Vocabulary for Shelley’s Frankenstein Volume I, Chapters 1–3 (pages 25-40)

deplore (v.): To hate, dislike, or strongly disapprove of something.  He bitterly deplored the false pride which led his friend to conduct so little worthy of the affection that united them (33).

pittance (n.): A very small amount of money.  She procured plain work; she plaited straw; and by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to support life (34).

sullen (adj.): Behaving in a gloomily silent manner; seemingly resentful because one refuses to talk or smile.  I might have become sullen in my study, rough through the ardor of my nature, but that she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness (40).

fervent (adj.): Felt very strongly; characterized by an intensity of feeling.  I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature (41).

imbibe (v.): To drink a liquid; to take ideas into the mind.  In what desert land have you lived, where no one was kind enough to inform you that these fancies which you have so greedily imbibed are a thousand years old and as musty as they are ancient? (47).

chimera (n.): A monster from Greek mythology that has a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a snake’s tail; something that exists only in the imagination and not in reality.  I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth (48). 

transmute (v.): To transform the form or nature of something.  The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted, and that the elixir of life is a chimera (49).

indefatigable (adj.): Capable of working for a very long time without being fatigued.  He said that ‘these were men to whose indefatigable zeal modern philosophers were indebted for most of the foundations of their knowledge’ (50).

deference (n.): Behavior that shows the respect or esteem due to an elder or superior.  I expressed myself in measured terms, with the modesty and deference due from a youth to his instructor (50).

application (n.): The act or habit of applying oneself to a task; diligent effort.  ‘I am happy,’ said M. Waldman, ‘to have gained a disciple; and if your application equals your ability, I have no doubt of your success’ (50).