The Scarlet Letter_Vocab #1

Finally, little heroic as he was, it seemed more _____________ to be overthrown in the downfall of the party with which he had been content to stand, than to remain a forlorn survivor, when so many worthier men were falling; and, at last, after subsisting for four years on the mercy of a hostile administration, to be compelled then to define his position anew, and claim the yet more humiliating mercy of a friendly one.

• decorous

• propriety

• sagacity

• alacrity

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

It will be seen, likewise, that this Custom-House sketch has a certain _____________, of a kind always recognized in literature, as explaining how a large portion of the following pages came into my possession, and as offering proofs of the authenticity of a narrative therein contained.

• propriety

• decorous

• sagacity

• arduous

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Doomed by his own choice, therefore, as Mr. Dimmesdale so evidently was, to eat his unsavory morsel always at another’s board, and endure the life-long chill which must be his lot who seeks to warm himself only at another’s fireside, it truly seemed that this ______________, experienced, benevolent old physician, with his concord of paternal and reverential love for the young pastor, was the very man, of all mankind, to be constantly within reach of his voice.

• sagacious

• arduous

• audacious

• palpable

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Whenever such a mischance occurred,—when a wagon-load of valuable merchandise had been smuggled ashore, at noonday, perhaps, and directly beneath their unsuspicious noses,—nothing could exceed the vigilance and ___________ with which they proceeded to lock, and double-lock, and secure with tape and sealing-wax, all the avenues of the delinquent vessel.

• alacrity

• arduous

• palpable

• esoteric

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

They were allowed, on my representation, to rest from their
__________ labors, and soon afterwards—as if their sole principle of life had been zeal for their country’s service, as I verily believe it was—withdrew to a better world.

• arduous

• gratuitous

• palpable

• propensity

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Scorn, bitterness, unprovoked malignity, __________ desire of ill, ridicule of whatever was good and holy, all awoke, to tempt, even while they frightened him.

• gratuitous

• audacious

• esoteric

• augur

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Thence, with native ______________, but still with a reserve as characteristic, she flew into the midst of a group of mariners, the swarthy-cheeked wild men of the ocean, as the Indians were of the land; and they gazed wonderingly and admiringly at Pearl, as if a flake of the sea-foam had taken the shape of a little maid, and were gifted with a soul of the sea-fire, that flashes beneath the prow in the night-time.

• audacity

• propensity

• augur

• sagacity

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

To the untrue man, the whole universe is false,—it is ______________,—it shrinks to nothing within his grasp.

• impalpable

• esoteric

• gratuitous

• audacious

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

The merchants valued him not less than we, his ________ friends.

• esoteric

• palpable

• audacious

• gratuitous

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Then, it is true, the ____________ of human nature to tell the very worst of itself, when embodied in the person of another, would constrain them to whisper the black scandal of bygone years.

• propensity

• audacity

• arduous

• decorous

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.4A

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4