Things Fall Apart Vocab II

panacea

universal cure for all illnesses and diseases (hypothetical)

ephemeral

short-lived, lasts a very short time

onerous

burdensome or difficult to endure

laity

ordinary people as distinct from professionals; members of a community who are not clergy; nonprofessionals, laypeople collectively

pungent

strong and sharp to the sense of taste or smell

prosaic

dull, lacking imagination

charlatan

fraud; a person falsely claiming to have knowledge or skill

perfunctory

hasty, brief, hurried; (of an action or gesture) carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection

morass

a swamp; figuratively, something that traps, confines, or confuses

sophistry

a deliberately invalid argument in the hope of deceiving