Young Goodman Brown and My Kinsman, Major Molineaux
SAT Words from The Scarlet Letter Chapters 6-12
SAT Words from The Scarlet Letter Chapters 14-24:
SAT Words from Whitman and Dickinson:
SAT Word From The Great Gatsby:
Circle each word when you find it in the story!
Words from Young Goodman Brown
1. melancholy, noun. Sadness or depression of the spirits; gloom. Middle English melancolie, from Old French, from Late Latin melancholia, from Greek melankholi : melus, melan-, black + khol, bile; see ghel-2 in Indo-European Roots.
2. pious, Adj. Having or exhibiting religious reverence; earnestly compliant in the observance of religion; devout. From Latin pius, dutiful.
3. catechism, Noun. A book giving a brief summary of the basic principles of Christianity in question-and-answer form. French catechisme, from Old French, from Late Latin catchismus, from Late Greek katkhismos, from katkhizein, to teach by word of mouth.
4. firmament, noun. The vault or expanse of the heavens; the sky. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin firmmentum, from Latin, support, from firmre, to strengthen. See firm2.]
5. festoon, A string or garland, as of leaves or flowers, suspended in a loop or curve between two points. French feston, from Italian festone, from festa, feast.
6. visage, Noun. The face or facial expression of a person; countenance. Middle English, from Old French, from vis, from Latin vsus, appearance, from past participle of vidire, to see. See weid- in Indo-European Roots.
7. proselytes, Noun. A new convert to a doctrine or religion. Middle English proselite, from Old French, from Late Latin proslytus, from Greek proslutos, stranger, proselyte : pros-, pros- + luth- aorist tense stem of erkhesthai, to go.
8. canopy, A covering, usually of cloth, suspended over a throne or bed or held aloft on poles above an eminent person or a sacred object. Middle English canape, from Medieval Latin canpum, mosquito net, from Latin canpum, from Greek knpeion, bed with mosquito netting, from knps, knp-, mosquito.
9. wanton, Adj. Immoral or unchaste; lewd. Middle English- wan -deficient Old English - wan deficient, téon.
10. anathema, Noun. A vehement denunciation; a curse: "the sound of a witch's anathemas in some unknown tongue" (Nathaniel Hawthorne). Late Latin anathema, doomed offering, accursed thing.
Words from My Kinsman, Major Molineaux
11. cudgel, noun. Middle English: Kuggel A short heavy club.
12. hovel, noun. - A small miserable dwelling: Middle English - hut.
13. countenance, noun. 1.Appearance, especially the expression of the face: The question left him with a puzzled countenance. 2.The face or facial features. [Middle English contenaunce, from Old French, from contenir, to behave. See contain.]
14. sepulchral, adj. 1.Of or relating to a burial vault or a receptacle for sacred relics. 2. Suggestive of the grave; funereal. Latin for tomb.
15. smite, verb. 1.a.To inflict a heavy blow on, with or as if with the hand, a tool, or a weapon. b. To drive or strike (a weapon, for example) forcefully onto or into something else. 2. To attack, damage, or destroy by or as if by blows. 3. a.To afflict b.To afflict retributively; chasten or chastise. 4. To affect sharply with great feeling [Middle English smiten, from Old English smtan, to smear.]
16. evinced, e·vince v.To show or demonstrate clearly; manifest: evince distaste by grimacing. [Latin vincere, to prevail, prove. See evict.]
17. predilection, noun. Etymology: French prédilection, from Medieval Latin praediligere to love more, prefer, from Latin prae- + diligere to love -- more at an established preference for something.
18. domicile, n. Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin domicilium, from domus a dwelling place : place of residence a person's fixed, permanent, and principal home for legal purposes.
19. antipathy, noun: [anti (opposite)] feelings pathos-experience definition: repugnance; hatred.
20. sanctity, noun. 1. Holiness of life or disposition; saintliness. 2.The quality or condition of being considered sacred; inviolability. [Middle English saunctite, from Old French sainctite, from Latin snctits, from sanctus, sacred.
