Half of a Yellow Sun: Chapters 1–3

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
In 1967, the Republic of Biafra declared independence from Nigeria, leading to civil war. This novel traces the lives of several characters who get caught up in turmoil of the Biafran War.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–10, Chapters 11–18, Chapters 19–24, Chapters 25–28, Chapters 29–37

Here are links to our lists for other works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah, Purple Hibiscus
15 words 200 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. sonorous
    full and loud and deep
    He wanted Master to keep talking, so he could listen to the sonorous voice, the musical blend of English words in his Igbo sentences.
  2. placate
    cause to be more favorably inclined
    Jomo would have been the best person to ask about arigbe—indeed, to ask for advice on how best to placate Master.
  3. sophist
    someone whose reasoning is subtle and often specious
    He often fought the urge to raise his own voice from behind the kitchen door and tell her to shut up, especially when she called Master a sophist. He did not know what sophist meant, but he did not like that she called Master that.
  4. caftan
    a long loose dress or tunic
    Olanna visualized his poor houseboys’ wood boxes incongruously full of lace, houseboys she was sure did not get paid much every month, owning cast-off caftans and agbadas they could never wear.
  5. punctilious
    marked by precise accordance with details
    Her mother wanted to say something, she could tell, and the set smile, the punctilious gestures, were a beginning.
  6. chaff
    material consisting of seed coverings and pieces of stem
    They sat outside the kitchen while Arize plucked it and Aunty Ifeka blew the chaff from the rice.
  7. effervescent
    marked by high spirits or excitement
    There was something about Arize’s effervescent mischief that made people forgiving.
  8. sinecure
    a job that involves minimal duties
    He still did not think that anybody read his tiny column, although Aunt Elizabeth said all her friends did. But she would: The job was a bit of a sinecure after all; he would not have been offered it in the first place if the editor were not an old friend of hers.
  9. sacrosanct
    treated as if holy and kept free from violation or criticism
    He answered in a whisper too, as if his writing had become something hallowed and had made the room itself sacrosanct.
  10. coalesce
    fuse or cause to come together
    He did not tell her that he had written nothing good so far, that the ideas in his head had not yet coalesced into character and setting and theme.
  11. inchoate
    only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
    Richard paused, pleased to feel the strangely inchoate intimacy that came with talking about himself, something he rarely did.
  12. inscrutable
    difficult or impossible to understand
    She was mostly inscrutable, watching, drinking, smoking. He ached to know what she was thinking.
  13. plenary
    full in all respects
    But those short moments had made it all worthwhile, those moments of pure plenary abandon, when he felt as if he, and he alone, were in control of the universe of his childhood.
  14. non sequitur
    a reply that has no relevance to what preceded it
    He was momentarily confused by the non sequitur.
  15. ascetic
    characteristic of the practice of rigorous self-discipline
    The university house on Imoke Street was reserved for visiting researchers and artists; it was sparse, near ascetic, and Richard looked over the two armchairs in the living room, the single bed, the bare kitchen cupboards, and felt instantly at home.
Created on Wed Apr 10 17:47:39 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Aug 07 15:13:26 EDT 2025)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.