The Great Divorce Final Vocabulary List

monotonous

dull, repetitive, and boring

sanctimonious

self-righteous

bolster

to support

copious

a profuse amount

didactic

instructive

relegate

to demote or downgrade

furtive

sneaky

aesthetic

dealing with beauty

ambivalence

the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone

duplicity

double-dealing

exacerbate

to make worse

virulent

poisonous; hostile

contrite

remorseful

judicious

wise

stoic

unemotional

archaic

Marked by the characteristic of an earlier period; forming the earliest stage

countenance

Appearance, especially the look or expression of the face

derisive

mocking

disdainful

scornful

eccentric

Deviating from the recognized or customs, character, practice; odd

indignant

Feeling, characterized by or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting or base

morose

Gloomily or sullenly ill-humored, as a person or mood

refeigerium

refreshments

queue

a file or line of people

vitiated

to impair the quality of; weaken

bourgeois

member of the middle class

innocuous

harmless; not interesting

vituperation

verbal abuse; condemnation

jocund

cheerful; glad

mirth

amusement or laughter

entreated

to ask for earnestly

gaiters

ankle-high shoe w/ elastic sides

apostate

a person who forsakes his religion

bishopric

to see; the office of a bishop

libel

to misrepresent damagingly

inquisition

harsh or difficult questioning; investigation

episcopal

governing order of bishops

reconnoitred

to inspect the enemy's position

writhe

to twist the body about; to shrink mentally; pain; distort

via dolorosa

walk of sorrow

cheroot

a cigar having open ends

cataract

a descent of water over a steep surface

expedient

proper under the circumstances

mirage

an optical phenomenon without substance or reality

garrulous

excessively talking in a roundabout manner; wordy

incurious

not curious; lacking care or attention

lethe

a river in hell whose water caused forgetfulness of the past

monomaniac

obsessive zeal in a single thing

astringent

stern or severe

tyrannous

unjustly cruel, harsh, or severe

penumbra

a shadowy, marginal, or indefinite area