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Life of Pi
Yann Martel
41
Language - English
11th Grade
08/03/2008

Additional Language - English Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
inconsequent
Definition
Having no importance or significance

"In population and size Pondicherry is an inconsequent part of India.
Term
crux
Definition
The basic, central, or critical point or feature: the crux of the matter

"Your story is emotionally dead, that's the crux of it."
Term
in situ
Definition
Latin for "in the place."

"I had the great luck one summer of studying the three-toed sloth in situ in the equatorial jungles of Brazil."
Term
indolence
Definition
laziness

"Its only real habit is indolence."
Term
cosmogony
Definition
a theory of the origin of the universe

"My fourth-year thesis for religious studies concerned certain aspects of the cosmogony theory of Isaac Luria."
Term
acuity
Definition
keenness of perception; sharpness

"On a scale of 2 to 10, where 2 represents unusual dullness and 10 extreme acuity.."
Term
elicit
Definition
to draw out, bring out
Term
thrall
Definition
a state of servitude or submission "..muddled agnostics who didn't know which way was up, who were in the thrall of reason.."
Term
abiding
Definition
to remain stable or fixed in a state

"An abiding interest in animals led him to the zoo business."
Term
exalted
Definition
to elevate by praise or in estimation; glorify

"The light of a gnu or of an aardvark is rarely exalted."
Term
raiments
Definition
clothing

"Animals show their raiments."
Term
founders
Definition
to become disabled; especially : to go lame

"I wish I could convey the perfection of.. But language founders in such seas."
Term
sadist
Definition
a sexual perversion in which gratification is obtained by the infliction of physical or mental pain on others

Antonym: masochist

"We were spared the sadists who plied European and American zoos. Nonetheless, our golden agouti vanished.."
Term
contrite
Definition
feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a sin or shortcoming

"a contrite criminal"
"a contrite apology"
"contrite sighs"
Term
cantankerous
Definition
difficult or irritating to deal with

"More cantankerous subordinates sit on their colourful barrels on the edge of the ring."
Term
unremitting
Definition
constant, incessant "It was a building unremittingly unrevealing of what it held inside, with thick, featureless walls."
Term
vestibule
Definition
a passage, hall, or room between the outer door and the interior of a building; lobby

"..large vestibule that evidently functioned as a room for receiving visitors."
Term
blight
Definition
to impair the quality or effect of

"Divinity should not be blighted by death." (God should not have let Jesus die.)
Term
petulant
Definition
insolent or rude in speech or behavior

God is petulant, according to Pi, for cursing a fig tree that bore no fruit because it was not fig season.
Term
ineluctable
Definition
not to be avoided, changed, or resisted

"Love works itself out sometimes not clearly, not cleanly, not immediately, nonetheless ineluctably."
Term
aviary
Definition
a place for keeping birds confined

"It was a regular aviary of crows, mynahs.."
Term
conjugal
Definition
of or relating to the married state or to married persons and their relations

"I start noticing small signs of conjugal existence." (Narrator notices that Pi is married.)
Term
dyspepsia
Definition
Of, pertaining to, or having indigestion

"All around me was the vomit of a dyspeptic ship."
Term
grommet
Definition
metal, plastic, or rubber rings that are inserted into a hole made through another material

"..a strong nylon rope that wove its way between metal grommets in the tarpaulin and blunt hooks on the side of the boat."
Term
marauding
Definition
Roving and raiding in search of plunder.

"There was nothing. Only rain, marauding waves of black ocean and the flotsam of tragedy."
Term
flotsam
Definition
floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo

"There was nothing. Only rain, marauding waves of black ocean and the flotsam of tragedy."
Term
catalepsy
Definition
a trancelike state marked by loss of voluntary motion in which the limbs remain in whatever position they are placed

"Orange Juice had seemed practically cataleptic. My guess was she was dying of shock."
Term
coagulate
Definition
1 : to cause to become viscous or thickened into a coherent mass : curdle, clot

2 : to gather together or form into a mass or group

"There was blood everywhere, coagulating to a deep red crust."
Term
insoucient
Definition
lightheartedly unconcerned : nonchalant

noun: insouciance

"But in the final set, when the challenger has nothing left to lose, he becomes relaxed again, insouciant, daring. Suddenly he's playing like the devil and the champion must work hard to get those last points."
Term
reprieve
Definition
1 a: the act of reprieving : the state of being reprieved



2 : to delay the punishment of (as a condemned prisoner)

"The strained, temporary peace between Orange Juice and the hyena, and my reprieve, were no doubt due to the same reason: in the face of such a superior predator, all of us were prey, and normal ways of preying were affected."
Term
rufous
Definition
reddish

"..the one part of the face left untouched by it, the bridge, whose rufous lustre shone nearly with a radiance."
Term
sanguinary
Definition
bloodthirsty, murderous "..while the excitement of actively capturing a great dorado made me sanguinary and self-assured." sanguine= bloodred, related to blood, ruddy-complexioned
Term
appraise
Definition
1: to set a value on : estimate the amount of

2: to evaluate the worth, significance

"It will appraise the situation. If it decides that there is no threat, it will turn away, feeling that its point has been made."
Term
fastidiously
Definition
1: difficult to please

2: showing or demanding excessive delicacy or care

Whereas at first I gutted fish and peeled their skin fastidiously, soon I no more than rinsed off their slimy slipperiness before biting into them."
Term
respite
Definition
a period of temporary delay

"I looked upon a live sea turtle as a ten-course meal of great delicacy, a blessed respite from fish."
Term
behemoths
Definition
something of monstrous size, power, or appearance

"These gentle behemoths (whales) always lifted my spirits."
Term
eviscerated
Definition
disemboweled
verb: eviscerate

"His eviscerated torso, with its broken ribs curving up like the frame of a ship.."
Term
demure
Definition
reserved, modest

"The earnest expressions of their faces.. make them look like patients in a doctor's office stripped naked and demurely trying to cover their genitals."
Term
vagary
Definition
an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action, or notion

"Such were their numbers and the vagaries of their excitement that the noise came and went like a flock of birds, at times very loud, swirling around me, then rapidly dying off."
Term
consternation
Definition
amazement or dismay that hinders or throws into confusion "I noticed with consternation that the ones from the pond closest to me had surrounded my tree and were climbing up the trunk."
Term
arboreal
Definition
1 : of, relating to, or resembling a tree 2 : inhabiting or frequenting trees

"How many forlorn hours in the arboreal city with only meerkats for company?"
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