Sandy Vocabulary Words
Terms
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- abashed
- humiliated; lowered in rank, presige, or esteem
- abate
- lessen in degree, reduce
- abhorrence
- looked at or felt with disgust, horror; shunned or rejected with scorn or fear
- abide
- put up with, tolerate
- abode
- home place where a person lives or stays
- abomination
- disgusting thing; something to be looked at with great dislike, disgust or horror
- abstruse
- hard to get the sense of, difficult to understand or comprehent; hidden away, recondite
- abyss
- deep hole; bottomless pit of hell
- accord
- be in harmony or agreement with
- accost
- go up and say something to a strange person
- accountable
- responsible, answerable, capable of being explained
- accrued
- increased, become a permanent addition
- accumulate
- get greater by addition; pile up
- acquiescing
- giving agreement, making no protest against; consenting quietly or passively
- acquisition
- prize, gift, something gained
- acrid
- biting, sharp, bitter taste or smell
- acuteness
- sharpness of mind, clear-minded
- adduced
- put forward as an example or authority, for proof or for consideration
- admonished
- warned, told by someone about one's wrongdoing, mildly or kindly but seriously
- adultery
- consenting sexual intercourse between a married person and another person to whom the first person is not married; usually against religious law if not political or social statute. Note: this word never appears in the text of The Scarlet Letter.
- advance
- to go before, ahead of
- advent
- coming, arrival, esp. one of importance
- adverse
- going against one's interests; going in an opposite direction
- afflicted
- in pain with or because of; physical suffering or in distress because of
- agency
- action, being an instrument of, operating through
- agitate
- shake up, disturb, cause to move violently and irregularly
- ails
- wrong with, diseased
- airily
- high in the air, not seriously--there is some implication also of supernatural power (in the air)
- airy
- like or in the air, as light as air, immaterial or without substance or weight
- alacrity
- speed, quickness; eagerness, cheerful willingness
- alchemy, alchemist
- magical power, chemical philosophy of transmutation or changing metals into gold; (alchemist); Parcelsus was the most famous medieval alchemist
- allot
- to parcel out; assign a portion
- alloy
- to mix (a metal) with another one of less value
- alms-house
- poor-house; place where people who cannot support themselves are housed and fed by public charity
- amenable
- controlled by, responsible to authority
- amiss
- improper, wrong, whatever offends
- amplest
- most sufficient or adequate
- analogy
- parallel to, reasoning by like, corresponding qualities
- anathemas
- curses, strong denunciations
- anatto
- variant of annatto, yellow-red dye from a tropical seed
- animadversion
- pointing out bad qualities, hostile criticism
- annihilated
- completely destroyed, put out of existence
- anon
- again; archaic: in a short time, quickly
- anthracite
- hard coal used for stove fuel
- antics
- foolish acts, jumps
- Antinomian
- Religious liberal who believes in individual grace through self-knowledge, not church law or teaching, and thus persecuted by Puritans
- antipathy
- a dislike or aversion; animosity, enmity; (synonym: repugnance)
- antiquarian
- one who studies very old, historic things
- antiquated
- old, having gone out of use
- antique
- very old, of old times
- antiquity
- early times in history
- apartment
- set of rooms; British: flat
- apostle
- religious missionary, ardent supporter
- apothecary
- keeper of medical store, one who supplies medical drugs
- apotheosized
- glorified, exhalted
- appalled
- shocked, dismayed, made pale
- apparition
- strange-looking thing
- appellation
- name or title
- apple-peru
- a weed, originally from tropical America, with white or blue flowers
- appliances
- instruments, things, esp. of household use
- apprehension, apprehensive
- fear; or, understanding or perception in general
- aqua-vitae
- strong liquor such as brandy or whisky
- archaic
- old, ancient, old-fashioned
- arch-fiend
- the devil, Satan
- archive
- library, storehouse of books
- aright
- correctly
- armorial
- having to do with coats of arms
- array
- clothing or armor
- arraying
- dressing, composing
- art
- second person familiar 'are'; also, black art: sorcery, evil, black magic
- ascended
