I’m trudging through Great Expectations, our June/July book club selection. (Thank goodness we allotted more than one month!) I’ve found lots of material for vocabulary review, but the trick is to pick words still useful in modern diction.
I read Great Expectations in college and the two things I remembered best about it were a creepy old woman and a very conceited girl. They appear early in the novel, confirming my memories. I don’t know what Pip sees in Estella. Dickens uses a fantastic word to describe her: supercilious.
Supercilious\’su-per-‘sil-ē-əs\ adj, from Latin superciliumeyebrow, haughty; coolly and patronizingly haughty
I can picture a pretty young woman with an arched, condescending eyebrow, can’t you?
Word Nerd Workout: Think of an antonym for supercilious that has at least two syllables. We’re trying to avoid overused words like “nice.” Leave your suggestions in the comments below. Thanks for playing!
Other Word Nerd Words:
petulance
inexorable
auspicious
Other Word Nerd Words:
petulance
inexorable
auspicious
Julia
Julia!
I’ve not read “Great Expectations.” It was on my list when I was sick & reading all the time. What probably happened was an awesome vampire bk, from one of my vampire series I read, was published and Dickens got pushed to the wayside! 🙂 I wish I had read it now because I do not have the time I had then to read it! I need to read your blog consistently to improve my vocab. MY BAD!
Monique
Yes, Great Expectations feels slow compared to today’s best sellers. I’ve got a great John Green sitting next to my night stand that I’d rather read, but I feel like I SHOULD finish this classic. Glad you stopped by!
Whew, glad it’s not another quiz!
My word: Gracious
(3 syllables = extra credit)
Excellent! Now, I never said anything about extra credit… 🙂