To Kill a Mockingbird

In-context Vocabulary

Chapters 5 and 6

benign

• Until Jem and Dill excluded me from their plans, she was only another lady in the neighborhood, but a relatively benign presence.

benign

• Having a kindly disposition; gracious

• Bene = “good”

tacit

• Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we could play on her lawn, eat her scuppernongs if we didn’t’ jump on the arbor, and explore her vast back lot…

tacit

• Understood without being openly expressed

• Silent

• Have any musicians seen this one in your sheet music?

benevolence

• Miss Maudie’s benevolence extended to Jem and Dill, whenever they paused in their pursuits…

benevolence

• Desire to do good towards others

• Bene = good

edification

“No,” said Atticus, “putting his life’s history on display for the edification of the neighborhood.”

edification

• Moral improvement or guidance

• It actually comes from the word “to build.”

quibble

• Jem decided there was no point in quibbling, and was silent.

quibble

• To evade truth by raising trivial distinctions and objections

• Maybe from equivocation (evasion of the point)