- prominentadjectiveChapter 1 →
Sticking out noticeably from the surrounding surface; here describing a rounded, protruding belly that is clearly visible rather than flat.
“He was old enough, twelve years and a few months, to have lost the prominent tummy of childhood and not yet old enough for adolescence to have made him awkward.”
- adolescencenounChapter 1 →
The stage of life between childhood and adulthood, roughly the teenage years, when the body and behaviour change in ways that can make a person clumsy or self-conscious.
“He was old enough, twelve years and a few months, to have lost the prominent tummy of childhood and not yet old enough for adolescence to have made him awkward.”
- conchnounChapter 1 →
A large spiral sea-shell that, when blown like a horn, produces a loud sound; in this novel it is used to call assemblies and whoever holds it has the right to speak.
“It was a conch shell, pale as a ghost, and the boys had never seen anything like it.”
- enormitynounChapter 1 →
The overwhelming, almost unbearable weight or seriousness of an act; here the sheer horror of plunging a knife into living flesh.
“He knew why he hadn't: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.”
- savagesnounChapter 2 →
People regarded as uncivilised and ruled by violence and instinct rather than law or reason; used here as the opposite of what the boys claim to be.
“'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.'”
- vainlyadverbChapter 2 →
Without success; searching or trying but finding nothing useful.
“He took off his glasses and looked vainly for something to clean them on.”
- beastienounChapter 2 →
A small or frightening creature; a childish or dialect word for beast, used here by a young boy to describe the terrifying animal-like thing he believes he saw.
“'He was talking about a snake-thing. Said it was a beastie.'”
- baffledadjectiveChapter 3 →
Completely confused and unable to understand a situation or another person's point of view.
“They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate.”
- candle-budsnounChapter 3 →
Flower buds shaped like the flame of a candle; Golding uses the term for the pale, upright blossoms of the island's trees that glow in the dark.
“The candle-buds opened and the cool white flowers glimmered in the darkness. Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island.”
- taboonounChapter 4 →
A powerful social rule, often unspoken, that forbids a certain action; breaking it is felt to be deeply wrong or dangerous even if no written law exists.
- awesomeadjectiveChapter 4 →
Inspiring a mixture of wonder and dread; so striking or strange that it stops you in your tracks — used here in its older, stronger sense, not merely 'impressive'.
“He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger.”
- exhilarationnounChapter 4 →
A feeling of intense excitement and energy, a rush of wild pleasure that makes a person feel fully alive.
“There was the brilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there was the world of longing and baffled common-sense.”
- reverencenounChapter 6 →
A deep feeling of respect and wonder, almost like the awe one might feel in a place of worship.
“Ralph felt a kind of affectionate reverence for the island.”
- inward sightphraseChapter 6 →
The mind's eye; the ability to see images or visions inside one's own imagination rather than with the physical eyes.
“However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.”
- vulnerableadjectiveChapter 7 →
Easily hurt or harmed; exposed and defenceless, unable to protect itself.
“Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh.”
- over-masteringadjectiveChapter 7 →
So powerful that it completely takes control of a person's will, making it impossible to resist.
“The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.”
- gorgedadjectiveChapter 8 →
Having eaten so much that one is completely full to the point of being heavy and sluggish.
“Gorged, they alighted by his runnels of sweat and drank.”
- runnelsnounChapter 8 →
Thin trickles or tiny streams of liquid running down a surface; here, small rivulets of sweat running down Simon's skin.
“Gorged, they alighted by his runnels of sweat and drank.”
- alightedverbChapter 8 →
Landed and settled on a surface after flying; used of insects or birds coming to rest on something.
“Gorged, they alighted by his runnels of sweat and drank.”
- sculptured marblephraseChapter 9 →
Shaped like a carved marble statue — smooth, pale, and perfectly formed; used to describe Simon's body as the sea washes over it, giving it an almost sacred beauty.
“The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble.”
- glancing blowphraseChapter 11 →
A hit that strikes at an angle and slides off rather than landing squarely; it still does damage but does not hit dead-on.
“The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.”
- deliriousadjectiveChapter 11 →
In a wild, uncontrolled mental state, beyond normal reason; here describing a reckless, almost ecstatic loss of restraint rather than a fever.
“Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.”
- abandonmentnounChapter 11 →
A complete letting-go of all self-control, rules, and moral limits; throwing oneself into an action without any restraint or guilt.
“Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.”
- straw-colouredadjectiveChapter 12 →
Pale yellowish-blond, the colour of dried straw; used to describe Ralph's fair hair.
“He forgot his wounds, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; a straw-coloured boy who ran and ran and ran.”
- put up a better showphraseChapter 12 →
British idiom meaning to perform or behave in a more impressive, orderly, or creditable way; to do better than one actually did.
“'I should have thought that a pack of British boys — you're all British, aren't you? — would have been able to put up a better show than that.'”
Lord of the FliesNovel by William Golding