Black Boy Vocab

hypocrisy

pretending to have morals that one doesn’t express

insidious

harmful in a subtle way

persecute

treat someone with hostility

nullify

cancel out

premeditated

planned or thought in advance

covet

desire something that belongs to someone else

incredulous

unbelievable

inflection

change in tone

feasible

possible to do easily

discriminate

treat someone unfairly based on group characteristics

segregate

keep separate based on race or religion

capitulate

to surrender

prelude

introduction to something more important

pervasive

spread widely

terse

brief, curt, and often unfriendly

aspersions

attack on someone’s integrity

denigrated

criticized unfairly

subversive

attempt to weaken authority

valorizes

praises

cryptic

mysterious

ardent

enthusiastic or passionate

intangible

untouchable

bleak

hopeless

chastise

scold

castigate

severely criticize or punish

chortle

laugh

unatonable

not able to forgive

appease

to satisfy

squalid

dirty from neglect

indulgent

overly generous

humility

modesty

futile

useless

genial

cheerful

banter

playful remarks

tantamount

equal in value