Gatsby Vocab
Chapter 1:
Fractiousness: irritability
Feign: to imitate deceptively; to make believe; pretend.
Supercilious: having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as
unworthy.
Conscientious: meticulous; careful; painstaking; particular.
Reciprocal: mutual; corresponding; matching; complementary; equivalent.
Wan: of an unnatural or sickly pallor; pallid; lacking color.
Bantering: playful teasing.
Complacent: often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied.
Intimation: make known subtly and indirectly; hint.
Anon: in a short time; soon.
Chapter 2:
Desolate: lonely; forlorn
Contiguous: connecting without a break; uninterrupted.
Cower: to crouch, as in fear or shame.
Interpose: to step in between parties at variance; mediate.
Apathetic: not interested or concerned; indifferent or unresponsive.
Languid: lacking in spirit or interest; listless; indifferent.
Imply: to indicate or suggest without being explicitly stated.
Strident: having a shrill, irritating quality or character.
Deft: nimble; skillful; clever.
Hauteur: disdainful pride
Chapter 3:
Permeate: to pass into or through every part of; to penetrate through the pores; to be diffused through; pervade; saturate.
Prodigality: extravagance.
Vehement: strongly emotional; intense or passionate.
Cordial: courteous and gracious; friendly; warm.
Impetuous: characterized by sudden or rash action, emotion, etc.; impulsive.
Vacuous: lacking in ideas or intelligence.
Corpulent: large or bulky of body; portly; stout; fat.
Provincial: having the manners and viewpoints considered characteristic of unsophisticated inhabitants of a province; rustic; narrow or illiberal.
Din: a loud, confused noise; a continued loud or tumultuous sound; noisy clamor.
Convivial: sociable
Chapter 4:
Affectation: artificial behavior
Knickerbocker: any New Yorker.
Sporadic: appearing or happening at irregular intervals in time; occasional.
Divine retribution: punishment from a higher being for bad deeds or transgressions.
Rajah: a king or prince in India; a minor chief or dignitary.
Elicit: to draw or bring out or forth; educe; evoke.
Valor: heroic courage; bravery.
Somnambulatory: related to sleepwalking.
Denizen: an inhabitant; a resident; one that frequents a particular place.
Jaunty: easy and sprightly in manner or bearing.
Punctilious: precise, formal
Chapter 5:
Abortive: unsuccessful
Rout: an overwhelming defeat.
Innumerable: very numerous; incapable of being counted; countless.
Ecstatic: subject to or in a state of ecstasy; rapturous.
Reproach: to find fault with (a person, group, etc.); blame.
Obstinate: inflexible; stubborn; not yielding.
Exult: to show or feel a lively or triumphant joy; rejoice; be highly elated or jubilant.
Nebulous: hazy, vague, indistinct, or confused.
Vestige: a trace of something no longer existing.
Chapter 6:
Laudable: deserving praise; praiseworthy; commendable.
Insidious: intended to entrap or trick.
Repose: peace; tranquility; calm.
Debauch: an uninhibited spree or party.
Antecedent: a preceding circumstance, event, object, style, or phenomenon.
Ingratiate: to establish (oneself) in the favor or good graces of others by deliberate effort.
Perturb: to throw into great disorder; derange; bother; annoy.
Dilatory: tending to delay or procrastinate; slow; tardy.
Elusive: hard to express or define; cleverly or skillfully evasive.
Turgid: pompous, swollen.
Profusion: abundance
Chapter 7:
Insistent: earnest or emphatic in dwelling upon, maintaining, or demanding something; persistent.
Tentative: unsure; uncertain; not definite or positive; hesitant.
Tumult: uproar; disorder; highly distressing agitation of mind or feeling.
Portentous: ominous, predictive of future bad events.
Irreverent: not respectful; critical of what is generally accepted or respected.
Vicarious: taking the place of another person or thing; acting or serving as a substitute.
Rancor: resentment or ill will; hatred; malice.
Formidable: of great strength; forceful; powerful.
Inviolate: sacred, intact
Chapter 8:
Humidor: a container or storage room for cigars or other preparations of tobacco, fitted with
means for keeping the tobacco suitably moist.
Indiscernible: cannot be seen or perceived clearly; imperceptible.
Garrulous: excessively talkative in a rambling, roundabout manner, esp. about trivial matters.
Incoherent: without logical or meaningful connection; disjointed; rambling.
Conceivable: imaginable; believable.
Incessant: without stopping
Ravenously: hungrily
Pervaded: spread throughout
Corroborate: confirm
Amorphous: formless
Holocaust: complete destruction
Chapter 9:
Pasquinade: a satire or parody, esp. One posted in a public place.
Derange: to disturb the condition, action, or function of; to make insane.
Surmise: to think or infer without certain or strong evidence; conjecture; guess.
Superfluous: being more than is sufficient or required; excessive; unnecessary or needless.
Elocution: a person's manner of speaking or reading aloud in public.
Unutterable: unspeakable; beyond expression.
Orgastic: at the height of emotional excitement.
Borne: carried.
Ceaselessly: without stopping or pausing; unendingly; incessantly.
Adventitious: accidental
Deferred: yielded