CHAPTER 53 — Vocabulary
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens — key words and definitions
Vocabulary Words from CHAPTER 53
- insupportable (adjective)
- Impossible to endure or tolerate.
- irresolute (adjective)
- Uncertain about what to do; hesitant.
- exquisite (adjective)
- Intensely felt (used here to describe extreme pain, not beauty).
- malignity (noun)
- The quality of being deeply malevolent or wishing harm to others.
- detestation (noun)
- Intense hatred or loathing.
- entreated (verb)
- Asked someone earnestly or anxiously to do something; begged.
- ferocious (adjective)
- Savagely fierce, cruel, or violent.
- inconceivable (adjective)
- Beyond the ability to imagine or grasp; extraordinary.
- rapidity (noun)
- The quality of moving or happening at great speed.
- plummet (noun)
- A heavy weight, especially a lead ball attached to a line; something that falls heavily.
- farden (noun)
- Dialectal form of "farthing" — a coin of very small value (one quarter of a penny).
- weasand (noun)
- The throat or windpipe (spelled "weazen" in the text, a dialectal variant).
- besetting (adjective)
- Constantly attacking or tormenting; persistently troubling.
- relinquished (verb)
- Voluntarily gave up or abandoned a claim, right, or course of action.
- gainsaying (verb (gerund))
- Denying, contradicting, or speaking against.
- vivacity (noun)
- The quality of being attractively lively and animated.