken the bond of marriage—not I. I only break its bondage.
  28. fancy
    a false idea or illusion that is the product of imagination
    Oh, why does this horrible fancy come across me? Why do I remember now the one moment of my life I most wish to forget?
  29. anguish
    extreme distress of body or mind
    [Tears letter open and reads it, then sinks down into a chair with a gesture of anguish.] Oh, how terrible! The same words that twenty years ago I wrote to her father! and how bitterly I have been punished for it!
  30. bewildered
    extremely confused and uncertain what to do
    LORD AUGUSTUS. Well, really, I might be her husband already. Positively I might. [Follows her in a bewildered manner.]
Created on Tue Oct 26 16:04:34 EDT 2021 (updated Wed Nov 03 16:18:36 EDT 2021)

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