A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Chapter 2

by James Joyce
In this modernist classic, Stephen Dedalus develops into an artist and challenges the traditional Irish values with which he grew up. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists from the book: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

Here are links to our lists for other works by James Joyce: Araby, The Dead
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. salubrious
    favorable to health of mind or body
    The outhouse will do me nicely: it will be more salubrious.
  2. scrupulously
    with careful attention and effort to do something correctly
    Every morning, therefore, uncle Charles repaired to his outhouse but not before he had greased and brushed scrupulously his back hair and brushed and put on his tall hat.
  3. squander
    spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    Perhaps he prayed for the souls in purgatory or for the grace of a happy death or perhaps he prayed that God might send him back a part of the big fortune he had squandered in Cork.
  4. tractable
    easily managed
    While the men were milking the boys would take turns in riding the tractable mare round the field.
  5. repugnance
    intense aversion
    Stephen sometimes went round with the car which delivered the evening milk and these chilly drives blew away his memory of the filth of the cowyard and he felt no repugnance at seeing the cow hairs and hayseeds on the milkman's coat.
  6. squalor
    sordid dirtiness
    He was angry with himself for being young and the prey of restless foolish impulses, angry also with the change of fortune which was reshaping the world about him into a vision of squalor and insincerity.
  7. admonition
    cautionary advice about something imminent
    It was the last tram. The lank brown horses knew it and shook their bells to the clear night in admonition.
  8. farcical
    broadly or extravagantly humorous
    Stephen, though in deference to his reputation for essay writing he had been elected secretary to the gymnasium, had had no part in the first section of the programme but in the play which formed the second section he had the chief part, that of a farcical pedagogue.
  9. pedagogue
    someone who educates young people
    Stephen, though in deference to his reputation for essay writing he had been elected secretary to the gymnasium, had had no part in the first section of the programme but in the play which formed the second section he had the chief part, that of a farcical pedagogue.
  10. dullard
    a person who is not very bright or interesting
    As the fellows in number one were undistinguished dullards, Stephen and Heron had been during the year the virtual heads of the school.
  11. timorous
    shy and fearful by nature
    He waited in timorous silence to hear what Heron might say next.
  12. malignant
    showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt
    Though nobody spoke to him of the affair after class he could feel about him a vague general malignant joy.
  13. malice
    the desire to see others suffer
    While he was still repeating the CONFITEOR amid the indulgent laughter of his hearers and while the scenes of that malignant episode were still passing sharply and swiftly before his mind he wondered why he bore no malice now to those who had tormented him.
  14. complacently
    in a self-satisfied manner
    I don't know, I'm sure, said Mr. Dedalus, smiling complacently.
  15. desuetude
    a state of inactivity or disuse
    The commonwealth fell, the loan bank closed its coffers and its books on a sensible loss, the rules of life which he had drawn about himself fell into desuetude.
Created on Mon Aug 29 15:21:25 EDT 2016 (updated Fri Jul 18 14:48:33 EDT 2025)

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