Vocabulary Quiz from 'Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson

This is a vocabulary challenge based on vocabulary words from the classic novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

If you enjoy word challenges or learning new words, in context, then take a few minutes to complete this word challenge. Every effort has been made to pull salient words from the text, in particular words that often appear on the SAT will often be a part of these vocabulary quizzes.

Test your vocabulary on a few of the words from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island .

Each vocabulary word will be presented with three alternative definitions. Try to choose the best definition. To make the quiz a little easier a quoted passage follows each vocabulary word. Answers are at the end of the vocabulary quiz.

Some of these words are challenging, but some of them you may find familiar. The definitions will remain very basic for the sake of simplicity. Good luck.

1. irresolute - A) firm in purpose, B) doubtfully, C) without courage

"This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for two of the fellows began to look here and there among the lumber, but half-heartedly, I thought, and with an eye to their own danger all the time, while the rest stood irresolute on the road."

2. miscreant - A) rascal, B) thief, C) villain

"And as for riding down that black, atrocious miscreant, I regard it as an act of virtue, sir, like stamping on a cockroach."

3. garrison - A) forecastle B) ballast, C) fortification

"You wish us to keep this matter dark, and to make a garrison of the stern part of the ship, manned with my friend's own people, and provided with all the arms and powder on the board."

4. duplicity - A) villainy, B) deception, C) forthrightness

"He did not know, to be sure, that I had overheard his council from the apple barrel, and yet I had, by this time, taken such a horror of his cruelty, duplicity, and power, that I could scarce conceal a shudder when he laid his hand on my arm."

5. prodigious - A) immense, B) unwavering, C) typical

"Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you," added the squire.

6. langour - A) sluggishness, B) calm, C) warmth

"The rocks of the Spy-glass re-echoed it a score of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose again, darkening heaven, with a simultaneous whirr; and long after that death yell was still ringing in my brain, silence had re-established its empire, and only the rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant surges disturbed the languor of the afternoon. "

7. dilapidation - A) deterioration, B) descent, C) development

"Right before us, at the southern end we saw the wreck of a ship in the last stages of dilapidation."

8. truculently - A) shortly, B) gutturaly, C) fiercely

"'You'll, perhaps, batten down your hatches till you're spoke, my friend,' cried Silver truculently to this speaker."

9. insolence - A) servility B) gall, C) reputation

"And you're the last above board of that same meddling crew; and you have the Davy Jones's insolence to up and stand for cap'n over me- you, that sank the lot of us!"

10. narcissism - noun- A) obsession with one's self, B) obsession with inflicting pain, C) obsessive compulsive behavior

" 'Maybe a mood disorder with a touch of narcissism and intermittent explosive anger," Benton goes on as if I just said nothing. p181.

Answers to vocabulary quiz from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson: 1-B, 2-C, 3-C, 4-B, 5-A, 6-A, 7-A, 8-C, 9-B, 10-A

How did you do on the vocabulary quiz from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson?
If you got 8 - 10 correct you are word wise.
5 - 7 correct answers means you have an astute understanding of vocabulary.
If you got 3 - 5 answers correct, take heart, you are resourceful and learning well.
If you got 1 or 2 correct, why not study the words and give yourself a do-over.