Heart of Darkness (Webster's Thesaurus Edition)

194 Pages·2006·1.795 MB·English

by  Joseph Conrad

HEART OF DARKNESS

Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,
GMAT®, and AP® English Test Preparation

Joseph Conrad

PSAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit Scholarship
Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT is a registered trademark of the College
Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE, AP and Advanced Placement are registered
trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT is a
registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book
nor endorses this book, LSAT is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither
sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.
Heart of Darkness

Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,
GMAT®, and AP® English Test Preparation

Joseph Conrad

PSAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered trademark of the
College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and Advanced Placement® are
registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book,
GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated
with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council
which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.
ICON CLASSICS

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www.icongrouponline.com

Heart of Darkness: Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®, GMAT®, and AP®
English Test Preparation

This edition published by ICON Classics in 2005
Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright ©2005 by ICON Group International, Inc.
Edited by Philip M. Parker, Ph.D. (INSEAD); Copyright ©2005, all rights reserved.

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PSAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered
trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and
Advanced Placement® are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither
sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management
Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a
registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses
this product. All rights reserved.

ISBN 0-497-25288-0
iii
Contents

PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR..........................................................................................1

PART I..............................................................................................................................3

PART II...........................................................................................................................37

PART III..........................................................................................................................65

GLOSSARY.....................................................................................................................95

Joseph Conrad 1

PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR

Designed for school districts, educators, and students seeking to maximize performance on
standardized tests, Webster’s paperbacks take advantage of the fact that classics are frequently
assigned readings in English courses. By using a running thesaurus at the bottom of each page, this
edition of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad was edited for students who are actively building
their vocabularies in anticipation of taking PSAT®, SAT®, AP® (Advanced Placement®), GRE®,
LSAT®, GMAT® or similar examinations.1

Webster’s edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of
synonyms and antonyms for difficult and often ambiguous English words that are encountered in
other works of literature, conversation, or academic examinations. Extremely rare or idiosyncratic
words and expressions are given lower priority in the notes compared to words which are “difficult,
and often encountered” in examinations. Rather than supply a single synonym, many are provided
for a variety of meanings, allowing readers to better grasp the ambiguity of the English language,
and avoid using the notes as a pure crutch. Having the reader decipher a word’s meaning within
context serves to improve vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not
already highlighted on previous pages. If a difficult word is not noted on a page, chances are that it
has been highlighted on a previous page. A more complete thesaurus is supplied at the end of the
book; Synonyms and antonyms are extracted from Webster’s Online Dictionary.

Definitions of remaining terms as well as translations can be found at www.websters-online-
dictionary.org. Please send suggestions to [email protected]

The Editor
Webster’s Online Dictionary
www.websters-online-dictionary.org
1 P S A T ® i s a r e g i s t e r e d t r a d e m a r k o f t h e College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered trademark of the
College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and Advanced Placement® are
registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book,
GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated
with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council
which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.

Joseph Conrad 3

PART I

The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails,
and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being
bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come to and wait for the turn
of the tide.%
The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an
interminable waterway. In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together
without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting
up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked,
with gleams of varnished sprits. A haze rested on the low shores that ran out to
sea in vanishing flatness. The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back
still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the
biggest, and the greatest, town on earth.
The Director of Companies was our captain and our host. We four
affectionately watched his back as he stood in the bows looking to seaward. On
the whole river there was nothing that looked half so nautical. He resembled a
pilot, which to a seaman is trustworthiness personified. It was difficult to realize
his work was not out there in the luminous estuary, but behind him, within the
brooding gloom.
Between us there was, as I have already said somewhere, the bond of the sea.
Besides holding our hearts together through long periods of separation, it had
the effect of making us tolerant of each other's yarns--and even convictions. The

Thesaurus
flatness: (n) dullness, monotony, hereafter, billows, deep, future, brine, ANTONYMS: (n) untrustworthiness,
plain, flat, tedium, sameness, water, watery waste, body of water. disloyalty, infidelity, dishonesty.
insipidness, tediousness, platitude, personified: (adj) embodied. varnished: (adj) sullied, polished,
smoothing, smooth. ANTONYM: (n) rested: (adj) comfortable. spotted, shiny, lustrous, smooth,
unevenness. seaward: (adj) inshore, onshore, painted, besmirched, glossy, tainted,
mournful: (adj) sad, miserable, coastal; (adv) toward the sea. flyblown. ANTONYM: (adj) dull.
melancholy, funereal, dolorous, dark, ANTONYM: (adj) offshore. waterway: (n) ditch, watercourse,
pensive, gloomy, lugubrious, trustworthiness: (n) reliability, channel, stream, trench, canal, drain,
lamentable; (adj, n) plaintive. faithfulness, credibility, rapid, tailrace, conduit, headrace.
ANTONYMS: (adj) joyful, happy, responsibility, honesty, trustiness, yawl: (v) yap, wawl, howl, growl, roar,
emotionless. loyalty, constancy, devotion, ululate, wail, waul; (n) corvette, foist,
offing: (n) ocean, high seas, sea, dependence, creditworthiness. cutter.
4 Heart of Darkness
Lawyer--the best of old fellows--had, because of his many years and many
virtues, the only cushion on deck, and was lying on the only rug. The Accountant
had brought out already a box of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with
the bones. Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast.
He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect,
and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol.
The Director, satisfied the anchor had good hold, made his way aft and sat down
amongst us. We exchanged a few words lazily. Afterwards there was silence on
board the yacht. For some reason or other we did not begin that game of
dominoes. We felt meditative, and fit for nothing but placid staring. The day was
ending in a serenity of still and exquisite brilliance. The water shone pacifically;
the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very
mist on the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the
wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds. Only the
gloom to the west, brooding over the upper reaches, became more somber every
minute, as if angered by the approach of the sun.%
And at last, in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low, and from
glowing white changed to a dull red without rays and without heat, as if about to
go out suddenly, stricken to death by the touch of that gloom brooding over a
crowd of men.
Forthwith a change came over the waters, and the serenity became less
brilliant but more profound. The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at
the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its
banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost
ends of the earth. We looked at the venerable stream not in the vivid flush of a
short day that comes and departs for ever, but in the august light of abiding
memories. And indeed nothing is easier for a man who has, as the phrase goes,
"followed the sea" with reverence and affection, than to evoke the great spirit of
the past upon the lower reaches of the Thames. The tidal current runs to and fro
in its unceasing service, crowded with memories of men and ships it had borne
to the rest of home or to the battles of the sea. It had known and served all the

