Into the Wild Vocabulary. Directions — As you read the quote from Into the Wild and the additional sentence (if provided), write down what you believe.

Into the Wild Vocabulary

Directions —

As you read the quote from Into the Wild and the additional sentence (if provided), write down what you believe is the correct definition. Use context clues, the terms and definitions that you’ve received (do not use the handout), and the image to help you determine the meaning.

contumacious: rebellious; stubbornly or willfully disobedient to authority

“The prospect of fording this latte-colored torrent discourages most people from traveling any farther. Thompson, Samel, and Swanson, however, are __________________ Alaskans with a special fondess for driving where motor vehicles aren’t designed to be driven” (11)

incongruously: lacking in harmony, compatibility or appropriateness; unsuitably

“A vintage International Harvester from the 1940’s, the derelict vehicle is located twenty-five miles west of Healy as the raven flies, rusting __________________ in the fireweed beside the Stampede, just beyond the boundary of Denali National Park” (10),

Barbara told stories __________________ to different friends who consequently found out and would never trust her again.

unsullied: unblemished; faultless

"Alaska has long been a magnet for dreamers and misfits, people who think the __________________ enormity of the Last Frontier will patch all of the holes in their lives" (4).

On our vacation, we went to an isolated island that was __________________ by tourist attractions.

convivial: hospitable, welcoming, and enjoyable

“The living arrangements were loose and __________________. The four or five inhabitants took turns cooking for one another, went drinking together, and chased woman together, without success” (18).

itinerant: traveling from place to place; a person who travels from place to place

“The Slabs functions as the seasonal capital of a teeming __________________ society—a tolerant, rubber-tired culture comprising the retired, the exiled, the destitute, the perpetually unemployed” (43).

Because the traveling salesman hated his __________________ lifestyle, he was happy to be nearing his age of retirement.

egress: means to go out of or leave a place

“…water came rushing down from the high country, he had just enough time to gather his tent and belongings and save them from being swept away. There was nowhere to move the car, however, as the only route of __________________ was now a foaming, full-blown river” (28).

congenial: pleasant because of a personality, qualities, or interests that are similar to one's own; amiable “The more they talked, the

less Alex struck Gallien as a nutcase. He was __________________ and seemed well educated.

While Hank’s team acts __________________ after a win, they secretly wish that they could rub it in the other team’s face.

indolently: showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothfully; lazily

“Emasculated by dams and diversion canals, the lower Colorado burbles __________________ from reservoir to reservoir through some of the hottest, starkest country on the continent” (32).

desiccated: dried; lacking moisture; dehydrated

“Away from the lakeshore the land rises gently and then abruptly to form the __________________, phantasmal badlands of Anza-Borrego” (49).

It is possible to __________________ fruit for storage by leaving it on trays out in the sun.

onerous: involving an amount of effort and difficulty that is oppressively burdensome

“He had spent the previous four years, as he saw it, preparing to fulfill an absurd and __________________ duty: to graduate college” (22).

When Joe agreed to help his father cut the grass, he did not realize the chore would be so __________________.

taciturn: reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little "Samuel Walter McCandless,

Jr., fifty-six years old, is a bearded __________________ man..." (103).

By nature, Sheila is a __________________ woman who keeps her thoughts to herself.

fulminate: to issue a heated verbal attack

"...McCandless's face would darken with anger and he'd __________________ about his parents or politicians or the endemic idiocy of mainstream American life" (52).

gregarious: fond of company; sociable; outgoing

“He was intensely private but could be convivial and __________________ in extreme” (115).

opprobrium: harsh criticism; the public disgrace arising from someone's shameful conduct.

“The article about McCandless in Outside generated a large volume of mail, and not a few letters of the letters heaped __________________ on McCandless—and on me, as well, the author of the story, for glorifying what some thought was a foolish, pointless death” (70-71)

phantasmal: ghostly; unreal; illusory

“Away from the lakeshore the land rises gently and then abruptly to form the desiccated, __________________ badlands of Anza-Borrego” (49).

The __________________ aura occasionally lures unwary travelers to their doom.

Moldering: slowly decaying or disintegrating; rotting

“Immediately inside the door is the torn mattress, stained and __________________, on which McCandless expired” (178).

Sanctimonious: making a show of being morally superior to other people; self-righteous

“…Chris would fixate on his father’s own less than sterling behavior many years earlier and silently denounce him as a __________________ hypocrite” (122).

Idyll- an extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque experience or scene

“…the contentment that began in mid-May resumed and seemed to continue through early July. Then, in the midst of this __________________, came the first of two pivotal setbacks” (168).

Incorrigible- uncontrollable; incapable of being reformed.

“…he was no tight-lipped, perpetually grim do-gooder who frowned on fun. To the contrary, he enjoyed tipping a glass now and then and was an __________________ ham” (115).

Extemporaneous- spoken or done without preparation; impromptu

“Chris took his Datsun on another prolonged, __________________ road trip” (124).