Black Boy Vocabulary

doggerel

crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme

Copiously

abundantly; plentifully

languor

a weak or lifeless feeling

surreptitiously (adv)

secretly

Asafetida

a bad smelling substance from certain plants, used as a medicine

intangible

unable to be touched or grasped; not having physical presence

morose

having a gloomy or sullen manner; not friendly or sociable

predilection

A preference or special liking for something; a bias in favor of something

solicitude

a feeling of excessive concern

palled

grew uninteresting

invectives noun

insulting, abusive, or highly critical language

sonorously (adv.)

in a way that has a deep, pleasant sound

impudent

disrespectful

florid

(adj.) highly colored, reddish

impetus

a moving force, impulse, stimulus

dissemble

(v.) to disguise or conceal, deliberately give a false impression

subservience

willingness to obey others unquestioningly

repugnant

(adj.) offensive, disagreeable, distasteful

tawdry

(adj.) showy and flashy but lacking in good taste

travail

painful or laborious effort

terse

brief and to the point

libations

Wine or other liquids (poured on the ground as a sacrifice to a god)

oblique

indirect; slanting

eschew

to avoid, shun, keep away from

malinger

to evade responsibility by pretending to be ill

obviate

to prevent; to make unnecessary

taciturn

silent; not talkative

incipient

beginning to come into being or to become apparent

erstwhile

former; of an earlier time

internecine

deadly to both sides

truncated

shortened; cut off

proletarian

related to the working class

sunder

split apart