Gillstrom Vocabulary
Cursory : hasty
Pg 35
Pr 1
Ch 2
But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I continued to read with the greatest avidity.
Chimerical : an creature made up of different animal parts
Pg 34
Pr 4
Ch 2
father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical, while those of the former were real and practical, under such circumstances I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside and have contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with greater ardour to my former studies.
Multifarious : multiple aspects
Pg 36
Pr 4
Ch 2
And thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like an unadept, a thousand contradictory theories and floundering desperately in a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardent imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed the current of my ideas
Immutable: unchanging
Pg 38
Pr 3
Ch 2
Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.
Ignoble: opposite of noble, basically descent, not really amazing, dishonorable, of low character
Pg 34
Pr 1
Ch 2
Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of misery, for when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys.
Semblance: Outward appearance
Pg 33
Pr 2
Ch 2
I might have become sullen in my study through the ardour of my nature but that she was there to subdue me to a Semblance of her own gentleness.
Physiognomy: face/expression
I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the university, and I even found in M. Kempe a great deal of sound sense and real information combined it is true with a repulsive physiognomy and manners, but not on that account the less valuable.
Infallible: flawless
I will not lead you on unguarded and ardent as I then was to your destruction and Infallible misery.
Obliterate: completely destroy
But this discovery was so great and overwhelming that all the steps by which i had been progressively led to it were Obliterated and i beheld only the result
Unremitting: not giving up
These thoughts supported my spirits while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour
Ardour: passion
These thoughts supported my spirits while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour
Facile: simple
In a thousand ways he smothered the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse clear and Facile to my apprehension
Term 2
Odious : time consuming (me)
extremely unpleasant; repulsive(dictionary)
Pg 68
Pr 1
Ch 6
He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake.
Irreparable: unable to be fixed(me)(correct)
Pg 80
Pr 2
Ch 7
I can offer you no consolation said he your disaster is irreparable.
Docile: helpful(me)
ready to accept control or instruction; submissive.(dictionary)
Pg 73
Pr 2
Ch 6
M. Krempe was not equally docile; and in my condition at that time, of almost insupportable sensitiveness, his harsh blunt encomiums gave me even more pain than the benevolent approbation of M. Waldman.
Placid: not changing(me)
calm and peaceful, with little movement or activity.(dictionary)
Pg 68
Pr 2
Ch 6
The blue lake and snow-clad mountains—they never change; and I think our placid home and our contented hearts are regulated by the same immutable laws
Dirge: unsatisfactory(me)
a lament for the dead, especially one forming part of a funeral rite.(dictionary)
Pg 83
Pr 2
Ch 7
While I watched the tempest, so beautiful yet terrific, I wandered on with a hasty step. This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits; I clasped my hands, and exclaimed aloud, "William, dear angel! this is thy funeral, this thy dirge!"
Delirium:craze(me)
an acutely disturbed state of mind characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence, occurring in intoxication, fever, and other disorders.(dictionary)
Pg 85
Pr 1
Ch 7
I remembered also the nervous fever with which I had been seized just at the time that I dated my creation, and which would give an air of delirium to a tale otherwise so utterly improbable.
Depravity: hate (me)
moral corruption; wickedness (dictionary)
Pg 88
Pr 2
Ch 7
"We do also, unfortunately," replied my father, "for indeed I had rather have been for ever ignorant than have discovered so much depravity and ungratitude in one I valued so highly."
Candour: happiness(me)
the quality of being open and honest; frankness.(dictionary)
Pg 88
Pr 5
Ch 7
Time had altered her since I last beheld her; it had endowed her with loveliness surpassing the beauty of her childish years. There was the same candour, the same vivacity, but it was allied to an expression more full of sensibility and intellect. She welcomed me with the greatest affection.
Alleviate: lift get rid of (me)
make (suffering, deficiency, or a problem) less severe.(dictionary)
Pg 86
Pr 1
Ch 7
You come to us now to share a misery which nothing can alleviate; yet you presence will, I hope, revive our father, who seems sinking under his misfortune; and your persuasions will induce poor Elizabeth to cease her vain and tormenting self accusations
Amiable: kind(me)(corect)
Pg 87
Pr 1
Ch 7
Indeed, who would credit that Justine Moritz, who was so amiable, and fond of all the family, could suddenly become so capable of so frightful, so appalling a crime?
