- vulnerableadjectiveChapter 1 →
Open to being hurt emotionally or easily influenced by others; here it describes a period of youth when a person has not yet built up defenses against the world's harsh judgments.
“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.”
- reserve judgmentphraseChapter 1 →
To hold back from forming or expressing opinions about other people, especially critical ones, until you know them better or perhaps not at all.
- cardinal virtuesphraseChapter 3 →
The most important moral qualities traditionally considered the foundation of good character — classically: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Here used loosely to mean a single outstanding personal virtue.
“Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”
- involuntarilyadverbChapter 1 →
Without choosing to do so; as a reflex or automatic reaction rather than a deliberate decision.
“Involuntarily I glanced seaward — and distinguished nothing except a single green light.”
- distinguishedverbChapter 1 →
Made out or perceived something clearly, especially something faint or far away; here means managed to see or identify something in the darkness.
“Involuntarily I glanced seaward — and distinguished nothing except a single green light.”
- grotesqueadjectiveChapter 2 →
Strangely distorted or unnatural in a way that is ugly and unsettling; here describes ash heaps that have taken on twisted, eerie shapes.
“This is a valley of ashes — a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens.”
- retinasnounChapter 2 →
The light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye that receives images; here used to describe the painted pupils of a giant billboard advertisement, giving the eyes an almost human anatomy.
“The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic — their retinas are one yard high.”
- nonexistentadjectiveChapter 2 →
Not real or not present; here describes the face that should hold the billboard's spectacles but simply does not exist, making the eyes float eerily in space.
“from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose.”
- deftadjectiveChapter 2 →
Quick, neat, and skillful in movement; here used with dark irony to describe the casual, practiced ease with which Tom delivers a violent blow.
“Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.”
- eternal reassurancephraseChapter 3 →
A sense of comfort and confidence that feels as though it will never fade or run out; used to describe the rare quality of Gatsby's smile that makes people feel permanently understood and accepted.
“It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.”
- fixedverbChapter 4 →
Secretly arranged the outcome of a sporting event through bribery or corruption, so that the result was predetermined rather than honestly decided.
“He's the man who fixed the World's Series back in 1919.”
- incredulouslyadverbChapter 4 →
In a way that shows disbelief or shock that someone could think something so obviously wrong; unable to accept what has just been said.
“'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'”
- decking it outphraseChapter 4 →
Decorating or adorning something lavishly; here means Gatsby kept adding glamorous details to the invented version of himself, making it more impressive and appealing.
“He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way.”
- colossaladjectiveChapter 5 →
Enormous in size or degree, far beyond the ordinary; here describes the overwhelming, almost superhuman scale of Gatsby's dream and the power it holds over him.
“not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.”
- vitalitynounChapter 5 →
Intense, living energy and power; here it means the sheer force and life that Gatsby has pumped into his dream, making it more vivid than any real person could match.
“not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.”
- illusionnounChapter 5 →
A false belief or mental image that feels real but is not; here it refers to the idealized fantasy of Daisy and the future that Gatsby has built in his mind over many years.
“there must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.”
- diminishedverbChapter 5 →
Became smaller or less significant; here means the number of magical, hope-filled objects in Gatsby's world has shrunk by one now that the green light is no longer a symbol of longing.
“His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.”
- conceptionnounChapter 6 →
An idea or mental image of what something or someone should be; here it means the carefully imagined identity of 'Jay Gatsby' that the young James Gatz created and then lived out.
“So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.”
- shiftlessadjectiveChapter 6 →
Lazy and lacking ambition or drive; unwilling to work hard or make plans for the future. Used here to describe Gatsby's parents as people who never strove to improve themselves.
“Gatsby was originally James Gatz from North Dakota, born to 'shiftless and unsuccessful farm people.'”
- gatheredverbChapter 6 →
Concluded or understood something from indirect clues rather than being told directly; here means Nick inferred Gatsby's deeper motive from what he said without Gatsby stating it outright.
“I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy.”
- unutterableadjectiveChapter 8 →
Too great, sacred, or overwhelming to be put into words; here describes Gatsby's private visions and dreams as things so profound that language cannot capture them.
“when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath.”
- perishableadjectiveChapter 8 →
Capable of dying or decaying; subject to time and mortality. Here it contrasts Daisy's real, mortal, human breath with the immortal perfection of Gatsby's dreams.
“forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath.”
- rompverbChapter 8 →
To move or play freely and without restraint; here it means the mind ranging joyfully and without limit, like a god's imagination — a freedom Gatsby gives up the moment he commits to Daisy.
“his mind would never romp again like the mind of God.”
- carelessadjectiveChapter 7 →
Not merely inattentive but fundamentally indifferent to the harm caused to others; here it describes a moral recklessness in Tom and Daisy that lets them destroy lives and walk away untouched.
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness.”
- ceaselesslyadverbChapter 9 →
Without ever stopping; continuously and without pause. Here it describes how the current of time keeps pushing people back toward the past no matter how hard they strive forward.
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
- borne backphraseChapter 9 →
Carried or pushed backward by a force outside one's control; here the image is of boats unable to make headway against a current that keeps sweeping them in the opposite direction.
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
The Great GatsbyNovel by F. Scott Fitzgerald