21. despondent, Adj. a feeling of rejection.
22. din, n. A jumble of loud, usually discordant sounds. [Middle English dine, from Old English dyne.]
Chapter 6
russet: (noun) a moderate to strong brown garment. Sentence: And yet a russet gown, torn and soiled with the child’s rude play, made a picture of her just as perfect.
amenable: (adj) willing. Sentence: The child could not be made amenable to rules.
phantasmagoric: (adj) dreamlike; surreal. Sentence: It was like nothing so much as the phantasmagoric play of the northern lights.
labyrinth: (noun) a maze. Sentence: But Hester could not resolve the query, being herself in a dismal labyrinth of doubt.
Chapter 7
caprice: (noun) an impulsive change of mind. Sentence: Often, nevertheless, more from caprice than necessity, she demanded to be taken up in arms; but was soon as imperious to be set down again, and frisked onward before Hester on the grassy pathway, with many a harmless trip and tumble.
imperious: (adj) arrogantly domineering or overbearing. Sentence: Often, nevertheless, more from caprice than necessity, she demanded to be taken up in arms, but was soon as imperious to be set down again, and frisked onward before Hester on the grassy pathway, with many a harmless trip and tumble.
tome: (noun) A large or weighty book. Sentence: Here, on the cushion, lay a folio tome, probably of the Chronicles of England, or other such substantial literature; even as, in our own days, we scatter gilded volumes on the centretable, to be turned over by the casual guest.
Chapter 8
unobtrusive: (adj) not noticeable or blatant; inconspicuous. Sentence: Pearl, that wild and flighty little elf, stole softly towards him, and taking his hand in the grasp of both her own, laid her cheek against it’ a caress so tender, and withal so unobtrusive, that her mother, who was looking on, asked herself, “Is that my Pearl?”
unwonted: (adj) not habitual or ordinary; unusual. Sentence: Little Pearl’s unwonted mood of sentiment lasted no longer; she laughed and went capering down the hall, so airily, that old Mr. Wilson raised a question whether even her tiptoes touched the floor.
wellnigh: (adv) nearly; almost. Sentence: “Wilt thou go with us tonight? There will be a merry company in the forest; and I wellnigh promised the Black Man that comely Hester Prynne should make one.”
sundering: (verb) tearing apart. Sentence: But here-if we suppose this interview betwixt Mistress Hibbins and Hester Prynne to be authentic, and not a parable-was already an illustration of the young minister’s argument against sundering the relation of a fallen mother to the offspring of her frailty.
Chapter 9
appellation: (noun) a name, title, or designation. Sentence: Under the appellation of Roger Chillingworth, the reader will remember, was hidden another name, which its former wearer had resolved should never more be spoken.
pilloried: (verb) locked into a wooden framework on a post, with holes for the head and hands; shamefully connected. Sentence: He resolved not to be pilloried beside her on her pedestal of shame.
apothecary: (noun) pharmacist. Sentence: At all events, the health of the good town of Boston, lain in the guardianship of an aged deacon and apothecary, whose piety and godly deportment were stronger testimonials in his favor than any that he could have produced in the shape of a diploma.
pharmacopoeia: (noun) a book containing an official list of medicinal drugs together with articles on their preparation and use. Sentence: In his Indian captivity, moreover, he had gained much knowledge of the properties of native herbs and roots; nor did he conceal from his patients, that these simple medicines, Nature’s boon to the untutored savage, had quite as large a share of his own confidence as the European pharmacopoeia, which so many learned doctors had spent centuries in elaborating.
Chapter 10
typify: (verb) to serve as a typical example of. Sentence: They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime.
imbued: (verb) filled with. Sentence: You Sir, of all men whom I have known, are he whose body is the closest conjoined, and imbued, and identified, so to speak, with the spirit whereof it is the instrument.
somniferous: (adj) sleep causing. Sentence: It must have been a work of vast ability in the somniferous school of literature.
