The Great Gatsby Chapters 8‐9 Vocabulary

The Great Gatsby
Chapters 8‐9 Vocabulary
Innumerable: (adj) too many to be numbered; countless; very many
“We pushed aside curtains that were like pavilions, and felt over innumerable feet of dark wall
for electric light switches…” (147).
Indiscernible: (adj) incapable of being discerned; not recognizable as distinct
“…he had come in contact with such people, but always with indiscernible barbed wire
between” (148).
Redolent: (adj) evocative; suggestive
“There was a ripe mystery about it…but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year’s shining
motor‐cars and of dances…” (148).
Unscrupulous: (adj) unprincipled
“He took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously…” (149).
Benediction: (noun) the invocation of a blessing; an expression of good wishes
“The track curved and now it was going away from the sun, which, as it sank lower, seemed to
spread itself in benediction over the vanishing city…” (153).
Cahoots: (noun) partnership; league
“…as if we’d been in ecstatic cahoots on that fact all the time” (154).
Garrulous: (adj) given to prosy, rambling, or tedious loquacity; pointlessly or annoyingly
talkative
“I supposed there’d be a curious crowd around there all day…some garrulous man telling over
and over what had happened…” (156).
Forlorn: (adj) bereft, forsaken; nearly hopeless; sad and lonely
“This was a forlorn hope…” (159).
Fortuitous: (adj) occurring by chance (accidentally)
“A new world…where poor ghosts…drifted fortuitously about…” (161).
Laden: (adj) carrying a load or burden
“…the laden mattress moved irregularly down the pool” (162).

Pasquinade: (noun) a lampoon posted in a public place; satirical writing
“I thought the whole tale would shortly be served up in racy pasquinade…” (163).
Surmise: (noun) a thought or idea based on scanty evidence; conjecture
“From the moment I telephoned news of the catastrophe to West Egg Village…every surmise
about him…was referred to me” (164).
Complacent: (adj) pleased with oneself; self‐satisfied; unconcerned, smug
“I am part of that…a little complacent from growing up in the Carraway house…” (176).
Interminable: (adj) having or seeming to have no end
“…the bored, sprawling, swollen towns beyond the Ohio, with their interminable inquisitions…”
(176).
Commensurate: (adj) equal in measure or extent
“…for a transitory enchanted moment…face to face for the last time in history with something
commensurate to his capacity for wonder” (180).
*Bold type indicates that suffixes employed by the text have been dropped