Essential Vocabulary for To Kill a Mockingbird

Key Vocabulary and Definitions

1. Aberration: A state or condition markedly different from the norm.
2. Acrimonious: (adj.) Stinging, bitter in temper or tone.
3. Akimbo: (adj.) With hands on hips and elbows extending outward.
4. Alleged: Asserted without proof.
5. Altercation: An angry argument.
6. Ambidextrous: Able to use both hands equally well.
7. Apoplectic: On the verge of losing power to talk or move as if of a stroke.
8. Auspicious: Conducive to success; favorable.
9. Cantankerous: Bad-tempered; quarrelsome.
10. Caste: A rigid class distinction based on birth.
11. Chattel: An item of personal, movable property; slave.
12. Circumstantial: Suggesting that something is true without proving it.
13. Civil: Polite.
14. Condescend: Lower oneself.
15. Connive: To cooperate secretly in wrongdoing.
16. Contemptuous: Scornful.
17. Corroborate: (v.) To confirm, make more certain, bolster, substantiate, or verify.
18. Deportment: A person's behavior or manners.
19. Duress: Pressure, force.
20. Eccentric: A person with an unusual or odd personality.
21. Edification: Improvement or enlightenment.
22. Elucidate: To make clear.
23. Encumber: To weigh down or burden.
24. Exodus: A mass departure.
25. Expunge: To erase, obliterate, or destroy.
26. Fractious: (adj.) Tending to be troublesome; unruly, quarrelsome, contrary; unpredictable.
27. Haughty: Proud, arrogant.
28. Hypocrisy: Pretending to have feelings, beliefs, or virtues that one does not have.
29. Irascible: Easily angered.
30. Lament: A sad song that expresses grief.
31. Mollify: To make soft.
32. Mortification: Great embarrassment and shame.
33. Palliate: To make less serious; ease.
34. Perplexity: A state of being confused.
35. Pinion: To bind the arms of.
36. Predilection: A preference or special liking for something; a bias in favor of something.
37. Propensity: A natural inclination or tendency.
38. Provocation: Causing aggravation or annoyance.
39. Quell: To put an end to.
40. Rectitude: Moral uprightness; righteousness.
41. Staccato: Abrupt.
42. Stealthy: Sneaky.
43. Temerity: Rashness, boldness.
44. Tyrannical: Acting like a tyrant; cruel; unjust.
45. Unfathomable: Difficult or impossible to understand.
46. Vapid: Empty, dull.
47. Vexation: Worry, annoyance.
48. Volition: The power to choose, will, or decide; the act of choosing, willing, or deciding.