Heart of Darkness, Part I Vocabulary List

45 words
p. 4 diaphanous: weblike; see-through, gauzy-looking
p. 4 ascetic: living a severe, self-denying lifestyle
p. 5 august: dignified; inspiring awe
p. 6 lurid: glowing like flames through smoke
p. 6 sedentary: still; sitting
p. 6

inscrutable: hard to understand or fathom

p. 8 abomination: loathsome, detestable thing

p. 13 sepulchre: tomb; burial site
p. 13 ponderous: heavy, massive
p. 13 somnambulist: sleepwalker
p. 14 ominous: forewarning of evil
p. 14 uncanny: unfamiliar; strange; causing uneasiness
p. 15 pall: dark, gloomy covering; covering used over a coffin
p. 15 cravat: necktie
p. 15 joviality: merriment; happy lightheartedness
p. 15 sententiously: in a moralizing tone; formal and condescending
p. 18 enigma: mystery
p. 18 insipid: dull; boring; characterized by sameness
p. 19 sordid: dirty (especially in the sense of immoral or ugly)
p. 19 sinister: evil
p. 20 lugubrious: sad
p. 20 drollery: having a comical tone; odd humor

p. 20 farcical: ridiculous
p. 20 writhe: wiggle in a snakelike way; move like a serpent
p. 20 morose: negative; depressed
p. 22 alacrity: eagerness; energy
p. 22 prudence: caution; practicality; carefulness
p. 23 rapacious: greedy
p. 23 folly: foolishness
p. 23 insidious: underhanded; cunning
p. 23 appalled: shocked
p. 24 effaced: erased; blacked out
p. 24 moribund: death-like
p. 27 lamentable: sad; causing grief
p. 30 languidly: lazily; slowly
p. 31 trenchant: sharp; forceful
p. 32 insolence: rudeness
p. 36 prevaricator: liar
p. 37 prodigy: exceptional person; talented person
p. 37 indefatigable: energetic; untiring
p. 37 servile: overly attentive; sucking up to authority
p. 38 precipitately: incautiously; without thinking; impulsively
p. 43 connoisseur: expert
p. 45 ostentation: showiness; purposeful display
p. 45 confab (confabulation): plotting; secretive discussion