To Kill a Mockingbird

In-context Vocabulary

Chapters 3 and 4

expound

• Atticus was expounding upon farm problems when Walter interrupted to ask if there was any molasses in the house.

expound

• To set forth, explain, put out

• Think ex (“out”) + ponere (“to put”)

fractious

• She had always been too hard on me, she had at last seen the error of her fractious ways, she was sorry and too stubborn to say so.

fractious

• Unruly, readily angered

• Think “could break into a fraction”

amiable

• Atticus sat down in the swing and crossed his legs. His fingers wandered to his watchpocket; he said that was the only way he could think. He waited in amiable silence…

amiable

• Showing a pleasant personality

• Think amable in Spanish

auspicious

• The remainder of my schooldays were not more auspicious than the first.

auspicious

• Promising success

mortifying

• I swear, Scout, sometimes you act so much like a girl it’s mortifyin’.

mortifying

• To cause humiliation, embarrassment, or shame

• Think morir (“to die”) in Spanish

• It was so mortifying, that I just wanted to die!