Notes from the Underground Complete Vocabulary Study Guide

A full set of vocabulary flashcards derived from the study guide for Parts I and II of Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground.

Abject

Lowly, wretched, or cast down in spirit; showing utter hopelessness or resignation.

Abomination

A thing that causes disgust or hatred; used to describe the horror of warfare and bloodshed.

Affectation

Artificial, put-on behavior or speech meant to impress.

Altercation

A noisy, heated, or angry dispute or argument.

Amour propre

French for self-love; self-esteem, vanity, or wounded pride.

Anachronism

An error in chronology; placing something in a time period where it does not belong.

Anaevsky, Mr.

An obscure minor Russian writer of the era, cited humorously for silly claims about the Colossus of Rhodes.

Antithesis

A person or thing that is the direct opposite of another.

Attilas

Allusions to Attila the Hun, symbolizing brutal, primitive conquerors.

Aversion

A strong feeling of dislike, opposition, or repugnance.

Belabour

To beat soundly or strike repeatedly.

Berth

A position of employment, especially a post or job in the civil service.

Bon ton

French for good style, high fashion, or polite and genteel society.

Caprice

A sudden, unaccountable whim that defies rational logic.

Cobbler

A shoemaker; "lying like a cobbler" means lying habitually and egregiously.

Collegiate assessor

A mid-level (Class VIII) civil-service rank in Imperial Russia's Table of Ranks, often mocked as petty bureaucracy.

Colossus of Rhodes

A giant ancient bronze statue of Helios, cited as a grand but irrational monument.

Condescension

Patronizingly superior or snobbish behavior.

Connoisseur

An expert judge of taste, especially in food, drink, or art.

Consumption

An archaic medical term for a wasting disease, specifically pulmonary tuberculosis.

Contumacious

Stubbornly disobedient or defiant of authority.

Cravat

A neckband or necktie, a common accessory in nineteenth-century men's fashion.

Credulous

Gullible; too ready to believe without proof.

Cut capers

To act playfully or perform silly, attention-seeking antics.

Debauchery

Extreme indulgence in sensual pleasures, vice, or dissipation.

Degradation

Humiliation or being reduced to a low, dishonorable state.

Deign

To condescend to do something felt beneath one's dignity.

Depravity

Moral corruption or wickedness.

Discomfiture

A state of embarrassment, confusion, or unease.

Dish-clout

An archaic term for a dishcloth, used metaphorically to describe a human life discarded as worthless.

Dissipation

Overindulgence in physical pleasures; squandering of resources through a loose, dissolute lifestyle.

Droit de seigneur

French for the feudal right of a lord to have sexual relations with the women on his estate.

Drubbing

A severe beating or thrashing.

Edifice

A large, imposing building (used of the Crystal Palace).

Edifying

Intended to instruct morally, often in a dry, formal way.

Ennui

Listless boredom and dissatisfaction from lack of occupation.

Epaulettes

Ornamental shoulder pads worn on military uniforms to show rank.

Eradicate

To destroy completely.

Et caetera

Latin for "and the rest" (etc.).

Exhortation

An address conveying urgent advice, recommendations, or warnings.

Farthing

A coin of extremely small value; used figuratively for something of virtually no worth.

Fastidiousness

An excessively particular, critical, or demanding nature; pickiness about taste and propriety.

Felled

Struck down or knocked down with great force.

Frippery

Cheap, showy finery; a cluttered collection of useless trifles.

Furtively

Secretively, sneakily, or in a way designed to avoid notice.

Gay (Nikolai Ge)

A Russian realist painter referenced for his dramatic historical works.

Guffaw

A loud, boisterous, coarse laugh.

Ha'porth

A "halfpennyworth"; an insignificantly tiny amount.

Halcyon

Idyllically peaceful and happy; used of the imagined rationalist utopia.

House of ill-fame

A historical euphemism for a brothel.

Hussy

An impudent, insolent, or morally questionable woman.

Ignominious / Ignominy

Causing or deserving public shame or disgrace.

Incumbent

Required or obligatory as a duty or responsibility.

Inertia

A state of inaction or refusal to act; the narrator prizes "conscious inertia."

Ingratiate

To deliberately win someone's favor through flattery.

Insipid

Lacking flavor, vigor, or interest; dull and lifeless.

Jest against the grain

To joke reluctantly, against one's true bitter feelings.

Kammer-junker

A chamber-cadet or gentleman of the bedchamber; a junior court rank in Imperial Russia.

L'homme de la nature et de la vérité

French for "the man of nature and of truth," alluding to Rousseau's ideal of the natural, uncomplicated human.

Lafitte

Chateau Lafite Rothschild, a prestigious, expensive French wine.

Lexicons

Dictionaries or wordbooks.

Logarithms

Mathematical exponents; symbolizes rigid scientific determinism.

Lovelace

A charming but unscrupulous seducer of women, after the rake in Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa.

Madam

A woman who manages a brothel.

Magnanimous / Magnanimity

Nobly generous and forgiving, especially toward a rival.

Malediction

A curse; the utterance of revilement and evil words.

Marker

A person who keeps score in a billiard room.

Mawkish

Sentimental in a feeble, sickly, or insincere way.

Millinery establishment

Ostensibly a hat shop, but used here as a euphemism for a brothel.

Mire

Swampy mud, used metaphorically for moral or psychological degradation.

Mortifying

Causing shame; here, self-punishing oneself out of spite.

Napoléon, à la

French for "in the manner of Napoleon," referencing his iconic arms-crossed stance.

Nonplussed

Bewildered, at a complete loss for what to think or do.

Obliquity

Moral perversity or deviation from what is right ("moral obliquity").

Obscurantist

One who opposes intellectual progress or enlightenment.

Oscillations

Swinging back and forth between moods, opinions, or decisions.

Paradoxalist

A person who proposes self-contradictory or unconventional ideas.

Pedant

A person excessively concerned with minor details and formal display of learning.

Penitent

Feeling sorrow and regret for wrongdoing.

Petitioners

People making formal requests or pleas to an official.

Petulant

Sulky, bad-tempered, or childishly impatient.

Phrasemonger

A person who uses empty, high-sounding words and clichés instead of genuine thought.

Piquancy

An appealingly sharp, exciting, or provocative quality.

Point d'honneur

French for a point of honor; a matter affecting one's self-esteem or moral duty.

Pot-house

A low-class tavern or alehouse.

Predilection

A strong preference or special liking.

Preference

A classic Russian card game similar to whist, popular among nineteenth-century civil servants.

Proximity

Closeness in space, time, or relationship.

Recherché

French for exquisite, choice, elegant, or rare.

Recompense

Compensation or amends for harm or effort.

Reminiscences

Memories or recollections of the past.

Retort

A long-necked glass vessel for chemical distillation; used metaphorically for an artificial, lab-born (unnatural) origin.

Ribaldry

Coarse, vulgar, or indecent language or behavior.

Rogue

A dishonest, unprincipled, or mischievous person.

Rusks

Dry, hard biscuits or slices of twice-baked bread.

Sallies

Sudden witty or provocative remarks in an argument.

Seething

Churning or boiling; being in a state of extreme, agitated anger.

Sieve

A mesh strainer; "pouring water through a sieve" means a pointless, futile activity.

Sluggard

A lazy, sluggish person.

Spleen

Ill temper, spite, or melancholic gloom (historically believed to originate in the organ of the same name).