Vocabulary Activity for The Crucible
1. BASE desires incited the witch-hunt in Miller’s play.
2. Abigail is able to EVADE punishment by accusing others and eventually fleeing.
3. Abigail’s DISSEMBLING proved to be the ruin of the town. (CALUMNY WOULD WORK EQUALLY WELL HERE.)
4. Although the town watches the first hangings AVIDLY, their demeanor changes completely when they view the
executions of Proctor, Rebecca, and Martha.
5. Elizabeth was willing to sacrifice her soul to AMELIORATE her husband’s situation in court.
6. Francis Nurse is concerned because his DEPOSITION causes 99 people to be arrested for questioning by the
court.
7. Giles and Putnam are the most CONTENTIOUS members of the town.
8. Giles is pressed to death for protecting the ANONYMITY of the informant who told of Putnam’s boast about
forcing Ruth to accuse George Burroughs.
9. Hale accuses Danforth of considering defense of the accused as EFFRONTERY when he says “Is every defense an
attack upon the court?!”
10. Hale’s arrogance in his knowledge of THEOLOGY blinded him to reason.
11. Proctor is ADAMANT that he doesn’t want to cast doubt on the innocence of the others accused of witchcraft by
publishing a written confession.
12. Proctor is INCREDULOUS when he finds that Rebecca is accused of murdering Ann Putnam’s babies.
13. Ruth and Betty’s PALLOR was an indication of their illness in addition to their inability to wake.
14. The accusations brought against all but Tituba and Abigail were mere CALUMNY. (DISSEMBLING WOULD ALSO
WORK HERE, BUT EFFRONTERY IS TOO MILD A WORD FOR THIS SITUATION.)
15. The alliance between Abigail and Tituba was IMPERCEPTIBLE to the others in the room when they confessed to
Hale.
16. The executions could be considered the town’s PROPITIATION of the devil for the evil that had come among
them.
17. The flowers in the house are a CONCILLIATORY effort on Elizabeth’s part.
18. The girls are able to INGRATIATE themselves with the judges and the town by continuing to “purge” the town of
the devil.
19. The Puritans spread their beliefs through INCULCATION of the Scriptures.
20. The town’s PREDILECTION to trust completely in a minister’s incorruptibility prevented them from intervening in
the hangings even when it was obvious that the verdicts were absurd.