Unit 4: Vocabulary from Readings 4

This list covers The Miracle Worker, Act 2, Part 3.
24 words 30 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. deftly
    in an agile manner
    ANNIE clears the table of KATE’S, JAMES’S, and KELLER’S plates; she gets back to her own across the table just in time to slide it deftly away from HELEN’S pouncing hand.
  2. drum
    make a rhythmic sound
    She lifts the hand and moves it to HELEN’S plate, and after an instant’s exploration, HELEN sits again on the floor and drums her heels.
  3. devoid
    completely wanting or lacking
    ANNIE, retrieving her plate takes up a forkful of food, stops it halfway to her mouth, gazes at it devoid of appetite, and half-lowers it; but after a look at HELEN she sighs, dips the forkful toward HELEN in a for-your-sake toast, and puts it in her own mouth to chew, not without an effort.
  4. bodily
    of or relating to or belonging to the body
    ANNIE rises again in pursuit, and this time lifts HELEN bodily from behind and bears her kicking to her chair
  5. feint
    deceive by a mock action
    She tries right again and is deposited back, and tries left again and is deposited back, and now feints ANNIE to the right but is off to her left, and is promptly deposited back.
  6. notwithstanding
    despite anything to the contrary
    She sits a moment and then starts straight over the tabletop, dishware notwithstanding...
  7. laborious
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    ANNIE hauls her in and deposits her back, with her plate spilling in her lap, and she melts to the floor and crawls under the table, laborious among its legs and chairs; but ANNIE is swift around the table and waiting on the other side when she surfaces, immediately bearing her aloft; HELEN clutches at JAMES’S chair for anchorage, but it comes with her, and halfway back she abandons it to the floor.
  8. bear
    support or hold in a certain manner
    ANNIE hauls her in and deposits her back, with her plate spilling in her lap, and she melts to the floor and crawls under the table, laborious among its legs and chairs; but ANNIE is swift around the table and waiting on the other side when she surfaces, immediately bearing her aloft; HELEN clutches at JAMES’S chair for anchorage, but it comes with her, and halfway back she abandons it to the floor.
  9. aloft
    high up in or into the air
    ANNIE hauls her in and deposits her back, with her plate spilling in her lap, and she melts to the floor and crawls under the table, laborious among its legs and chairs; but ANNIE is swift around the table and waiting on the other side when she surfaces, immediately bearing her aloft; HELEN clutches at JAMES’S chair for anchorage, but it comes with her, and halfway back she abandons it to the floor.
  10. anchorage
    the condition of being secured to a base
    ANNIE hauls her in and deposits her back, with her plate spilling in her lap, and she melts to the floor and crawls under the table, laborious among its legs and chairs; but ANNIE is swift around the table and waiting on the other side when she surfaces, immediately bearing her aloft; HELEN clutches at JAMES’S chair for anchorage, but it comes with her, and halfway back she abandons it to the floor.
  11. interpose
    insert between other elements
    HELEN sits tensed, motionless. Then she tentatively puts out her left foot and hand, ANNIE interposes her own hand, and at the contact HELEN jerks hers in.
  12. sullen
    showing a brooding ill humor
    Finally, leaning back, she slumps down in her chair, in a sullen biding.
  13. devastating
    physically or spiritually destructive
    HELEN swallows involuntarily, and while she is catching her breath ANNIE forces her palm open, throws four swift letters into it, then another four, and bows toward her with devastating pleasantness.
  14. incompetent
    not qualified or suited for a purpose
    From the moment she stepped off the train she's been nothing but a burden, incompetent, impertinent, ineffectual, immodest—
  15. impertinent
    improperly forward or bold
    From the moment she stepped off the train she's been nothing but a burden, incompetent, impertinent, ineffectual, immodest—
  16. ineffectual
    not producing an intended consequence
    From the moment she stepped off the train she's been nothing but a burden, incompetent, impertinent, ineffectual, immodest—
  17. immodest
    having or showing an exaggerated opinion of yourself
    From the moment she stepped off the train she's been nothing but a burden, incompetent, impertinent, ineffectual, immodest—
  18. frivolous
    not serious in content, attitude, or behavior
    Katie, I did not bring you all the way out here to the garden house to be frivolous.
  19. scuttle
    hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire
    The fact is, today she scuttled any chance she ever had of getting along with the child.
  20. notice
    advance warning of the intention to withdraw from a contract
    I want you to give her notice.
  21. round
    move along a circular course
    ANNIE enters and is interested in this room; she rounds on her heel, anxiously, studying it.
  22. sotto voce
    in an undertone
    KELLER turns the matter over to KATE, sotto voce.
  23. vexed
    troubled persistently especially with petty annoyances
    KELLER: (Vexedly) Miss Sullivan, I find it difficult to talk through those glasses.
    ANNIE (EAGERLY, REMOVING THEM): Oh, of course.
  24. radical
    markedly new or introducing extreme change
    If you are to stay, there must be a radical change of manner.
Created on Wed Nov 17 15:36:00 EST 2021 (updated Thu Nov 18 11:23:06 EST 2021)

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