Chapter 11
antipathy: (noun) hatred, repugnance. Sentence: His gestures, his gait, his grizzled beard, his slightest and most indifferent acts, the very fashion of his garments, were odious in the clergyman’s sight; a token implicitly to be relied on, of a deeper antipathy in the breast of the latter than he was willing to acknowledge to himself.
abhorrence: (noun) revulsion. Sentence: For, as it was impossible to assign a reason of such distrust and abhorrence, so Mr. Dimmesdale, conscious that the poison of one morbid spot was infecting his heart’s entire substance, attributed all his presentiments to no other cause.
abstruse: (adj) difficult to understand. Sentence: There were scholars among them, who had spent more years in acquiring abstruse lore, connected with the divine profession, Mr. Dimmesdale had lived; and who might well, therefore, be more profoundly versed in such solid and valuable attainments than their youthful brother.
forborne: (verb) held back from; resist. Sentence: On one of those ugly nights, which we have faintly hinted at, but forborne to picture forth, the minister started from his chair.
Chapter 12
somnambulism: (noun) sleepwalking. Sentence: Walking in the shadow of a dream, as it were, and perhaps actually under the influence of a species of somnambulism, Mr. Dimmesdale reached the spot where, now so long since, Hester Prynne had lived through her first hours of public ignominy.
rheumatism: (noun) a condition of the muscles, tendons, joints, bones, or nerves, characterized by pain and disability. Sentence: The minister might stand there, if it so pleased him, until morning should redden in the east, without other risk than that the dank and chill night-air would creep into his frame, and stiffen his joints with rheumatism, and clog his throat with catarrh and cough; thereby defrauding the expectant audience of to-morrow’s prayer and sermon.
catarrh: (noun) inflammation of mucous membranes, especially of the nose and throat. Sentence: The minister might stand there, if it so pleased him, until morning should redden in the east, without other risk than that the dank and chill night-air would creep into his frame, and stiffen his joints with rheumatism, and clog his throat with catarrh and cough; thereby defrauding the expectant audience of to-morrow’s prayer and sermon.
reverberated: (verb) echoed. Sentence: Without any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud; an outcry that went pealing through the night, and was beaten back from one house to another, and reverberated from the hills, in the background; as if a company of devils, detecting so much misery and terror in it, had made a plaything of the sound, and were bandying it to and fro.
Chapter 14
propinquity: proximity; nearness
But it was the constant shadow of my presence!-the closest propinquity of the grown to exist only by this perpetual poison of the direst revenge!
Chapter 15
blighted: withered. Sentence: Hester gazed after him a little while, looking with a half fantastic curiosity to see whether the tender grass of early spring would not be blighted beneath him, and show the wavering track of his footsteps, sere and brown across its cheerful verdure.
nuptial: of or relating to marriage or the wedding ceremony. Sentence: Attempting to do so, she thought of those long-past days, in a distant land, when he used to emerge at eventide from the seclusion of his study, and sit down in the firelight of their home, and in the light of her nuptial smile.
Chapter 16
loquacity: very talkative; garrulous. 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.
hue: color or shade. Sentence: Continually, indeed, as it stole onward, the streamlet kept up a babble, kind, quiet, soothing, but melancholy, like the voice of a young child that was spending its infancy without playfulness and knew not how to be merry among sad acquaintance and events of somber hue.
Chapter 17
misanthropy: hatred or mistrust of humankind. Sentence: There had been a period when Hester was less alive to this consideration; or perhaps, in the misanthropy of her own trouble, she left the minister to bear what she might picture to herself as a more tolerable doom.
malignity: intense hatred. Sentence: She doubted not, that the continual presence of Roger Chillingworth,-the secret poison of his malignity, infecting all the air about him,-and his authorized interference, as a physician, with the minister’s physical and spiritual infirmities,-that these bad opportunities had been turned to a cruel purpose.
Chapter 18
citadel: a fortress in a commanding position in or near a city. Sentence: It may be watched and guarded; so that the enemy shall not force his way again into the citadel, and might even, in his subsequent assaults, select some other avenue, in preference to that where he formally succeeded.
irrevocably: impossible to retract or revoke. Sentence: But now, since I am irrevocably doomed, wherefore should I not snatch the solace allowed to the condemned culprit before his execution?
