In this activity, you'll use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words from The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Refer back to the story as you fill out the table below. In the Contextual Meaning column, write the meanings that you are able to derive from the story alone. After you've added the contextual meanings for all words, look up the words in a dictionary and fill in the actual definitions in the Dictionary Definition column. Then, in the Notes/Comments column, write about how the contextual definitions compare to the dictionary definitions and whether context was enough to come up with a good understanding of these unfamiliar words. WordContextual MeaningDictionary DefinitionNotes/Comments
piquancy

preclude

magnanimous

sinecure

timorous

querulous

tacit

amenity

savoir faire