Masks and Identity Unit Vocabulary List
Name______period____ Sentences Due ______Quiz ______
Homework: Using each word, write a sentence about any story in this unit. Be sure to underline or highlight the vocabulary word.
From “The Youngest Doll” by Rosario Ferre (Reading the World pages 81-87)
1. magical realism
noun / A narrative technique that blurs the distinction between fantasy and reality
2. furtively (82)
adverb / Secretly, surreptitiously / “…they would sit around her and furtively lift the starched ruffle of her skirt so as to sniff the aroma of ripe sweetsop that oozed from her leg when it was at rest.”
3. ostentatious (85)
adjective / Showy, pretentious / “He would always show up wearing a pair of brightly polished shoes, a starched collar, and an ostentatious tiepin of extravagantly poor taste.”
4. exorbitant (87)
adjective / Excessive, unreasonably high / “He had slowly acquired the whole town as his clientele, people would didn’t mind paying exorbitant fees in order to see a genuine member of the extinct sugar can aristocracy up close.”
From “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” by Nadine Gordimer (Reading the World pages 333-339)
5. apartheid
noun / A system of legal racial segregation enforced in South Africa between 1948 and 1990.
6. agitator (336)
noun / Instigator, rabble-rouser / “Because nothing the government can do will appease the agitators and the whites who encourage them.”
7. infiltrator (336)
noun / Intruder, spy / “It has already happened that infiltrators from over the border have mined remote farm roads, killing white farmers and their families out on their own property for a Sunday picnic.”
8. callously (339)
adverb / Heartlessly, unfeelingly / “The young black callously shot through the negligence of the white man was not the farmer’s boy; he was his son.”
From “No Witchcraft for Sale” by Doris Lessing (Reading the World pages 324-332)
9. efficacy (327)
noun / Effectiveness, power / “…she began to look for the return of her cook, remembering what she heard of the efficacy of native herbs.”
10. perfunctory (329)
adjective / Unenthusiastic, cursory / “He was perhaps a trifle perfunctory: It was not the first time he had come salting the tail of a fabulous bush secret.”
11. annul (329)
verb / Cancelled, nullified / “They were beginning to feel annoyed, and this feeling annulled the guilt that had been sprung into life by Gideon’s accusing manner.”
12. eminent (331)
adjective / Distinguished, high ranking / “Throwing the flowers casually into the back of his car, the eminent visitor departed on his way back to his laboratory.”
From “From Behind the Veil” by Dhu’l Nun Ayyoub (Reading the World pages 422-428)
13. quarry (424)
noun / Target, hunted game / “That’s why you can see him now, with his eyes wandering in search of a quarry.”
14. rebuff (427)
verb / Snub, reject / “As she said goodbye he tried to put his arm around her waist, but she rebuffed him sharply.”
15. heresy (428)
noun / Fallacies, dissenting beliefs / “…Siham roundly abused the author for trying to break with convention and introduce modern heresies.”
From “Like the Sun” by R.K. Narayan (Reading the World pages 451-455)
16. culinary (451)
adjective / Related to the kitchen or cooking / “He showed hesitation over a tidbit, which she had though was her culinary masterpiece.”
17. ingratiating (453)
adjective
/ Charming, flattering
(ingratiate, verb) / “At home the headmaster proved very ingratiating. He sat Sekhar on a red silk carpet, set before him several dishes of delicacies…”
18. increment (454)
noun / Increase, step up on a salary scale / “There were questions of increment and confirmation and so on, all depending upon the headmaster’s goodwill.”
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