Chapter 19
grimace: a sharp contortion of the face expressive of pain, contempt, or disgust. Sentence: It was only by an exertion of force that her mother brought her up to him, hanging back, and manifesting her reluctance by odd grimaces; of which, ever since her babyhood, she had possessed a singular variety, and could transform her mobile physiognomy into a series of different aspects, with a new mischief in them each and all.
talisman: lucky charm. Sentence: The minister, painfully embarrassed, but hoping that a kiss might prove a talisman to admit him into the child’s kindlier regards, bent forward, and impressed one on her brow.
Chapter 20
vicissitude: a change or variation. Sentence: So great a vicissitude in his life could not at once be received as real.
disquietude: worried unease; anxiety. In order to free his mind from this indistinctness and duplicity of impression, which vexed it with a strange disuietude, he recalled and more thoroughly defined the plans which Hester and himself had sketched for their departure.
Chapter 21
plebeian: characteristic of common people. Sentence: It was already thronged with the craftsmen and other plebeian inhabitants of the town, in considerable numbers; among whom, likewise, were many rough figures, whose attire of deer-skins marked them as belonging to some of the forest settlements, which surrounded the little metropolis of the colony.
jollity: merriment or celebration. Sentence: It was as Hester said, in regard to the unwonted jollity that brightened the faces of the people.
Chapter 22
necromancy: The practice of communicating with the spirits of the dead in order to predict the future. Sentence: As this ancient lady had the renown of being a principal actor in all the works of necromancy that were continually going forward, the crowd gave way before her, and seemed to fear the touch of her garment, as if it carried the plague among its gorgeous folds.
sobriety: seriousness in bearing, manner, or treatment. Sentence: These primitive statesmen, therefore,- Bradstreet, Endicott, Dudley, Bellingham, and their compeers, who were elevated to power by the early choice of the people, seem to have been not often brilliant, but distinguished by a ponderous sobriety, rather than activity of intellect.
pathos: an emotion of sympathetic pity. Sentence: But, throughout it all, and through the whole discourse, there had been a certain deep, said undertone of pathos, which could not be interpreted otherwise than as the natural regret of one soon to pass away.
zenith: the point in the sky that is directly above the observer. Sentence: Within the church, it had hardly been kept down; beneath the sky, it pealed upward to the zenith.
Chapter 24
delve: to search deeply and laboriously. Sentence: And, after many, many years a new grave was delved, near an old and sunken one, in that burial-ground beside which King’s Chapel has since been build.
semblance: an outward or token appearance. Sentence: All around, there were monuments carved with armorial bearings’ and on this simple slab of slate-as the curious investigator may still discern, and perplex himself with the purport-there appeared the semblance of an engraved escutcheon.
Whitman:
1) clang: (n) a ringing noise, often of bells.
2) solemn: (adj) deeply earnest, serious, and sober.
3) netherward: Noun; downward direction; region of hell.
4) minutia: (n) small or trivial detail. Origin: from Late Latin minutiae, petty details, from Latin mintia, smallness, from mintus, small.
5) askant: With a sideways glance; obliquely.
6) shuttle:
7) myriad: (adj.) Amounting to a very large, indefinite number- n. A vast number (Greek, murios, countless).
8) wafting: Part of Speech: participle in Whitman's poem. Waft: v. to carry or cause to go gently and smoothly through the air or over water- n. Something as an odor, carried through the air, A light breeze, A waving ( Middle Dutch, watchen, to watch or guard).
9) ecstatic: (adj.) Of relating to, induced by, or introducing ecstasy, in a state of ecstasy; enraptured. -n. One subject to ecstasies, (plural) Fits of ecstasy; raptures.
10) bard: (noun) A tribal poet-singer skilled in composing and reciting verses on heroes and their deeds (15th Century Middle English).
Dickinson:
11) Heft: (noun) Weight, heaviness, bulk (15th Century, Middle English).