- went up
- ascending
- going up
- ascertain
- get knowledge of, make sure of
- ascetic
- (adj.) self-denying, austere, severe; (noun) one who renounces comforts of life
- askew
- at an angle
- asks permission
- behest
- aspect
- facial expression; appearance to the eye
- asperity
- sharpness, roughness
- attainments
- accomplishments
- attire
- clothing
- audacity
- boldness, bravery, unrestrained impudence
- auditor
- one who hears; a listener
- aught
- archaic: the least bit, anything at all
- augur
- to predict, forecast the future
- auspicious
- favorable; (see inauspicious)
- austerity
- simple, unadorned, with no ornaments
- autumnal
- fall-like in age, old, elderly
- avail
- help, make use of, to be of advantage
- averred
- said that thing is so, affirm
- avowed
- acknowledged openly, said to be the case
- behalf, benefit (not archaic, but more common, behooved)
- beneficence
- between
- bid
- blows, throws
- beadle, town-beadle
- book in Gothic type, with heavy dark strokes, like Olde English
- blasoned
- broom made of a bundle of twigs
- besought
- C
- cadence
- rhythm in sound, going up and down
- calamity
- serious trouble, shocking events
- calculable
- come to decision as to probable events, readily relied on
- cankered
- diseased or corrupted, or spreading it
- capering
- playful leaping like a young goat
- caprice
- impulse, whim, an impulsive change of mind; capricious: fickle, impulsive and unpredictable; wanton, wilful behavior, without rational motivation
- capriole
- playful, goatlike leap in air
- careering
- going quickly or violently, running or moving at full speed, in a rush
- catarrh
- inflammation of the lining of the nose and mouth
- catechism
- book of questions and answers used by the Church to teach a system of Christian belief
- cause of death, ruin, destruction
- bark
- celestial
- pertaining to the sky, heavenly, divine
- centrifugal
- having a tendency away from the center
- chamber
- room, esp. bedroom
- chamber-window
- (upstairs) bedroom window
- chaos
- without any order or form
- charger
- archaic: a platter, a large shallow dish
- chased
- decorated with engraving or embossing
- cheery
- in good spirits, happy
- chest; breasts of female or mother; body near heart, center of emotion
- brat
- chink
- crack, narrow opening
- chirography
- writing with a pen
- chirurgical
- surgical
- choleric
- easily angered
- church usher, official whose duty it was to keep order
- beckoning
- cicerone
- a tourist guide
- circuit
- circle
- circumference
- outline of circle, distance around
- clamor
- big noise, protest
- clangor
- loud, metallic sounds
- clarion
- trumpet
- clench
- tightly shut
- clew
- clue, something that guides to the solution of a problem or mystery
- cloister
- monastery, place of secluded study
- close
- ending; but also, narrow passageway or alley (now chiefly British); neighborhood of a church or other building
- coadjutors
- workers along with a person; assistants
- cogitating
- thinking, pondering
- colloquy
- a talk between persons
- commodiousness
- comfort in spaciousness
- commodity
- anything that can be traded
- communed
- communicated quietly
- communion
- union, shared feeling or place
- compass
- range, distance around
- compeers
- equals (persons)
- compliance
- as ordered or requested
- comports
- behaves
- comprehension, comprehended
- understanding; comprehend: see clearly in a wide range
- conceits
- strange comparisons or ideas
- concoct
- make, mix
- concord
- harmony, agreement between two aspects
- condescension
- recognition
- confer
- give, consult, make conference with
- confidant
- one to whom secrets or private matters are told or confided; (female, confidante)
- confinement
- imprisonment; also, lying-in, period of time around childbirth when mother lies in bed separate from other people (according to the OED, that euphemism was not yet in common use in 1600s-- term was "bands", or "Our Lady's bands", while "confinement" is a euphemism cited from 1774 and was popular in Hawthorne's Victorian times)
- confusing, perplexing, uncertain
- baggage
- congregated
- grouped together
- conjectural
- conclusion inferred from incomplete evidence
- conjoined
- joined, joined together, united
- conjunction
- state of being joined; simultaneous occurrence in time or space
- conjuration
- magic spell; also, solemn invocation or appeal
- conscious
- aware of
- consciousness
- awareness, understanding
- consecrated, consecration
