To Kill a Mockingbird Vocabulary #3 Name: 1. uncouth (adj) Atticus s mouth, even, was half-open, an attitude he once described as uncouth (205). Most biographers portray Lincoln as an uncouth and ungainly young man. 2. elucidate (verb) Better be careful he doesn t hand you [Miss Stephanie] a subpoena. We asked Miss Maudie to elucidate: she said Miss Stephanie seemed to know so much about the case she might as well be called on to testify (213). He was called upon to elucidate the disputed points in his argument. 3. acrimonious (adj.) We could tell, however, when debate became more acrimonious than professional, but this was from watching lawyers other than our father (229). The candidate attacked his opponent in highly acrimonious terms. 1
4. acquiesce (verb) We were accustomed to prompt, if not always cheerful acquiescence to Atticus s instructions, but from the way he stood, Jem was not thinking of budging (203). Although she appeared to acquiesce to her employer s suggestions, I could tell she had reservations about the changes he wanted made. 5. devoid (adj.) Here Judge Taylor glanced sharply at the witness and must have decided his speculations devoid of evil intent, for he subsided sleepily (231). You may think her mind is a total void, but she s actually not devoid of intelligence. She just sounds like an airhead. 6. evoke (verb) Judge Taylor was not the kind of figure that ever evoked pity, but I did feel a pang for him as he tried to explain (243). Scent can be remarkably evocative: the aroma of pip tobacco evokes the memory of my father; a whiff of talcum powder calls up images of my daughter as a child. 2
7. articulate (adjective); articulate (verb) Suddenly Mayella became articulate. I got something to say, she said (251). Her articulate presentation of the advertising campaign impressed her employers. She articulated her business plan so well that her employers immediately promoted her. 8. volition (noun) He seemed to be a respectable Negro, and a respectable Negro would never go up into somebody s yard of his own volition (257). She selected this dress of her own volition. 9. squalor (noun) You live in a Christian home with Christian folks in a Christian town. Out there in J. Grimes Everett s land there is nothing but sin and squalor (309). Rusted, broken-down cars in its yard, trash piled up on the porch, tar paper peeling from the roof, the shack was the picture of squalor. 3
10. spurious (adjective) The rural children who could, usually brought clippings from what they called The Grit Paper, a publication spurious in the eyes of Miss Gates, our teacher (327). The antique dealer hero of Jonathan Gash s mystery novels gives the reader tips on how to tell spurious antiques from the real thing. Natasha s claim to be the lost heir of the Romanoffs was spurious: the only thing Rusion about her was the vodka she drank. 11. repertoire (noun) High above us in the darkness a solitary mocker poured out his repertoire in blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in, plunging from the shrill kee, kee of the sunflower bird to the irascible qua-ack of a bluejay, to the sad lament of the Poor Will, Poor Will, Poor Will (342). The opera company decided to include Madame Butterfly in its repertoire for the following season. 12. garish (adj.) They were white hands, sickly white hands that had never seen the sun, so white they stood out garishly against the dull cream wall in the dim light of Jem s room (362). She wore a gaudy rhinestone necklace with a excessively garish gold silk dress. 4
13. temerity (noun) And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to feel sorry for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people s (273). Do you have the temerity to argue with me? The first sample sentence for each word is from To Kill a Mockingbird. The second sample sentence is from Barron s SAT I Prep 20 th Edition high frequency word list. 5