12) Surplice: (noun) a loose white outer ecclesiastical vestment usually of knee length with large open sleeves (13th Century, Middle English).
13) supercilious: (adj) showing or feeling haughty disdain. Latin superciliosus = eyebrow.
14) docile: (adj) ready and willing to be taught. Latin - docilis - to teach.
15) omnipotent: (adj) having unlimited or universal power. Latin omnipotens to be able.
16) garret: (n) A room on the top floor of a house, typically under a pitched roof; an attic. [Middle English, from Old French garite, watchtower, from garir, to defend, of Germanic origin. See wer-4 in Indo-European Roots.]
17) corporeal: (adj) 1.Of, relating to, or characteristic of the body. 2. Of a material nature; tangible. [From Latin corporeus, from corpus, corpor-, body. See kwrep- in Indo-European Roots.]
18) affliction: (n.) 1.A condition of pain, suffering, or distress. 2. A cause of pain, suffering, or distress.
19) sexton: n. a church employee that takes care of the church and does other minor duties like, ring the bell and dig graves. [Middle English sextein, from Anglo-Latin sextnus, probably from Medieval Latin secristnus, sacristan, variant of sacristnus.]
20) debauchee
21) seraph:
Chapter 1
1) Incessantly (adv) Continuing without interruption.
Chapter 4
2) Listlessly: (adv) Lacking energy or disinclined to exert effort.
Chapter 5
3) Languorous: (adj) Lack of physical or mental energy.
4) Congenial: (adj) Having the same tastes, habits, or temperament; sympathetic.
Chapter 7
5) Candor: (n) Frankness or sincerity of expression; openness. Freedom from prejudice; impartiality.
Chapter 8
6) Desultory: (n) Occurring haphazardly; random.
Chapter 9
7) Impetuous: (adj) Having or marked by violent force.
8) Imperious: (adj) Arrogantly domineering or overbearing.
9) Immutable: (adj) Not subject or susceptible to change.
10) Effulgence: (n) splendor, brilliance.
Chapter 10
11) Supercilious: (adj) Feeling or showing haughty disdain.
12) voluptuous: (adj) sensual gratification; luxury, pleasure
Chapter 12
13) piquant: (adj) savory, pungent; pleasantly pungent or tart in taste; spicy.
Chapter 15
14) Incipiently: Adverb with "ly". Beginning to exist or appear; Incipient: Beginning to exist or appear: detecting incipient tumors; an incipient personnel problem.
Chapter 18
15) Commodious: (adj) Spacious; roomy.
16) ennui: (n) listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom.
17) Pandemonium: (n) A very noisy place; wild uproar or noise.
Chapter 19
18) caprice: (n) an impulsive change of mind.
Chapter 20
19) Ravishing: (adj) extremely attractive; entrancing
Some repeating words in many chapters:
20) hitherto: adverb. Until this time; previously.
21) Demurely (adv) Modest and reserved in manner or behavior. 2. Affectedly shy, modest, or reserved. See Synonyms at shy.
22) Alacrity: (n) Promptness or eager and speedy, readiness.
23) Atelier: (n) A studio or workshop where an artist works.
SAT Words from chapters 1-3 of The Great Gatsby:
