To Kill a Mockingbird

In-context Vocabulary

Chapters 15-18

placid (144)

• It had been a placid week: I had minded Aunty; Jem had outgrown the treehouse, but helped Dill and me construct a new rope ladder for it; Dill had hit upon a foolproof plan to make Boo Radley come out at no cost to ourselves.

placid (144)

• Pleasantly calm or peaceful

venerable (150)

• The Maycomb jail was the most venerable and hideous of the county’s buildings.

venerable (150)

• Commanding respect because of great age or dignity

acrimonious (171)

• We could tell, however, when debate became more acrimonious than professional, but this was from watching lawyers other than our father.

acrimonious (171)

• Caustic, stinging, or bitter in nature

• Similar to acrid or acid

tenet (177)

• Never, never, never, on cross-examination ask a witness a question you don’t already know the answer was a tenet I absorbed with my baby-food.

tenet (177)

• An opinion, principle, belief, position, doctrine

mollified (180)

• Mollified, Mayella gave Atticus a final terrified glance and said to Mr. Gilmer, “Well sir, I was on the porch and…”

mollified (180)

• To soften in feeling or temper