Thesaurus
diaphanous: (adj) sheer, filmy, gauzy, enormousness, immenseness, cheery, frivolous, fussy.
thin, translucent, lucid, clear, hyaline, infinity, bulk, largeness, infiniteness, tidal: (adj) flowing.
gossamer, dainty, hyaloid. infinitude, vastness, grandeur, unstained: (adj) unblemished,
ANTONYMS: (adj) thick, opaque, grandness. ANTONYM: (n) lightness. unspotted, clean, unsoiled, pure,
heavy, robust. pacifically: (adv) peacefully, serenely, stainless, immaculate, unsullied,
folds: (n) laps. stilly, quietly, placidly, moderately, untainted, chaste, undefiled.
gauzy: (adj) filmy, transparent, sheer, conciliatorily, blandly, softly, meekly, ANTONYM: (adj) stained.
flimsy, thin, delicate, fine, tranquilly. uttermost: (adj, n) extreme; (adj, adv)
translucent, lucid, cobwebby, somber: (adj) gloomy, melancholy, farthest; (n) maximum, level best;
ethereal. ANTONYMS: (adj) opaque, solemn, dull, grave, drab, sober, (adj) furthest, utter, last, farthermost,
robust, heavy. dark, sullen, dim, dismal. furthermost, ultimate, most.
immensity: (n) greatness, ANTONYMS: (adj) bright, funny, ANTONYM: (adj) moderate.
Joseph Conrad 5
men of whom the nation is proud, from Sir Francis Drake to Sir John Franklin,
knights all, titled and untitled--the great knights-errant of the sea. It had borne
all the ships whose names are like jewels flashing in the night of time, from the
Golden Hind returning with her round flanks full of treasure, to be visited by the
Queen's Highness and thus pass out of the gigantic tale, to the Erebus and
Terror, bound on other conquests-- and that never returned. It had known the
ships and the men. They had sailed from Deptford, from Greenwich, from Erith--
the adventurers and the settlers; kings' ships and the ships of men on `Change;
captains, admirals, the dark "interlopers" of the Eastern trade, and the
commissioned "generals" of East India fleets. Hunters for gold or pursuers of
fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the
torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the
sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the
mystery of an unknown earth! . . . The dreams of men, the seed of
commonwealths, the germs of empires.%
The sun set; the dusk fell on the stream, and lights began to appear along the
shore. The Chapman lighthouse, a three-legged thing erect on a mud-flat, shone
strongly. Lights of ships moved in the fairway--a great stir of lights going up
and going down. And farther west on the upper reaches the place of the
monstrous town was still marked ominously on the sky, a brooding gloom in
sunshine, a lurid glare under the stars.
"And this also," said Marlow suddenly, "has been one of the dark places of
the earth."
He was the only man of us who still "followed the sea." The worst that could
be said of him was that he did not represent his class. He was a seaman, but he
was a wanderer, too, while most seamen lead, if one may so express it, a
sedentary life. Their minds are of the stay-at-home order, and their home is
always with them--the ship; and so is their country--the sea. One ship is very
much like another, and the sea is always the same. In the immutability of their
surroundings the foreign shores, the foreign faces, the changing immensity of
life, glide past, veiled not by a sense of mystery but by a slightly disdainful

Thesaurus
germs: (n) bacteria, germ, infection, lighthouse: (n) light, pharos, beacon bargeman, boatswain, bosun.
microbes, microorganisms. light, tower, Pharo, phare, beacon sedentary: (adj) lazy, sluggish,
glide: (adj, n, v) slide; (n, v) coast, slip; fire, Very lights, flare, balize, faro. motionless, stationary, domestic; (v)
(v) float, run, fly, flow, drift, lapse, ominously: (adv) inauspiciously, untraveled. ANTONYM: (adj) mobile.
slink, skid. ANTONYMS: (v) lurch, portentously, forbiddingly, balefully, titled: (adj) highborn, patrician,
hurtle, flounder, sink. threateningly, menacingly, blackly, coroneted, aristocratic, named,
immutability: (n) changelessness, direly; (adj, adv) gloomily, fatefully, generous, posh, upright, worthy, fair;
invariability, majesty, infinity, unpromisingly. ANTONYMS: (adv) (n) princely. ANTONYM: (adj) petty.
unchangeableness, sovereignty, favorably, innocently. wanderer: (n) vagabond, roamer,
unchangeability, unchangingness, reaches: (n) recess. tramp, nomad, drifter, traveler,
fixedness, fixity, permanency. seaman: (n) seafarer, tar, gob, sailor, wayfarer, stranger, hobo, traveller;
ANTONYM: (n) mutability. bluejacket, jack, navigator, bargee, (n, v) rambler.