Chapter 1
1. Feign: (V) -to imitate deceptively; to make believe; pretend.
2. Supercilious: (Adj.) -having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy.
3. Conscientious: (Adj.) -meticulous; careful; painstaking; particular.
4. Incredulous: (Adj.) -indicating or showing unbelief.
5. Reciprocal: (Adj.) -mutual; corresponding; matching; complementary; equivalent.
6. Wan: (Adj.) -of an unnatural or sickly pallor; pallid; lacking color.
7. Complacent: (Adj.) -often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied.
8. Intimation: (V) -make known subtly and indirectly; hint.
9. Infinite: (Adj.) -indefinitely or exceedingly large.
10. Anon: (Adv.) -in a short time; soon.
Chapter 2
1. Contiguous: (Adj.) -connecting without a break; uninterrupted.
2. Facet: (N) -aspect; phase; side.
3. Cower: (V) -to crouch, as in fear or shame.
4. Interpose: (V) -to step in between parties at variance; mediate.
5. Apathetic: (Adj.) -not interested or concerned; indifferent or unresponsive.
6. Languid: (Adj.) -lacking in spirit or interest; listless; indifferent.
7. Imply: (V) -to indicate or suggest without being explicitly stated.
8. Strident: (Adj.) -having a shrill, irritating quality or character.
9. Deft: (Adj.) -nimble; skillful; clever.
10. Clad: (Adj.) -dressed; covered.
Chapter 3
1. Permeate: (V) -to pass into or through every part of; to penetrate through the pores; to be diffused through; pervade; saturate.
2. Innuendo: (N) -an indirect comment about a person or thing, esp. of a disparaging or a derogatory nature.
3. Erroneous: (Adj.) -containing error; mistaken; incorrect; wrong.
4. Vehement: (Adj.) -strongly emotional; intense or passionate.
5. Cordial: (Adj.) -courteous and gracious; friendly; warm.
6. Impetuous: (Adj.) -characterized by sudden or rash action, emotion, etc.; impulsive.
7. Vacuous: (Adj.) -lacking in ideas or intelligence.
8. Corpulent: (Adj.) -large or bulky of body; portly; stout; fat.
9. Provincial: (Adj.) -having the manners, and viewpoints considered characteristic of unsophisticated inhabitants of a province; rustic; narrow or illiberal.
10. Din: (N) -a loud, confused noise; a continued loud or tumultuous sound; noisy clamor.
Chapter 1
1. Feign: (V) -to imitate deceptively; to make believe; pretend.
2. Supercilious: (Adj.) -having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy.
3. Conscientious: (Adj.) -meticulous; careful; painstaking; particular.
4. Incredulous: (Adj.) -indicating or showing unbelief.
5. Reciprocal: (Adj.) -mutual; corresponding; matching; complementary; equivalent.
6. Wan: (Adj.) -of an unnatural or sickly pallor; pallid; lacking color.
7. Complacent: (Adj.) -often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied.
8. Intimation: (V) -make known subtly and indirectly; hint.
9. Infinite: (Adj.) -indefinitely or exceedingly large.
10. Anon: (Adv.) -in a short time; soon.
Chapter 2
1. Contiguous: (Adj.) -connecting without a break; uninterrupted.
2. Facet: (N) -aspect; phase; side.
3. Cower: (V) -to crouch, as in fear or shame.
4. Interpose: (V) -to step in between parties at variance; mediate.
5. Apathetic: (Adj.) -not interested or concerned; indifferent or unresponsive.
6. Languid: (Adj.) -lacking in spirit or interest; listless; indifferent.
7. Imply: (V) -to indicate or suggest without being explicitly stated.
8. Strident: (Adj.) -having a shrill, irritating quality or character.
9. Deft: (Adj.) -nimble; skillful; clever.
10. Clad: (Adj.) -dressed; covered.
Chapter 3
1. Permeate: (V) -to pass into or through every part of; to penetrate through the pores; to be diffused through; pervade; saturate.
2. Innuendo: (N) -an indirect comment about a person or thing, esp. of a disparaging or a derogatory nature.
3. Erroneous: (Adj.) -containing error; mistaken; incorrect; wrong.
4. Vehement: (Adj.) -strongly emotional; intense or passionate.
5. Cordial: (Adj.) -courteous and gracious; friendly; warm.
6. Impetuous: (Adj.) -characterized by sudden or rash action, emotion, etc.; impulsive.
7. Vacuous: (Adj.) -lacking in ideas or intelligence.
8. Corpulent: (Adj.) -large or bulky of body; portly; stout; fat.
9. Provincial: (Adj.) -having the manners, and viewpoints considered characteristic of unsophisticated inhabitants of a province; rustic; narrow or illiberal.
10. Din: (N) -a loud, confused noise; a continued loud or tumultuous sound; noisy clamor.