The Color Purple: List 2

by Alice Walker
In letters to God and each other, two sisters, Celie and Nettie, share the details of their trouble-filled lives in the American South and Africa.

This list covers pages 67–140 in the 1982 edition published by Harcourt.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
15 words 358 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. corral
    collect or gather
    At the last, he hand Sofia the baby and she sling it up side her hip, sling a sack of daidies and food over her shoulder, corral all the little ones together, tell ’em to Say Good-bye to Daddy.
  2. hefty
    possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful
    She with a big tall hefty man look like a prize fighter.
  3. haggard
    showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering
    She look a little haggard with all Sofia and Harpo children sprung on her at once, but she carry on.
  4. warden
    the chief official in charge of a prison
    Go see the warden. He your uncle.
  5. flustered
    thrown into a state of agitated confusion
    I lean over the car window and try to show her which way to move the gears. But she flustered and all the children and Odessa and Jack all standing round the porch watching her.
  6. sheepish
    showing a sense of shame
    Grady look little sheepish. Grin. Mama you don’t miss a thing, he say.
  7. repent
    feel sorry for; be contrite about
    I was too big a fool to repent.
  8. sanctify
    render holy by means of religious rites
    They are sanctified religious and very good to me.
  9. downtrodden
    abused or oppressed by people in power
    But they know a lot more about it than Miss Beasley or any of our other teachers, and besides, they spoke of all the good things they could do for the downtrodden people from whom they sprang.
  10. checkered
    patterned with alternating squares of color
    Long gored skirts and suit jackets to be worn with white cotton blouses and lace-up boots. She also bought me a woman’s boater with a checkered band.
  11. pulpit
    a platform raised to give prominence to the person on it
    Over the pulpit there is a saying: Ethiopia Shall Stretch Forth Her Hands to God.
  12. berth
    a bed on a ship or train; usually in tiers
    We had to ride in the sit-down section of the train, but Celie, there are beds on trains! And a restaurant! And toilets! The beds come down out of the walls, over the tops of the seats, and are called berths.
  13. coddle
    treat with excessive indulgence
    The man at the Society says she is successful because she doesn’t “coddle” her charges.
  14. clerical
    of or relating to religious officials
    He dresses in black almost all the time, except for his white clerical collar.
  15. dampen
    smother or suppress
    When he says something it settles you, because he never says anything off the top of his head and he’s never out to dampen your spirit or to hurt.
Created on Mon Dec 12 10:58:48 EST 2016 (updated Tue Jul 29 11:40:24 EDT 2025)

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