aesthetic
1 use
Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences . . . clean, quick, sure; nothing to rot later. Antibiotic, aesthetic, practical.
aesthetic = tasteful or attractive
(editor's note: It is ironic that Beatty is talking about the beauty of fire just before Montag incinerates him.)
(editor's note: It is ironic that Beatty is talking about the beauty of fire just before Montag incinerates him.)
From page 109.6 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally aesthetic means:related to beauty or good taste — often referring to one's appreciation of beauty or one's sense of what is beautiful
or:
beautiful or tasteful
or:
beautiful or tasteful
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 4 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 1000 |
| 1st use | Part 3, p.109.6 |
combustion
1 use
If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him.... Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of non-combustible data...
combustible = burnable
(editor's note: Combustible is used figuratively to reference something that inflames people or makes their emotions get hot.)
(editor's note: Combustible is used figuratively to reference something that inflames people or makes their emotions get hot.)
From page 58.4 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally combustion means:the act of burning
or metaphorically:
a state of violent disturbance and excitement
or metaphorically:
a state of violent disturbance and excitement
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 3 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1, p.58.4 |
complement
1 use
My cowardice is of such a passion, complementing the revolutionary spirit that lives in its shadow, I was forced to design this.
complementing = adding to something to make it better or more balanced
From page 86.7 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally complement means:add to something to make it better or complete
or more rarely:
a quantity of something that is considered complete
or more rarely:
a quantity of something that is considered complete
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 500 |
| 1st use | Part 2, p.86.7 |
incriminate
1 use
We're stopped and searched occasionally, but there's nothing on our persons to incriminate us.
incriminate = make appear guilty
From page 145.9 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally incriminate means:to make someone appear guilty
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 3, p.145.9 |
insidious
1 use
It's an insidious plan, if I do say so myself.
insidious = appearing harmless (or even desirable), but actually very harmful over time
From page 82.8 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally insidious means:not appearing dangerous, but actually very harmful over time
or:
treacherous (dangerous due to trickery or from hidden or unpredictable risks)
or:
treacherous (dangerous due to trickery or from hidden or unpredictable risks)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2, p.82.8 |
liberal arts
1 use
The old man admitted to being a retired English professor who had been thrown out upon the world forty years ago when the last liberal arts college shut for lack of students and patronage.
liberal arts = intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than specific technical skills)
From page 71 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally liberal arts means:studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2, p.71 |
metaphor
1 use
I summed my side up with rare serenity in, 'The folly of mistaking a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself as an oracle, is inborn in us, Mr. Valery once said.'
metaphor = a figure of speech in which a similarity between two things is highlighted by using a word to refer to something that it does not literally denote
For example, Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players." Shakespeare is not saying the world is really a stage and all people are actors, but there are similarities he wants us to recognize.
(editor's note: Beatty is quoting the famous French poet, Paul Valery. A "torrent of verbiage" is another way of saying a "a flood of words.")
For example, Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players." Shakespeare is not saying the world is really a stage and all people are actors, but there are similarities he wants us to recognize.
(editor's note: Beatty is quoting the famous French poet, Paul Valery. A "torrent of verbiage" is another way of saying a "a flood of words.")
From page 103.7 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally metaphor means:a figure of speech in which a similarity between two things is highlighted by using a word to refer to something that it does not literally denote — as when Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage."
When Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players." he was not saying the world is really a stage and all people are actors. But he was pointing to the similarities he wants us to recognize.
When Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players." he was not saying the world is really a stage and all people are actors. But he was pointing to the similarities he wants us to recognize.
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 8 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2, p.103.7 |
patronage
1 use
The old man admitted to being a retired English professor who had been thrown out upon the world forty years ago when the last liberal arts college shut for lack of students and patronage.
patronage = donations of money
From page 71 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally patronage means:support or favor given
The exact sense of patronage depends upon its context. For example::
- "wants to increase federal patronage of the arts" — donations made to support an organization or person
- "a political patronage appointee" — favors given such as political appointments or contracts given in return for political support
- "rewards repeat patronage" — business from customers — especially recurring business
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2, p.71 |
pedantic
1 use
The most important single thing we had to pound into ourselves was that we were not important, we mustn't be pedants; we were not to feel superior to anyone else in the world. We're nothing more than dust-jackets for books, of no significance otherwise.
pedants = people too concerned with academic knowledge
From page 146.6 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally pedantic means:too concerned with formal rules, details, or book learning
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 3, p.146.6 |
perfunctory
1 use
He glanced perfunctorily at it, and shoved it in his pocket.
