Gatsby Vocab 1

Ch 1-4

Fractiousness

Being irritable, quarrelsome, or difficult to control

Languid

Someone or something that lacks energy or enthusiasm

Convivial

Friendly, lively, and enjoyable

Jauntiness

The quality of being cheerful, lively, and self-confident

Elicited

Having evoked or drawn out a response from someone in reaction to one’s own actions

Vestige

a trace of something that is disappearing or no longer exists

Ineffable

too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words

Debauchee

a person given to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures; a rascal

Dilatory

Slow to act

Garrulous

excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters

Din

a loud, unpleasant, and prolonged noise

Wistfully

with a feeling of vague or regretful longing; melancholy

Corpulent

overweight

Menagerie

a collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition; a strange or diverse collection of people or things

Portentous

having a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen

Reverential

having deep respect for someone or something

Insolence

rude and disrespectful behavior

Interminable

endless

Eddies

circular movements of water, counter to a main current, causing a small whirlpool

Crescendo

the loudest point reached in a gradually increasing sound

Deftly

in a way that is neatly skillful and quick in movement; in a clever way

Florid

having a red or flushed complexion; elaborately intricate or complicated

Poignant

evoking a keenly felt sense of emotion, especially of bittersweet sadness or regret

Desolate

something deserted of people and in a state of bleak and dismal emptiness

Wan

someone pale and giving the impression of illness or exhaustion

Prodigality

one who spends or gives lavishly and foolishly; one who has returned after an absence