- given up to God, declared or set apart as sacred
- considerable
- big, a lot of, large in amount
- consigned
- given over to
- consolation, consolations
- comforting, solace
- consternation
- great surprise and fear; sudden confusion or amazement
- constitution
- makeup, how put together of parts
- constraining, constrained
- limited, restricted; forced, not natural
- consummation
- fulfillment, ultimate end or goal, made complete
- contadina
- Italian peasant girl; masculine = contadino; plural = contadini
- contagion
- poision, bad influence that spreads rapidly
- contiguity, contiguous
- joining, touching
- contingency
- happening, occurence, esp. by chance
- contortions
- twisted out of normal form
- contrive
- devise with cleverness, fabricate
- contumely
- rough, rude, haughtily contempuous language or treatment
- conversant (with)
- having knowledge of or about
- convulsed, convulsive
- violent, uncontrolled movement of muscles
- cope
- coping, top part of a wall
- cordial
- liqueur
- countenance, countenanced
- (noun) face, facial expression, aspect; (verb) to condone, to approve (cliche: out of countenance = visibly upset or embarrassed)
- countenanced
- supported or encouraged in belief
- covering made of cloth made stiff with paste
- burdock
- craftily
- falsely, not straightforwardly
- crave
- beg, want greatly, desire
- credibility
- possibility of being believed in
- creed
- short statement of belief in Christian church
- culprit
- person caught violating the law
- cumbrous
- bulky, hard to handle
- cut
- clothing design
- dame
- married woman
- dank
- wet, unhealthy
- darksome
- dark, somber
- dauntless
- bold, not capable of being discouraged, fearless
- deacon
- man who helps minister in church functions
- dearth
- scarcity, lack, shortage
- decapitated
- head cut off; fired from job; [note: fake decapitation tricks were common in traveling magic shows in Hawthorne's time]
- decease
- death
- decorous
- proper, appropriate, polite
- decorum
- appropriate, polite behavior
- decrepit
- broken down, old and weak
- decried
- condemned, disapproved of
- deem
- consider, believe
- defrauding
- taking away from, especially by cheating
- defunct
- dead
- degenerate
- lost quality, gone down hill
- deleterious
- having a harmful effect
- dell
- small hollow with trees, usually secluded
- delusive
- having the nature of a delusion or false belief
- delved
- archaic word for dug
- demeanour
- behavior, way he handles himself, conduct
- demerits
- faults, offenses, defects
- demonstration
- public display
- denizens
- animals living in that place
- denoted
- indicated, served as a direct sign of
- deportment
- conduct, demeanor, bearing, behavior
- depravity
- moral corruption
- depredations
- plunder, preying on
- deserts
- deserved result, reward or punishment
- design
- form a plan for
- desperadoes
- pirates, dangerous criminals
- despondency
- feeling without hope, depression from lack of courage
- despots, despotic
- ruler with absolute power
- detriment
- harm, damage
- device
- in heraldry, a graphic motto or symbol
- devoid
- without, empty, lacking
- devout
- deeply religious
- diabolical
- devilish
- diffused
- spread out
- dilapidated
- ruined, decayed, fallen down
- disapprobation
- disapproval
- disastrous
- causing disaster, evil influence, esp. supernatural (from the Greek word for 'star')
- discern
- to perceive differences; to make distinctions
- disclaim
- deny (responsibility for)
- disclosure
- revealing, revelation, opening up to public view
- discourse
- formal, long, discussion of a subject
- disdainful
- scorning, looking down on, with contempt
- disporting
- playing
- disposition
- mood, (likely) pattern of behavior, attitude
- disquietude
- state of worry, uneasiness
- dissolute
- lacking in moral restraint
- distracted
- unsettled, pulled in opposite emotional directions
- diversify
- vary, mix in
- divine
- minister, clergyman, theologian; (maybe there is a hint of sarcasm sometimes, of the man who pretends to compare to God)
- doing good, acting kindly, charity
- benevolence, benevolent
- domain
- owned area, place, home
- domestic
- private, home, family
- dost
- do (second person singular present tense)
- dotage
- senile, state of feeble-minded old person
- draught
- draft, a drink
- drearier
- dismal, boring, bleaker
- dress or ornament in a loud or bad way
- begs leave
- dryad
- wood nymph, a nature divinity in Greek mythology