Ignorant of One’s Ignorance
Guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words from context is a strategy that is often misused by students. The strategy should only be applied to facilitate and speed up the reading process during the first reading of any paragraph. However, once students have applied the strategy as a reading technique to independently extract the meaning of a paragraph, regardless of the success rate of their guesses, they need to revisit the paragraph in order to look up the unfamiliar words. Otherwise, they may never notice the exact meaning, connotation, or use of the word. That is, they may remain ignorant of their ignorance.
The following list of challenging words of the novella Animal Farm by Goerge Orwell is created by one of my grade 9 students.
Animal Farm Vocabulary
- Popholes: a small open door in the side of the housing for poultry, normally connected to the ground via a ramp
- Ensconce: establish or settle in a comfortable, secret, or safe place
- Benevolent: well-meaning and kindly
- Tush: person’s rear end
- Foal: young horse or related animal
- Cynical: concerning with one’s own interests and typically disregarding appropriate standards to reach them
- Paddock: small field or enclosure where horses are kept or exercised
- Plaited: braided
- Spur: a device with a spike on a rider’s heel used to urge a horse forward
- Mangel: a beet of a variety with a large root, cultivated as feed for livestock
- Wurzels: mangels
- Toil: work extremely hard
- Shirk: avoid or neglect, typically a duty or responsibility
- Seclusion: state of being private and away from others
- Flogging: beat with a whip or stick as punishment or torture
- Posthumously: after the death of the originator
- Pretext: a reason in justification of a course of action that is not the real reason
- Blithely: in a happy or carefree manner
- Acreage: an area of land, typically used for agricultural purposes, but not necessarily measured in acres
- Canvassing: try to obtain; request
- Dynamo: a machine for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy
- Chaff: the husks of corn or other seed separated by threshing
- Incubator: an apparatus used to hatch eggs or grow microorganisms under controlled conditions
- Contemplate: look thoughtfully for a long time at
- Procure: obtain, especially with care or effort
- Restive: (of a horse) refusing to advance, stubbornly standing still or moving backward or sideways
- Advocate: publicly recommend or support
- Sordid: arousing moral distaste and contempt
- Harrow: an implement consisting of a heavy frame set with teeth or tines that is dragged over plowed land to break up clods, remove weeds, and cover the seed
- Spurt: gush out in a sudden and forceful stream
- Preside: be in the position of authority in a meeting or gathering
- Forelock: the part of the mane (of a horse or similar animal) that grows from the poll and hangs down over the forehead
- Reverent: feeling or showing deep and solemn respect
- Cockerel: a young domestic rooster
- Paraffin: kerosene
- Repose: a state of rest, sleep, or tranquility
- Impose: force something usually unwanted to be accepted or put in place
- Malignity: intention to cause harm or evil
- Ignominious: deserving or causing public disgrace or shame
- Bushel: a unit of measure
- Embolden: give the courage or confidence to do something or to behave in a certain way
- Infanticide: the crime of killing a child within a year of birth
- Hitherto: until now or until the point in time under discussion
- Coccidiosis: a disease of birds and mammals that chiefly affects the intestines
- Tumult: a loud, confused noise, especially caused by a large mass of people
- Knoll: a small hill or mound
- Gander: a look or glance
- Ecstasy: an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement
- Hullabaloo: a commotion
- Conciliatory: intended or likely to make less angry
- Sally: make a military attack using a line of defense
- Chinks: narrow openings or cracks
- Contemptible: despicable
- Heed: pay attention to; take notice of
- Baying: bark or howl loudly
- Hearse: a vehicle for conveying the coffin at a funeral
- Confer: grant or bestow
- Lamentation: the passionate expression of grief or sorrow
- Contrived: deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously
- Poultices: a soft, moist mass of material, typically of plant material or flour, applied to the body to relieve soreness and inflammation and kept in place with a cloth
- Pensions: a regular payment made by the government to people of or above the official retirement age
- Superannuated: out of date
- Piebald: (of a horse) having irregular patches of two colors, typically black and white
- Tureen: a deep covered dish from which soup is served
- Precincts: an area in a town designated for special purposes
- Unanimously: without opposition
- Stratagem: a plan or scheme, especially one used to outwit an opponent or achieve an end
- Knacker: a person whose business is the disposal of dead or unwanted animals, especially those whose flesh is not fit for human consumption
- Oration: a formal speech, especially one given on a ceremonial occasion
- Interment: the burial of a corpse in a grave or tomb, typically with funeral sites
- Maxims: a short, pithy statement expressing a general truth or rule of conduct
- Inebriate: drunk; intoxicated
- Mare: female of a horse
- Rheumy: watery
- Morose: sullen and ill-tempered
- Taciturn: saying little
- Filial: of or due from a son or daughter
- Insoluble: impossible to solve
- Incumbent: necessary for someone as a duty or responsibility
- Pampering: indulge with every attention, comfort, and kindness; spoil
- Prosperity: the state of being affluent