The Importance of Being Earnest: Act III

by Oscar Wilde
Jack and Algernon — two bachelors in 19th-century England — use false identities to get what they want — and get into trouble — in this comedy by Oscar Wilde. Read the full text here. Read the full texthere.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act I, Act II, Act III
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. repentance
    remorse for your past conduct
    They have been eating muffins. That looks like repentance.
  2. effrontery
    audacious behavior that you have no right to
    They’re looking at us. What effrontery!
  3. credulity
    tendency to believe readily
    I am more than content with what Mr. Moncrieff said. His voice alone inspires one with absolute credulity.
  4. insuperable
    impossible to surmount
    Your Christian names are still an insuperable barrier.
  5. apprise
    inform somebody of something
    Apprised, sir, of my daughter’s sudden flight by her trusty maid, whose confidence I purchased by means of a small coin, I followed her at once by a luggage train.
  6. solicitor
    a British lawyer who gives legal advice
    Miss Cardew’s family solicitors are Messrs. Markby, Markby, and Markby.
  7. mercenary
    profit oriented
    Dear child, of course you know that Algernon has nothing but his debts to depend upon. But I do not approve of mercenary marriages.
  8. ostentatiously
    in a manner intended to attract notice and impress others
    Algernon is an extremely, I may almost say an ostentatiously, eligible young man. He has nothing, but he looks everything.
  9. tutelage
    attention and management implying responsibility for safety
    Well, it will not be very long before you are of age and free from the restraints of tutelage. So I don’t think your guardian’s consent is, after all, a matter of any importance.
  10. heretical
    departing from accepted beliefs or standards
    They savour of the heretical views of the Anabaptists, views that I have completely refuted in four of my unpublished sermons.
  11. secular
    characteristic of this world rather than the spiritual world
    However, as your present mood seems to be one peculiarly secular, I will return to the church at once.
  12. consternation
    sudden shock or dismay that causes confusion
    General consternation. The Canon starts back in horror. Algernon and Jack pretend to be anxious to shield Cecily and Gwendolen from hearing the details of a terrible public scandal.
  13. perambulator
    a small wheeled vehicle in which a baby is pushed around
    Twenty-eight years ago, Prism, you left Lord Bracknell’s house, Number 104, Upper Grosvenor Street, in charge of a perambulator that contained a baby of the male sex.
  14. capacious
    large in the amount that can be contained
    I had also with me a somewhat old, but capacious hand-bag in which I had intended to place the manuscript of a work of fiction that I had written during my few unoccupied hours.
  15. irrevocable
    incapable of being retracted
    Your decision on the subject of my name is irrevocable, I suppose?
Created on Sun Sep 22 21:40:30 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Aug 04 11:56:20 EDT 2025)

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