Vocabulary Words to Know in "The Pearl"

Although short, The Pearl by John Steinbeck can be a challenging read. A great way to expand your vocabulary is to read a book with words that you don't know yet. In that way, reading The Pearl can be a helpful exercise. Here's a vocabulary list from John Steinbeck by chapter. 

Chapter 1

• avarice - greed
• bougainvillea - a type of tropical flower
• consolation - to comfort
• detachment - lack of concern or attachment
• indigent - poor; impoverished
• lymphatic - tissue where white blood cells are produced
• scandal - shameful
• ulcers - open sores

Chapter 2

• bulwark - defensive wall
• estuary - river meets sea tide
• gloating - prideful; bragging
• incandescence - giving off light
• lateen - sail (triangle)
• poultice - an herbal application for the purpose of healing or remedy
• telescopically - slide within one another; like a telescope

Chapter 3

• almsgiving - giving money to the poor
• ammonia - colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor
• consecrated - sacred
• cozened - trickery; misleading
• disparagement - insult
• dissembling - misleading
• furtive - secretive
• judicious - to exercise good judgment; sound thinking
• lucent - softly bright; radiant
• precipitated - hurled; cause to move suddenly
• subjugation - forced submission; conquer
• transfigured - idealize; metamorphosis

Chapter 4

• appraiser - one who estimates worth or value
• contemptuous - scorn or disdain
• countenanced - tolerated
• crafty - clever
• freshet - freshwater stream (flowing into the sea)
• legerdemain - magic
• lethargy - tired; weak
• tules - weaving material

Chapter 5

• edifice - building or structure
• exhilaration - glad; joyful
• leprosy - chronic granulomatous communicable disease
• skirled - a shrill call
• stifling - smothering; suffocating; to take away breath or restrict

Chapter 6

• apprehensively - fearful
• cleft - split
• escarpment - a long, steep slope or cliff; declivity
• intercession - intervention; protection; mediation
• malignant - dangerous; harmful; tumorous; deadly
• monolithic - huge; imposing
• monotonously - boring; without variation
• outcroppings - layers of rock
• threshed - beat; whipped