Things Fall Apart: Chapters 9–13

by Chinua Achebe
Centered around Okonkwo, an Igbo leader who is banished from his community, this novel explores the tension between white missionaries and tribal culture in Nigeria.

Here are links to all our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–8, Chapters 9–13, Chapters 14–19, Chapters 20–25
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. audacity
    aggressive or outright boldness
    Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door.
  2. delicacy
    something considered choice to eat
    Ekwefi even gave her such delicacies as eggs, which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal.
  3. devoid
    completely wanting or lacking
    The birth of her children, which should be a woman's crowning glory, became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise.
  4. specious
    plausible but false
    And although she believed that the iyi-uwa which had been dug up was genuine, she could not ignore the fact that some really evil children sometimes misled people into digging up a specious one.
  5. manifest
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    "No," said Ezinma, whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk.
  6. sprightly
    full of spirit and vitality
    "No," said Ezinma, whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk.
  7. pandemonium
    a state of extreme confusion and disorder
    The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices: Aru oyim de de de de dei! filled the air as the spirits of the ancestors, just emerged from the earth, greeted themselves in their esoteric language.
    "Pandemonium" seems like an odd state for judges to be in right before they appear to hear cases. But the egwugwu are not actually confused or disorderly. They are deliberately making their voices sound that way in order to scare the villagers into believing that they are the ancestral spirits of the clan.
  8. esoteric
    understandable only by an enlightened inner circle
    The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices: Aru oyim de de de de dei! filled the air as the spirits of the ancestors, just emerged from the earth, greeted themselves in their esoteric language.
  9. approbation
    official acceptance or agreement
    There was a loud murmur of approbation from the crowd.
  10. voluble
    marked by a ready flow of speech
    Tortoise was very happy and voluble as he flew among the birds, and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator.
    Tortoise's volubility is connected to his cunning. While volubility is valued by the Ibo because it can bring people closer together, cunning is not because it destroys trust for individual gain. This is emphasized in the ending of the folk story, where Tortoise is justly punished for his deception and greed.
  11. delectable
    extremely pleasing to the sense of taste
    After kola nuts had been presented and eaten, the people of the sky set before their guests the most delectable dishes Tortoise had even seen or dreamed of.
  12. tremulous
    quivering as from weakness or fear
    Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld, speaking in a tremulous, unearthly voice and completely covered in raffia.
  13. transfix
    render motionless because of surprise, terror, or awe
    Many years ago another egwugwu had dared to stand his ground before him and had been transfixed to the spot for two days.
  14. infirm
    lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality
    One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick.
  15. inadvertent
    happening by chance or unexpectedly or unintentionally
    It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land. The crime was of two kinds, male and female. Okonkwo had committed the female, because it had been inadvertent.
Created on Fri Mar 22 17:38:06 EDT 2013 (updated Tue Jul 01 13:04:55 EDT 2025)

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