Ursula Le Guin: Short Stories

Ursula Le Guin: Short Stories Glossary

Abdicate

To renounce or relinquish a throne, right, power, claim, responsibility, or the like, especially in a formal manner.

Agronomist

One who specializes in the science of soil management and the production of field crops (agronomy).

Arcana

A secret; a mystery.

Archaic

Marked by the characteristics of an earlier period; antiquated.

Benign

Unlikely to cause harm; harmless.

Castrate

To remove the testes or ovaries of something or someone; to deprive of strength, power, or efficiency.

Copulation

Sexual intercourse.

Crepitate

To make a crackling sound.

Damask

A reversible fabric of linen, silk, cotton, or wool, woven with patterns.

Decorous

Characterized by dignified propriety in conduct, manners, appearance, character, etc.

Dulcet

Pleasant to the ear; melodious.

Dun

Dull, grayish brown.

Evince

To show clearly; make evident or manifest; prove.

Eviscerate

To remove the entrails from something or someone; to disembowel.

Exuberance

The state of being exuberant; effusively and almost uninhibitedly enthusiastic.

Ferment

Agitation; unrest; commotion; tumult.

Gestalt

A perceptual pattern or a structure possessing qualities as a whole that cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts.

Hominid

Any of the modern or extinct bipedal primates of the family Hominidae.

Imperious

Domineering in a haughty manner; dictatorial; overbearing.

Laconic

Using few words; concise.

Languor

Lack of energy or vitality; sluggishness.

Leprotic

Having characteristics of leprosy.

Mage

A magician.

Magnanimous

Generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness.

Onus

A difficult or disagreeable obligation.

Orgy

Wild or drunken festivity or revelry, especially involving sex with multiple participants.

Pedant

A person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning.

Pinion

To hold (something) down.

Puerile

Of or relating to a child or to childhood.

Pullulating

To breed, to exist abundantly, to send forth sprouts or buds.

Puritanical

Very strict in moral or religious matter, often excessively so; rigidly austere.

Rancor

Bitter resentment or ill will; hatred; malice.

Rapt

Deeply engrossed or absorbed.

Sardonic

Deeply engrossed or absorbed.

Sentient

Characterized by sensation and consciousness.

Singleton

A child or animal that is the only one born at one birth.

Solipsism

The theory that only the self exists.

Sophisticate

A sophisticated person.

Tumult

Violent and noisy commotion or disturbance of a crowd or mob; uproar.

Vapid

Without liveliness or spirit; dull or tedious.

Vulcanism

A variant on volcanism, the processes collectively that result in the formation of volcanoes and their products.

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