Cat’s Cradle Vocabulary • Benignly (32): showing or expressive of gentleness or kindness • Gait (33): a manner of walking, stepping, or running. • Charlatan (34): a person who pretends to more knowledge or skill than he or

she possesses; quack. • Unadorned (35): simple or plain • Ceremoniously (35): carefully observant of ceremony; formally or

elaborately polite • Antithesis (36): opposition; contrast • Desiccated (37): dehydrated or powdered • Tendrils (37): A twisting, threadlike structure by which a twining plant

grasps an object or a plant for support. • Cloister (38): a covered walk, esp. in a religious institution, having an open

arcade or colonnade usually opening onto a courtyard. • Preconceived (40): to form a conception or opinion of beforehand, as before

seeing evidence or as a result of previously held prejudice • Mawkishly (46): characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional;

maudlin. • Consolation (65): someone or something that consoles • Intricate (65): complex; complicated; hard to understand • Cadaverous (74): pale; ghastly • Copiously (76): large in quantity or number; abundant; plentiful • Nihilistic debauch (77): anarchy, terrorism, or other revolutionary activity • Nihilism (78): total rejection of established laws and institutions • Banana republic (79): any of the small countries in the tropics, esp. in the

Western Hemisphere, whose economies are largely dependent on fruit exports, tourism, and foreign investors.

• Luminously (80): radiating or reflecting light; shining; bright • Flax (80): the fiber of this plant, manufactured into linen yarn for thread or

woven fabrics • Pompadour (80): an arrangement of a man's hair in which it is brushed up

high from the forehead. • Lechery (84): unrestrained or excessive indulgence of sexual desire • Chagrin (84): a feeling of vexation, marked by disappointment or

humiliation. • Indignant (96): feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at

something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base • Surrealistic (119): of, pertaining to, or characteristic of surrealism

• Conceited (122): having an excessively favorable opinion of one's abilities, appearance, etc

• Irreverence (123): the quality of being irreverent; lack of reverence or respect.

• Zeal (126): energetic and unflagging enthusiasm, especially for a cause or idea

• Flaccidly (126): lacking energy, enthusiasm, or competence • Idyllic (128): serenely beautiful, untroubled, and happy • Brazen (137): showing or expressing boldness and a complete lack of shame • Resonating (137): to echo, or cause something to echo • Catatonic (146): in a state of inertia or apparent stupor often associated with

schizophrenia, characterized by rigidity of the muscles • Consternation (147): a feeling of alarm, confusion, or dismay, often caused

by something unexpected • Irrelevantly (147): not relevant or important • Piously (148): devoutly religious • Querulously (157): inclined to complain or find fault • Beseechingly (157): to ask earnestly or beg somebody to do something • Wanly (161): unhealthily pale, especially from illness or grief • Cantilevered (163): buildings a projecting structure that is attached or

supported at only one end • Chagrin (174): a feeling of vexation or humiliation due to disappointment

about something • Apoplexy (174): a fit of anger • Perforce (176): unavoidably or as forced by circumstances • Pathological (180): uncontrolled or unreasonable • Lechery (182): lewd and lustful behavior, especially by a man, that is

regarded as distasteful • Glissandi (182): an act of sliding a finger along a stringed instrument's

fingerboard or slowly moving a trombone's slide in and out to create a smooth change in pitch between two notes

• Vigil (183): a period spent in doing something through the night • Piety (187): a strong respectful belief in a deity or deities and strict

observance of religious principles in everyday life • Vied (192): to strive for superiority or compete with somebody or something • Furtive (194): done in a way that is intended to escape notice • Sordid (201): demonstrating the worst aspects of human nature such as

immorality, selfishness, and greed

• Acquiesced (202): to agree or comply with something in a passive or reserved way

• Diaphanous (203): delicate or gauzy, so as to be transparent • Lolled (212): to relax in a reclining or leaning position • Machicolations (212): a projecting gallery on top of a castle wall, supported

by a row of arches and containing openings through which rocks and boiling oil could be dropped on attackers

• Parapets (212): a low protective wall built where there is a sudden dangerous drop

• Precipice (212): a high, vertical, or very steep rock face • Oubliette (214): a dungeon made so that the only way in or out is through a

trapdoor at the top • Anteroom (214): a subsidiary room that opens into a larger room, often used

as a waiting area • Prim (223): easily shocked by vulgar or obscene language or behavior • Integrity (223): the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high

moral principles or professional standards • Abdication (223): to give up a high office formally or officially • Tentatively (224): said or done in a slow, hesitant, and careful way that

reveals a lack of confidence • Apotheosis (224): the highest point of glory, power, or importance • Chagrin (224): a feeling of vexation or humiliation due to disappointment

about something • Putrescence (232): relating to the process of decay • Atrophy (232): the shrinking in size of some part or organ of the body,

usually caused by injury, disease, or lack of use • Languishing (232): to undergo hardship as a result of being deprived of

something, typically attention, independence, or freedom • Vacillate (233): to be indecisive or irresolute, changing between one opinion

and another • Tholepin (236): a small upright wooden peg in the gunwale of a boat,

usually provided in pairs to support an oar and act as a pivot when the oar is used

• Futile (237): having no practical effect or useful result • Cogent (242): forceful and convincing to the intellect and reason • Reticule (249): a small fabric purse, usually closed with a drawstring • Tableau (250): a vivid and wide-ranging description or display • Fustian (253): written or spoken with pretentiousness or pomposity

• Effigies (256): a dummy, often roughly made and intentionally amusing or insulting, representing somebody disliked or despised

• Complacent (258): self-satisfied and unaware of possible dangers • Imploring (258): earnestly asking for something • Mitigate (264): to make an offense or crime less serious or more excusable • Reticent (268): unwilling to communicate very much, talk freely, or reveal

all the facts about something • Mountebank (273): somebody who deceives other people • Abated (275): to lessen or make something lessen gradually • Intoned (278): to say something, especially in a slow and serious or solemn

way • Addled (279): to confuse or muddle somebody, or become confused or

muddled • Alleviating (281): to make something such as pain or hardship more

bearable or less severe • Onerous (281): representing a great burden or much trouble • Husbandry (282): the science, skill, or art of farming • Aborigines (282): a member of a people who has lived in an area from the

earliest known times • Paradox (284): a statement, proposition, or situation that seems to be absurd

or contradictory, but in fact is or may be true