"The Story of an Eyewitness" First 15 Vocabulary Words

Flanked

Definition: Located on both sides of something or someone. Text Sentence: "Time and again successful stands were made by the fire-fighters, and every time the flames flanked around on either side or came up from the rear, and turned to defeat the hard-won victory."

Wrought

Definition: Made or fashioned in a specific way; beaten out or shaped by hammering. Text Sentence: "But the conflagration that followed burned up hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of property There is no estimating within hundreds of millions the actual damage wrought."

Imperial

Definition: Of or pertaining to an empire. Text Sentence: "Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed."

Vast

Definition: Of very great size or proportions; of great area or extent. Text Sentence: "At that time I watched the vast conflagration from out on the bay."

Cunning

Definition: Showing or made in a crafty or clever way. Text Sentence: "All the cunning adjustments of a twentieth century city had been smashed by the earthquake."

Contrivances

Definition: Things that are created skillfully and inventively to serve a particular purpose. Text Sentence: "All the shrewd contrivances and safeguards of man had been thrown out of gear by thirty seconds' twitching of the earth-crust."

Lavishly

Definition: Using or giving in great amounts. Text Sentence: "Dynamite was lavishly used, and many of San Francisco proudest structures were crumbled by man himself into ruins, but there was no withstanding the onrush of the flames."

Enumeration

Definition: A catalog or list; a collection of items that is a complete, ordered listing of all the items in that collection. Text Sentence: "An enumeration of the buildings destroyed would be a directory of San Francisco."

Conflagration

Definition: A destructive fire, usually an extensive one. Text Sentence: "But the conflagration that followed burned up hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of property There is no estimating within hundreds of millions the actual damage wrought."

Vestiges

Definition: A mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence. Text Sentence: "All vestiges of them were destroyed by the flames."

Nabobs

Definition: A person of conspicuous wealth or high status. Text Sentence: "The factories and warehouses, the great stores and newspaper buildings, the hotels and the palaces of the nabobs, are all gone."

Hysteria

Definition: An uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear often characterized by irrationality, laughter, or weeping, etc. Text Sentence: "There were no crowds. There was no shouting and yelling. There was no hysteria, no disorder."

Colossal

Definition: Extraordinarily great in size, extent, or degree; gigantic, huge. Text Sentence: "Thus did the fire of itself build its own colossal chimney through the atmosphere."

Shrewd

Definition: Having or showing sharp powers of judgment. Synonyms: clever, sharp-witted. Text Sentence: "All the shrewd contrivances and safeguards of man had been thrown out of gear by thirty seconds' twitching of the earth-crust."

Lurid

Definition: Lighted or shining with an unnatural, fiery glow. Text Sentence: "Within an hour after the earthquake shock the smoke of San Francisco's burning was a lurid tower visible a hundred miles away."