Unit 2: Vocabulary from Readings 2

This list covers "Prayer to the Masks," "The Second Coming," and Things Fall Apart.
15 words 21 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. distill
    remove impurities from and increase the concentration of
    You distill this air of eternity in which I breathe the air of my Fathers.
  2. fashion
    make out of components, often in an improvising manner
    You who have fashioned this portrait, this my face bent over the altar of white paper
    In your own image, hear me!
  3. image
    a visual representation produced on a surface
    You who have fashioned this portrait, this my face bent over the altar of white paper
    In your own image, hear me!
  4. bereaved
    a person who has suffered the death of someone they loved
    Who would give the cry of joy to wake the dead and the bereaved at dawn?
  5. gyre
    a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles
    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the center cannot hold
  6. mere
    apart from anything else; without additions or modifications
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned
  7. anarchy
    a state of lawlessness and disorder
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned
  8. tide
    the periodic rise and fall of the sea level
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned
  9. intensity
    high level or degree
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.
  10. vex
    disturb, especially by minor irritations
    The darkness drops again; but now I know
    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle
  11. commissioner
    a government administrator
    “We shall not do you any harm,” said the District Commissioner to them later, “if only you agree to cooperate with us. We have brought a peaceful administration to you and your people so that you may be happy..."
  12. dominion
    a region marked off for administrative or other purposes
    I have brought you here because you joined together to molest others, to burn people’s houses and their place of worship. That must not happen in the dominion of our queen, the most powerful ruler in the world.
  13. toil
    work hard
    In the many years in which he had toiled to bring civilization to different parts of Africa he had learned a number of things.
  14. stress
    single out as important
    In the book which he planned to write he would stress that point.
  15. pacification
    actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency
    He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
Created on Fri Nov 19 17:09:40 EST 2021 (updated Wed Jan 05 15:14:32 EST 2022)

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