Essay on Vocabulary Notes

Submitted By lindz1996
Words: 1036
Pages: 5

Vocab: Chapters 16-24
1.) Vivacity - liveliness; animation; sprightliness. Sentence: "Pearl set forth, at a great pace, and, as Hester smiled to perceive, did actually catch the sunshine, and stood laughing in the midst of it, all brightened by its splendor, and scintillating with the vivacity excited by rapid motion." (Ch.16 Page 123).
2.) Loquacity- the state of being loquacious; talkativeness; garrulity. Sentence: "All these giant trees and boulders of granite seemed intent on making a mystery of the course of this small brook; fearing, perhaps, that, with its never-ceasing loquacity, it should whisper tales out of the heart of the old forest whence it flowed, or mirror its revelations on the smooth surface of a pool." (Ch.16 Page 124).
3) Cadence- rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words. Sentence: "The child went singing away, following up the current of the brook, and striving to mingle a more lightsome cadence with its melancholy voice." (Ch. 16 Page 125).
4.) Despondency- state of being despondent; depression of spirits from loss of courage or hope; dejection. Sentence: "He looked haggard and feeble, and betrayed a nerveless despondency in his air, which had never so remarkably characterized him in his walks about the settlement, nor in any other situation where he deemed himself liable to notice." (Chapter 16 Page 126).
5.) Spectre- a mental image of something unpleasant or menacing. Sentence: "It may be, that his path-way through life was haunted thus, by a spectre that had stolen out from among his thoughts". (Chapter 17 Page 127).
6.) Epoch- a particular period of time marked by distinctive features, events, etc. Sentence: "They were awe-stricken likewise at themselves; because the crisis flung back to them their consciousness, and revealed to each heart its history and experience, as life never does, except at such breathless epochs." (Ch.17 Page 127).
7.) Penance- a punishment undergone in token of penitence for sin. Sentence: "Of penance I have had enough!". (Chapter 17 Page 129).
8.) Contiguity- the state of being contiguous; contact or proximity. Sentence: "The very contiguity of his enemy, beneath whatever mask the latter might conceal himself, was enough to disturb the magnetic sphere of a being so sensitive as Arthur Dimmesdale.". (Ch. 17 Page 129).
9.) Bough- a branch of a tree, especially one of the larger or main branches. Sentence: "The boughs were tossing heavily above their heads; while one solemn old tree groaned dolefully to another, as if telling the sad story of the pair that sat beneath, or constrained to forebode evil to come." (Chapter 17 Page 131)
10.) Vestige- a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence. Sentence: "Deeper it goes, and deeper, into the wilderness, less plainly to be seen at every step; until, some few miles hence, the yellow leaves will show no vestige of the white man’s tread." (Ch. 17 Page 132)
11.) Colloquy- a conversational exchange; dialogue. Sentence: "She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest, amid the gloom of which they were now holding a colloquy that was to decide their fate." (Ch.18 Page 134)
12.) Inscrutbale- not easily understood; mysterious; unfathomable. Sentence: "None; unless it avail him somewhat, that he was broken down by long and exquisite suffering; that his mind was darkened and confused by the very remorse which harrowed it; that, between fleeing as an avowed criminal, and remaining as a hypocrite, conscience might find it hard to strike the balance; that it was human to avoid the peril of death and infamy, and the inscrutable machinations of an enemy; that, finally, to this poor pilgrim, on his dreary and desert path, faint, sick, miserable, there appeared a glimpse of human affection and sympathy, a new life, and a true one, in exchange for the heavy doom which he was now ."