30 pages 1 hour read

Tobias Wolff

Bullet in the Brain

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1995

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Vocabulary

How to use

This section presents terms and phrases that are central to understanding the text and may present a challenge to the reader. Use this list to create a vocabulary quiz or worksheet, to prepare flashcards for a standardized test, or to inspire classroom word games and other group activities.

Vocabulary List

1.     dispatched (past tense verb):

dismissed quickly and efficiently, with minimal effort

“He was never in the best of tempers anyway, Anders—a book critic known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed.” (Paragraph 1)

2.     accord (noun): 

agreement

“She turned to Anders and added, confident of his accord, ‘One of those little human touches that keep us coming back.’” (Paragraph 2)

3.     brass-knuckled (adjective):

openly aggressive and tough

“’Oh, bravo,’ Anders said. ‘Dead meat.’ He turned to the woman in front of him. ‘Great script, eh? The stern, brass-knuckled poetry of the dangerous classes.’” (Paragraph 8)

4.     torpor (noun):

lack of animation, slowness, dullness

“He was short and heavy and moved with peculiar slowness, even torpor.” (Paragraph 10)

5.   ammoniac (adjective):

resembling ammonia, smelling like ammonia, or a combination of urine and sweat

“He breathed out a piercing, ammoniac smell that shocked Anders more than anything that had happened, and he was beginning to develop a sense of unease when the man prodded him again with the pistol.

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