Lord of The Flies: Ch. 1-3

Mackenzie S. (United States of America)
When they are marooned on a deserted island, a group of schoolboys attempts to form a new society.

Learn these word lists for the novel: Chapters 1-3, Chapters 4-6, Chapters 7-9, Chapters 10-12
20 words 61 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. upheaval
    a violent disturbance
    The ground beneath them was a bank covered with coarse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings.
  2. specious
    deceptively pleasing
    Ralph had been deceived before now by the specious appearance of depth in a beach pool and he approached this one preparing to be disappointed.
  3. decorous
    characterized by propriety and dignity and good taste
    Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement.
  4. interpose
    be or come between
    The shell was interesting and pretty and a worthy plaything; but the vivid phantoms of his day-dream still interposed between him and Piggy, who in this context was an irrelevance.
  5. strident
    unpleasantly loud and harsh
    The note boomed again: and then at his firmer pressure, the note, fluking up an octave, became a strident blare more penetrating than before.
  6. furtive
    secret and sly
    There was a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy.
  7. mortification
    strong feelings of embarrassment
    Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack's face disappeared under a blush of mortification.
  8. pallor
    an unnatural lack of color in the skin
    Now that the pallor of his faint was over, he was a skinny, vivid little boy, with a glance coming up from under a hut of straight hair that hung down, black and coarse.
  9. pliant
    capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out
    Here the roots and stems of creepers were in such tangles that the boys had to thread through them like pliant needles.
  10. immure
    lock up or confine, in or as in a jail
    Immured in these tangles, at perhaps their most difficult moment, Ralph turned with shining eyes to the others.
  11. contemptuously
    without respect; in a disdainful manner
    "Green candles," said Jack contemptuously.
  12. errant
    straying from the right course or from accepted standards
    The noise of the errant assembly faded up the mountain.
  13. officious
    intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner
    There was pushing and pulling and officious cries.
  14. recrimination
    mutual accusations
    His voice lifted into the whine of virtuous recrimination.
  15. caper
    jump about playfully
    Beneath the capering boys a quarter of a mile square of forest was savage with smoke and flame.
  16. vicissitude
    a variation in circumstances or fortune
    Jack stood there, streaming with sweat, streaked with brown earth, stained by all the vicissitudes of a day's hunting.
  17. contrite
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    Simon's contrite face appeared in the hole.
  18. rapt
    feeling great delight and interest
    Ralph gazed bewildered at his rapt face.
  19. tacit
    implied by or inferred from actions or statements
    Jack nodded, as much for the sake of agreeing as anything, and by tacit consent they left the shelter and went toward the bathing pool.
  20. riotous
    produced or growing in extreme abundance
    With the fading of the light the riotous colors died and the heat and urgency cooled away.
Created on Sun Nov 17 22:24:43 EST 2024 (updated Fri Feb 20 15:17:58 EST 2026)

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