Mockery:fool(me)
teasing(dictionary)
Pg 90
Pr 1
Ch 8
During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture
Ignominious:lonely (me)
deserving or causing public disgrace or shame.embarrassing(dictionary)
Pg 90
Pr 1
Ch 8
Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed qualities which promised to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated in an ignominious grave, and I the cause!
Exculpate: saved(me)
show or declare that (someone) is not guilty of wrongdoing.(dictionary)
Pg 90
Pr 1
Ch 8
A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman and would not have exculpated her who suffered through me
Countenance:attitude(me)
a person's face or facial expression(dictionary)
Pg 90
Pr 2
Ch 8
She was dressed in mourning, and her countenance, always engaging, was rendered, by the solemnity of her feelings, exquisitely beautiful.
Indignation:thoughts on someone/thing(me)
anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment.
Pg 92
Pr 1
Ch 8
A murmur of approbation followed Elizabeth's simple and powerful appeal, but it was excited by her generous interference, and not in favour of poor Justine, on whom the public indignation was turned with renewed violence, charging her with the blackest ingratitude.
Conjecture:wonder(me)
an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information(dictionary)
Pg 93
Pr 2
Ch 8
"I know," continued the unhappy victim, "how heavily and fatally this one circumstance weighs against me, but I have no power of explaining it; and when I have expressed my utter ignorance, I am only left to conjecture concerning the probabilities by which it might have been placed in my pocket.
Wantonly: at all costs(me)
in a deliberate and unprovoked way(dictionary)
Pg 93
Pr 2
Ch 8
I believe that I have no enemy on earth, and none surely would have been so wicked as to destroy me wantonly.
Approbation:approval(me) (correct)
Pg 92
Pr 1
Ch 8
A murmur of approbation followed Elizabeth's simple and powerful appeal, but it was excited by her generous interference, and not in favour of poor Justine, on whom the public indignation was turned with renewed violence, charging her with the blackest ingratitude.
Guile:harm(me)
sly or cunning intelligence(dictionary)
Pg 96
Pr 3
Ch 8
Her mild eyes seemed incapable of any severity or guile, and yet she has committed a murder.
Absolution:peace(me)
formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment.(dictionary)
Pg 97
Pr 2
Ch 8
I confessed, that I might obtain absolution; but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than all my other sins.
Benevolent: kind(me)(correct)
Pg 101
Pr 1
Ch 9
I had begun life with benevolent intentions and thirsted for the moment when I should put them in practice and make myself useful to my fellow beings.
The Benevolent king
Perceptible: sadness
(especially of a slight movement or change of state) able to be seen or noticed.(dictionary)
Pg 102
Pr 1
Ch 9
My father observed with pain the alteration perceptible in my disposition and habits and endeavoured by arguments deduced from the feelings of his serene conscience and guiltless life to inspire me with fortitude and awaken in me the courage to dispel the dark cloud which brooded over me.
The bat was not Perceptible
Augment: show(me)
make (something) greater by adding to it; increase(dictionary)
Pg 102
Pr 1
Ch 9
No one could love a child more than I loved your brother"—tears came into his eyes as he spoke—"but is it not a duty to the survivors that we should refrain from augmenting their unhappiness by an appearance of immoderate grief?
Abhorrence: hate(me)(correct)
Pg 103
Pr 2
Ch 9
My abhorrence of this fiend cannot be conceived.
Sublime: beautiful(me)(correct)
Pg 107
Pr 1
Ch 9
But it was augmented and rendered sublime by the mighty Alps, whose white and shining pyramids and domes towered above all, as belonging to another earth, the habitations of another race of beings.
The flower was Sublime
Malignity:anger(me)
an instance of malignant or malicious behavior(dictionary)
Pg 113
Pr 1
Ch 2(vol 2)
He approached; his countenance bespoke bitter anguish, combined with disdain and Malignity, while its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost to horrible for human eyes
Contempt: hate(me)
the feeling that a person or a thing is worthless or beneath consideration(dictionary)
Pg 113
Pr 1
Ch 2(vol 2)
But I scarcely observed this; rage and hatred had at first deprived me of uttance, and i recovered only to overwhelm him with words expressive of furious destination and Contempt.
Spurn:reject (correct)
Pg 113
Pr 2
Ch 2(vol 2)
Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.
