Life
of Pi Vocabulary List #3
1. idle: not in active use
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: But an idle mind tends to sink,
so the mind should be kept occupied with whatever light distraction may suggest
itself.
2. tethered: confined or restricted with or as if
with a rope or chain
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:: I brought out a second rope and tethered
the raft to the lifeboat with it.
3. capacity: ability to perform or produce
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: The stills looked pretty and very
technological as they floated on the water, but they also looked flimsy, and I
was doubtful of their capacity to produce fresh water.
4. sentient: endowed with feeling and unstructured
consciousness
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: It was the first sentient being I
had ever killed.
5. placidly: in a quiet and tranquil manner
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Indeed, as they floated placidly
in an arc, they looked almost like cows grazing in a field.
6. algae: primitive chlorophyll-containing
mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves:
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: The smell of spent hand-flare shells,
and prayers at dawn, and the killing of turtles, and the biology of algae,
for example.
7. sextant: a measuring instrument for measuring
the angular distance between celestial objects; resembles an octant
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: The castaway was to his mind an
experienced sailor who, compass, chart and sextant in hand, knew how he
found his way into trouble, if not how he would get out of it.
8. ambit: an area in which something acts or
operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Fish that were local in their ambit
made the net their neighborhood, and the quick ones, the ones that tended to
streak by, the dorados, slowed down to visit the new development.
9. carapace: hard outer covering or case of certain
organisms such as arthropods and turtles
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: I did it by bringing the victim
alongside the bow of the boat, carapace against hull, and tying a rope
to its neck, a front flipper and a back flipper.
10. ordeal: a severe or trying experience
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: But there was only the survival manual,
which I must have read ten thousand times over the course of my ordeal.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: My body developed a revulsion for
salt that I still experience to this day.
12. acrid: strong and sharp; "the pungent
taste of radishes"
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: The taste was acrid, but it
wasn’t that.
13. gregarious: (of animals) tending to form a group
with others of the same species
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: But to know that and to apply it are two
very different things (and it’s a useless bit of knowledge if you’re hoping to
stare down a gregarious cat.)
14. unambiguous: admitting of no doubt or
misunderstanding; having only one meaning or interpretation and leading to only
one conclusion
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Treatment should be repeated until the
association in the animal’s mind between the sound of the whistle and the
feeling of intense, incapacitating nausea is fixed and totally unambiguous.
15. malaise: physical discomfort (as mild sickness
or depression)
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Just one shrill blow and you will see
your animal shudder with malaise and repair at top speed to the safest,
furthest part of its territory.
