Vocabulary Set: Literary and Descriptive Words for Advanced English

chasten

to discipline, correct, or make less proud, humble.

"She found that out one day when he slapped her face in the kitchen. It happened over one of those dinners that chasten all women sometimes."

clamor

a loud uproar or noise.

"All night now the jooks clanged and clamored. Pianos living three lifetimes in one."

decorum

proper or polite behavior.

"He had scented the matter as quickly as any of the rest, but decorum demanded that he sit oblivious until he was notified."

desecrate

to treat something sacred with disrespect.

"The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree, but Janie didn't know how to tell Nanny that."

doleful

sad or sorrowful, mournful.

"'Mighty serious matter, man. Serious!!' 'Yeah man,' Lige would cut in, dolefully. 'It needs yo' strict attention. You ought not tuh lose no time.'"

fetid

having a very bad smell.

"The wind through the open windows had broomed out all the fetid feeling of absence and nothingness."

fractious

difficult to control; irritable and quarrelsome.

"Five or six more men left the porch and surrounded the fractious beast, goosing him in the sides and making him show his temper."

languid

weak, tired, or lacking energy.

"Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid."

oblique

slanting or indirect.

"He saw a cow swimming slowly towards the fill in an oblique line."

ostentatious

meant to attract attention or show off.

"They came to the store and ostentatiously looked over whatever she was doing and went back to report to him at the house."

pugnacious

eager or ready to fight.

"The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grapefruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume; then her pugnacious breasts trying to bore holes in her shirt."

promontory

something that sticks out or projects.

"Saw the cunning thoughts race in and out through the caves and promontories of his mind long before they darted out of the tunnel of his mouth."

prostrate

completely submissive or defeated.

"Then one day she sat and watched the shadow of herself going about tending store and prostrating itself before Jody, while all the time she herself sat under a shady tree with the wind

refracted

bent or changed direction.

"You spoke of honor and respect. And all that they said and did was refracted by her inattention and shot off towards the rim-bones of nothing."

sodden

soaked, heavy, or waterlogged.

"She had come back from the sodden and the bloated; the sudden dead, their eyes flung wide open in judgment."

stolid

unemotional and not easily excited.

"The men walking in front and the laden, stolid women following them like burros."

sullen

silent, gloomy, and bad-tempered.

"Joe returned to the store full of pleasure and good humor but he didn't want Janie to notice it because he saw that she was sullen and he resented that."

temerity

boldness or courage that may seem foolish.

"The town had a basketful of feelings good and bad about Joe's positions and possessions, but none had the temerity to challenge him."

temporize

to avoid making a decision or delay action to gain something.

"'Ah just had one,' Janie temporized with her conscience."

usurper

someone who takes a position or power that does not rightfully belong to them.

"She almost apologized to the tenants the first time she collected the rents. Felt like a usurper."