Ignominy: pain
public shame or disgrace(dictionary)
Pg 97
Pr 1
Ch 8
I soon shall see you again in heaven, where we shall all be happy; and that consoles me, going as I am to suffer ignominy and death.
Excursion:trip(correct)
Pg 27
Pr 3
Ch 1
When I was about five years old while making an Excursion beyond the frontiers of italy they passed a week on the shores of the lake of como.
Immutable: unchanging(me)(correct)
Pg 109
Pr 1
Ch 3 Vol 2
the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial nature was broken only by the brawling waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche or the cracking, reverberated along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands.
Congregated: formed(me)
gather into a crowd or mass(dictionary)
Pg 1
Pr 109
Ch 3 Vol 2
They congregated round me; the unstained snowy mountain top, the glittering pinnacle, the pine woods, and ragged bare ravine, the 110 Frankenstein eagle, soaring amidst the clouds— they all gathered round me and bade me be at peace.
Sombre: beautiful(me)
dark or dull in colour or tone(dictionary)
Pg 111
Pr 1
Ch 3 Vol 2
The pines are not tall or luxuriant, but they are sombre and add an air of severity to the scene.
Dissipated: broke dissolved
(of a person or way of life) overindulging in sensual pleasures.(dictionary)
Pg
Pr
Ch 3 Vol 2
Presently a breeze dissipated the cloud, and I descended upon the glacier
Perpendicular: geometric term. Lines crossing each other(me)
at an angle of 90° to a given line, plane, or surface or to the ground.
Pg 110
Pr 3
Ch 3 Vol 2
The ascent is precipitous, but the path is cut into continual and short windings, which enable you to surmount the perpendicularity of the mountain.
Abhorred:hated (me)(correct)
Pg 112
Pr 2
Ch 3 Vol 2
I perceived, as the shape came nearer (sight tremendous and abhorred!) that it was the wretch whom I had created.
He abhorred mosquitoes
Satiated: satisfied (me)(correct)
Pg 113
Pr 2
Ch 3 Vol 2
I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends.’
Virtuous: dead (me)
having or showing high moral standards(dictionary)
Pg 114
Pr 2
Ch 3 Vol 2
I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.
Entreaties:reasons
an earnest or humble request.(dictionary)
Pg 114
Pr 2
Ch 3 Vol 2
Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion?
Conjectured:an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information(me)(correct)
Pg 127
Pr 3
Vol 2, Ch. 3
‘The family, after having been thus occupied for a short time, extinguished their lights and retired, as I conjectured, to rest.
Recommencing: replaying(me)(correct)
Pg136
Pr 2
Vol 2, Ch. 5
Felix replied in a cheerful accent, and the old man was recommencing his music when someone tapped at the door.
Countenance: a person's face or facial expression(me)(correct)
Pg 136
Pr 2
Vol 2, Ch. 5
Articulate: strange(me)
having or showing the ability to speak fluently and coherently.(dictionary)
Pg 137
Pr 3
Vol 2, Ch. 5
‘I soon perceived that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds and appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understood by nor herself understood the cottagers
Endeavouring: wanting(me)
try hard to do or achieve something.(dictionary)
Pg 138
Pr 1
Vol 2, Ch. 5
Presently I found, by the frequent recurrence of some sound which the stranger repeated after them, that she was endeavouring to learn their language
Occupations: jobs(me)(correct)
Pg 138
Pr 3
Vol 2, Ch. 5
‘The next morning Felix went out to his work, and after the usual occupations of Agatha were finished, the Arabian sat at the feet of the old man, and taking his guitar, played some airs so entrancingly beautiful that they at once drew tears of sorrow and delight from my eyes.
Cadence: tone/sound(me)
a sequence of notes or chords comprising the close of a musical phrase.(dictionary)
Pg 138
Pr 3
Vol 2, Ch. 5
She sang, and her voice flowed in a rich cadence, swelling or dying away like a nightingale of the woods
Enraptured:appeared(me)
give intense pleasure or joy to(dictionary)
Pg 139
Pr 1
Vol 2, Ch. 5
The old man appeared enraptured and said some words which Agatha endeavoured to explain to Safie, and by which he appeared to wish to express that she bestowed on him the greatest delight by her music.
Ceased: stoped, no longer(me)(correct)
Pg 140
Pr 1
Vol 2, Ch. 5
For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased and I turned away with disgust and loathing.