Vocabulary

Repugnance

A. Strong distaste, aversion or objection (Noun)

B. “All their repugnance was contained in the neat balance of triangles…” (8)

C. The boy showed great repugnance towards the spinach.
D.

Abate

A. To suspend, extinguish or put an end to (Verb)

B. “By the time the police drove up, Shadrack was suffering from a blinding headache, which was not abated by the comfort he felt when the policemen pulled his hands away from what he thought was a permanent entanglement with his shoelaces.” (13)

C. They finally decided to abate the tax. 

D. 

Unequivocal

A. Absolute, clear or having only one possible meaning or interpretation (Adjective)

B. “A black so definite, so unequivocal, it astonished him.” (13)

C. The answer he gave was an unequivocal yes.

D.

Quell

A. To vanquish, subdue or suppress (Verb)

B. “If this tall, proud woman, this woman who was very particular about her friends, who slipped into church with unequaled elegance, who could quell a roustabout with a look, if she were really custard, there was a chance that Nel was too.” (22)

C. The man was able to quell the fire quickly.

D. 

Guile

A. Trickery, fraud, or artful deception (Noun)

B.  “Her flirting was sweet, low and guileless.” (42)

C. He used his wits and guile to escape from the enemy.

D.

Fastidious

A. Excessively particular, critical or demanding (Adjective)

B. “She like the last place least, not because Sula slept in the room with her but because her love mate’s tendency was always to fall asleep afterward and Hannah was fastidious about whom she slept with.” (43)

C. She was a very fastidious eater and sometimes didn’t eat at all.

D. 

Vitriol

A. Bitter criticism or extreme hatred towards somebody. (Noun)

B. “She was unquestionably a kind and generous woman and that, coupled with her extraordinary beauty and funky elegance of manner, made them defend her and protect her from any vitriol that newcomers or their wives might spill.” (45)

C. The vitriol that the boss of the company gave to one of his employees made him quit.

D.  

Insouciant

A. Free from concern, worry or anxiety (Adjective)

B. “…and Nel’s grimy intractable children looked like three wild things happily insouciant in the May shine.” (96)

C. Laying on the beach, the man felt insouciant and far away from everything stressful.

D.

Contrive

A. To invent, devise or design (Verb)

B. “Their evidence against Sula was contrived, but their conclusions about her were not.” (118)

C. He began to contrive the route he would take for his cross-country drive.

D.

Pariah

A. An outcast, someone or something that is generally despised or avoided (Noun)

B. “She was pariah, then, and knew it.” (122)

C. He was pariah, and was forced to stand apart from the rest of the group.

D. 

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