The Chrysalids Vocabulary
Deviation
A marked departure from the accepted pattern; in David's society, mutants are deviation
Scapegoat
A person with an imperfection
Ethics
A set of moral principles stating how men must act
Wraith
A visible spirit
Mutant
Animal or human that has been some basic physical or mental alteration
Attested pedigrees
Certified origin
Apocalyptic
Complete destruction of world
Peroration
Concluding part of a speech
Demise
Downfall
Rectitude
Goodness, morality
Abetting a concealment
Helping to hide a deviate
The inspector
Local government official who certifies plants/animals/people as official deviations
Abasement
Lower in rank or in dignity
Offenses
Malformed animal or vegetable
Telepathy
Minds communicating
Implacable
Not to be calm, or to soften, in feeling and temper
Tribulation
Nuclear war that caused destruction on Earth
Saprophytes
Organisms that live off dead matter
The fringes
Outside of Waknuk, where all the mutants live and are sent
Old people
People before tribulation
Propreitorial
Person who has the the right to something
Pedant
Person who over emphasize rules or minor details
Dissemble
Pretend, to give false or misleading appearance
Fruition
Realization, as in hopes and plans
Nicholson's Repentances
Repentance means a turning away from the path of disobedience to the prescribed method of behavior. This book was obviously a guide to mortality for the people of Waknuk
Trenchant
Sharp, mentally alert
Orthodoxy
Sound and correct opinion; correct quality
Blasphemy
Speaking against God
Abnegation
The act of rejecting
True image
The religious definition of a normally formed human being as David's society
Chrysalids
The stage the larvae of moths and butterflies pass through before they become adults
The norm
The standard, or the average; in this case, whatever was considered normal by the teachings of Waknuk society
Imminent
Threatening to occur immediately
Germinate
To begin to develop
Meticulousness
With full details
Apologia
Work written as an explanation or justification of one's motives, convictions
Hobble the horses
two horses legs are tied so they cant run but can only graze