Things Fall Apart: Chapters 20–25

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. irreparable
    impossible to rectify or amend
    But some of these losses were not irreparable.
  2. resilient
    recovering readily from adversity, depression, or the like
    At first it appeared as if it might prove too great for his spirit. But it was a resilient spirit, and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow.
  3. buoyant
    characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness
    The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed, almost overnight, into a healthy, buoyant maiden.
  4. sacrament
    a formal religious ceremony conferring a specific grace
    The white missionary was very proud of him and he was one of the first men in Umuofia to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, or Holy Feast as it was called in Ibo.
  5. commissioner
    a government administrator
    But apart from the church, the white men had also brought a government. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance.
  6. indignity
    an affront to one's self-esteem
    Some of these prisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms.
  7. expedient
    appropriate to a purpose
    Everything was possible, he told his energetic flock, but everything was not expedient.
  8. deter
    turn away from as by fear or persuasion
    He disbelieved the story which even some of the most faithful confirmed, the story of really evil children who were not deterred by mutilation, but came back with all the scars.
  9. imminent
    close in time; about to occur
    Enoch himself was greatly disappointed when he heard this, for he had hoped that a holy war was imminent; and there were a few other Christians who thought like him.
  10. discordant
    not in agreement or harmony
    Discordant bells clanged, machetes clashed and the air was full of dust and weird sounds.
  11. composure
    steadiness of mind under stress
    For a brief moment the onrush of the egwugwu was checked by the unexpected composure of the two men.
  12. dominion
    a region marked off for administrative or other purposes
    That must not happen in the dominion of our queen, the most powerful ruler in the world.
  13. sonorous
    full and loud and deep
    The silence was broken by the village crier beating his sonorous ogene.
  14. sacrilege
    blasphemous behavior
    Our dead fathers are weeping because of the shameful sacrilege they are suffering and the abomination we have all seen with our eyes.
  15. resolute
    firm in purpose or belief
    The resolute administrator in him gave way to the student of primitive customs.
Created on Fri Mar 22 18:57:48 EDT 2013 (updated Tue Jul 01 13:36:40 EDT 2025)

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