Tom sawyer word list

1. constitute

   form or compose

   She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and «jimpson» weeds that
   constituted the garden.

2. conscience

   motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles

   Every time I let him off, my
   conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks.

3. guile

   shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

   While Tom was eating his supper, and stealing sugar as opportunity offered, Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of
   guile, and very deep — for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments.
4. vex

   disturb, especially by minor irritations

   Aunt Polly was
   vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial evidence, and missed a trick.

5. circumstantial

   suggesting that something is true without proving it

   Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of
   circumstantial evidence, and missed a trick.

6. sagacity

   the trait of having wisdom and good judgment

   She was half sorry her
   sagacity had miscarried, and half glad that Tom had stumbled into obedient conduct for once.

7. natty

   marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners

   His cap was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and
   natty, and so were his pantaloons.

8. citified

   having the customs or manners of someone urban

   He had a
   citified air about him that ate into Tom’s vitals.

9. sidle

   move sideways

   Another pause, and more eying and
   sidling around each other.

10. glower

    look angry or sullen as if to signal disapproval

    So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace, and both shoving with might and main, and
    glowering at each other with hate.

11. derision

    the act of treating with contempt

    The new boy took two broad coppers out of his pocket and held them out with
    derision.

12. melancholy

    a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed

    He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep
    melancholy settled down upon his spirit.
13. ponderous

    slow and laborious because of weight

    As he drew near, he slackened speed, took the middle of the street, leaned far over to starboard and rounded to
    ponderously and with laborious pomp and circumstance—for he was personating the Big Missouri, and considered himself to be drawing nine feet of water.

14. execute

    put in effect

    He was boat and captain and engine-bells combined, so he had to imagine himself standing on his own hurricane-deck giving the orders and
    executing them:

15. alacrity

    liveliness and eagerness

    Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but
    alacrity in his heart.

16. idle

    not in action or at work

    He had had a nice, good,
    idle time all the while — plenty of company — and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it!
17. wend

    direct one’s course or way

    The boy mused awhile over the substantial change which had taken place in his worldly circumstances, and then
    wended toward headquarters to report.

18. condescend

    behave in a patronizing manner

    These two great commanders did not
    condescend to fight in person — that being better suited to the still smaller fry — but sat together on an eminence and conducted the field operations by orders delivered through aides-de-camp.

19. evanescent

    short-lived; tending to vanish or disappear

    He had thought he loved her to distraction; he had regarded his passion as adoration; and behold it was only a poor little
    evanescent partiality.

20. furtive

    secret and sly

    He worshipped this new angel with
    furtive eye, till he saw that she had discovered him; then he pretended he did not know she was present, and began to «show off» in all sorts of absurd boyish ways, in order to win her admiration.

21. reproach

    express criticism towards

    Then her conscience
    reproached her, and she yearned to say something kind and loving; but she judged that this would be construed into a confession that she had been in the wrong, and discipline forbade that.

22. morosely

    in a sullen, moody manner

    He knew that in her heart his aunt was on her knees to him, and he was
    morosely gratified by the consciousness of it.

23. beseech

    ask for or request earnestly

    He pictured himself lying sick unto death and his aunt bending over him
    beseeching one little forgiving word, but he would turn his face to the wall, and die with that word unsaid.

24. discordant

    not in agreement or harmony

    The window went up, a maid-servant’s
    discordant voice profaned the holy calm, and a deluge of water drenched the prone martyr’s remains!

25. profane

    violate the sacred character of a place or language

    The window went up, a maid-servant’s discordant voice
    profaned the holy calm, and a deluge of water drenched the prone martyr’s remains!

26. omission

    leaving out or passing over something

    Tom turned in without the added vexation of prayers, and Sid made mental note of the
    omission.

27. benediction

    a blessing or ceremonial prayer invoking divine protection

    The sun rose upon a tranquil world, and beamed down upon the peaceful village like a
    benediction.

28. inconceivable

    totally unlikely

    True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a «sure-enough» Barlow, and there was
    inconceivable grandeur in that — though where the Western boys ever got the idea that such a weapon could possibly be counterfeited to its injury is an imposing mystery and will always remain so, perhaps.

29. effeminate

    lacking traits typically associated with men or masculinity

    He privately smoothed out the curls, with labor and difficulty, and plastered his hair close down to his head; for he held curls to be
    effeminate, and his own filled his life with bitterness.
30. gall

    irritate or vex

    He was fully as uncomfortable as he looked; for there was a restraint about whole clothes and cleanliness that
    galled him.

31. waylay

    wait in hiding to attack

    He
    waylaid other boys as they came, and went on buying tickets of various colors ten or fifteen minutes longer.

32. mien

    a person’s appearance, manner, or demeanor

    Mr. Walters was very earnest of
    mien, and very sincere and honest at heart; and he held sacred things and places in such reverence, and so separated them from worldly matters, that unconsciously to himself his Sunday-school voice had acquired a peculiar intonation which was wholly absent on week-days.

33. august

    profoundly honored

    The middle-aged man turned out to be a prodigious personage—no less a one than the county judge—altogether the most
    august creation these children had ever looked upon—and they wondered what kind of material he was made of—and they half wanted to hear him roar, and were half afraid he might, too.

34. venerable

    profoundly honored

    The crowd filed up the aisles: the aged and needy postmaster, who had seen better days; the mayor and his wife—for they had a mayor there, among other unnecessaries; the justice of the peace; the widow Douglass, fair, smart, and forty, a generous, good-hearted soul and well-to-do, her hill mansion the only palace in the town, and the most hospitable and much the most lavish in the matter of festivities that St. Petersburg could boast; the bent and
    venerable Major and Mrs. Ward…

35. simper

    smile in an insincere, unnatural, or coy way

    …then all the young clerks in town in a body—for they had stood in the vestibule sucking their cane-heads, a circling wall of oiled and
    simpering admirers, till the last girl had run their gantlet; and last of all came the Model Boy, Willie Mufferson, taking as heedful care of his mother as if she were cut glass.

36. laggard

    someone who takes more time than necessary

    The congregation being fully assembled, now, the bell rang once more, to warn
    laggards and stragglers, and then a solemn hush fell upon the church which was only broken by the tittering and whispering of the choir in the gallery.

37. supplication

    a prayer asking God’s help as part of a religious service

    A good, generous prayer it was, and went into details: it pleaded for the church…and closed with a
    supplication that the words he was about to speak might find grace and favor, and be as seed sown in fertile ground, yielding in time a grateful harvest of good. Amen.

38. restive

    impatient especially under restriction or delay

    He was
    restive all through it; he kept tally of the details of the prayer, unconsciously—for he was not listening, but he knew the ground of old, and the clergyman’s regular route over it—and when a little trifle of new matter was interlarded, his ear detected it and his whole nature resented it; he considered additions unfair, and scoundrelly.

39. mirth

    great merriment

    The discourse was resumed presently, but it went lame and halting, all possibility of impressiveness being at an end; for even the gravest sentiments were constantly being received with a smothered burst of unholy
    mirth, under cover of some remote pew-back, as if the poor parson had said a rarely facetious thing.
40. facetious

    cleverly amusing in tone

    The discourse was resumed presently, but it went lame and halting, all possibility of impressiveness being at an end; for even the gravest sentiments were constantly being received with a smothered burst of unholy mirth, under cover of some remote pew-back, as if the poor parson had said a rarely
    facetious thing.

Created on February 6, 2013
(updated August 9, 2018)