perfunctorily = without much interest or effort
From page 105.2 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally perfunctory means:done without much interest or effort — especially as when dispensing with a formality
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2, p.105.2 |
pyre
2 uses
We know all the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years, and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, some day we'll stop making the goddam funeral pyres and jumping into the middle of them.
pyres = piles of wood (in this case used to burn a body in a funeral ceremony)
Definition
Generally pyre means:a pile of wood or other burnable material — especially to burn a dead body as in a funeral rite
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 3, p.156.7 |
rationalize
1 use
My uncle says the architects got rid of the front porches because they didn't look well. But my uncle says that was merely rationalizing it; the real reason, hidden underneath, might be they didn't want people sitting like that, doing nothing, rocking, talking; that was the wrong kind of social life.
rationalizing = using reason to make excuses for bad behavior
From page 60.7 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally this sense of rationalize means:to think of a good excuse for behavior that seems bad or unreasonable, and to believe the excuse is good or reasonable — typically done subconsciously and often after the behavior in question
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1, p.60.7 |
rebuttal
1 use
"Oh, you were scared silly," said Beatty, "for I was doing a terrible thing in using the very books you clung to, to rebut you on every hand, on every point!"
rebut = argue against
From page 104.2 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally rebuttal means:a statement arguing against something
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2, p.104.2 |
resolve
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
Her resolve weakened.
He was looking for a brightness, a resolve, a triumph over tomorrow that hardly seemed to be there. ... [But] these men had seemed no different than any others...
"Don't judge a book by its cover," someone said.
"Don't judge a book by its cover," someone said.
resolve = firmness of purpose
From page 147.9 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally this sense of resolve means:firmness of purpose (strong determination to do something)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 6 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 1000 |
| 1st use | Part 3, p.147.9 |
scapegoat
1 use
You threw them off at the river. They can't admit it. ... So they're sniffing for a scapegoat to end things with a bang.
scapegoat = someone to blame or punish
(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)
(editor's note: This expression comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which the sins of the people were ritually transferred to a goat which was then driven into the desert away from the community.)
From page 141.6 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally scapegoat means:someone blamed or punished for the errors of others
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 3, p.141.6 |
sloth
2 uses
1 —2 uses as in:
a sloth in the tree
Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away.
sloth = a type of animal that seldom moves and is very slow when it does move
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 3, p.150.9 |
sober
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
I need to sober up.
"A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring; There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."
sobers = makes less drunk
(editor's notes: Beatty is quoting from a famous poem written by Alexander Pope in 1711. The Pierian Spring is a mythical source of knowledge for the Muses. Draughts is a British spelling of drafts which, in this context, is a synonym for drinks. Both British and Americans pronounce it as drafts.)
(editor's notes: Beatty is quoting from a famous poem written by Alexander Pope in 1711. The Pierian Spring is a mythical source of knowledge for the Muses. Draughts is a British spelling of drafts which, in this context, is a synonym for drinks. Both British and Americans pronounce it as drafts.)
From page 102.7 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally this sense of sober up means:to become less drunk
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 7 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2, p.102.7 |
status quo
1 use
'I hate a Roman named Status Quo!' he said to me. 'Stuff your eyes with wonder,' he said, 'live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.'
status quo = (a Latin expression meaning) the existing state of affairs
From page 150.8 Typical Usage
Definition
Generally this sense of status quo means:the existing state of affairs
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 3, p.150.8 |
subside
3 uses
1 —3 uses as in:
her anger subsided
Montag did not look back at his wife as he went trembling along the hall to the kitchen, where he stood a long time watching the rain hit the windows before he came back down the hall in the gray light, waiting for the tremble to subside.
subside = go away
Definition
Generally this sense of subside means:become less intense, less severe, or less active — perhaps going away entirely
Word Statistics
| Book | 3 uses |
| Library | 5 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2, p.78.4 |
torrent
2 uses
I summed my side up with rare serenity in, 'The folly of mistaking a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself as an oracle, is inborn in us, Mr. Valery once said.'
torrent = overwhelming amount
(editor's notes: Beatty is quoting the famous French poet, Paul Valery. Verbiage is a synonym for words.)
(editor's notes: Beatty is quoting the famous French poet, Paul Valery. Verbiage is a synonym for words.)
Definition
Generally torrent means:an overwhelming amount — especially of quickly moving water
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 6 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1, p.59.2 |