The Book Thief Vocab
frugal
adj economical, sparing money and food ex. Dour light was better than none, and they needed to be frugal.
gratuitous
adj unnecessary ex. If there was one thing about Liesel Meminger, her thieving was not gratuitous.
philosophical
adj. being thoughtful or deeply observant ex. Papa was more philosophical. "Rosa, it started with Adolf."
obligatory
adj. costommary, expected ex. There was the obligatory march around the grounds.
idyllic
adj. excellent and delightful in all respects ex. The crowd was predominantly women conferred at that point, knowing that Himmel Street was not exactly the epitome of idyllic Molching living.
foreboding
adj. fateful, portentous ex. In a tall apartment just around the corner on Munich Street, an old lady with a foreboding voice deciphered for everyone the exact source of the commotion.
ferocious
adj. fierce ex. On each previous occasion, the window was shut firmly. Liesel's outer disappointment masked a ferocious relief. Would she have the neck to go in?
abrasive
adj. harsh ex.His voice was abrasive, but he brought it back to a muffled whisper in a hurry.
peculiar
adj. particular, special ex. There was an itch to leave then, but also a peculiar obligation to stay
immaculate
adj. speckless ex. Max hit the ground and the soldier now turned to the girl. His mouth opened. He had immaculate teeth.
repugnant
adj.terrible, extremely distasteful or incompatible with ex No the repugnant truth was this: she did not care about the food.
simultaneously
adv. at the same time ex. Hans Junior was simultaneously shooting at Russians and maintaining his strike on family interactions.
frantically
adv. in an uncontrollable manner, madly ex. Kids being kids, they all searched frantically at that point, trying to find an empty fuel container floating to the ground.
fervently
adv. quick tempered, passionate intensity, ex Max fervently asked her to bring only scraps and only when they were not wanted by anyone else.
preemptively
adv. to take action to prevent something from happening ex. Preemptively, you conclude, as I would that Rudy died that very same day of hypothermia.
machinations
noun a crafty and involved plot to achieve your usually sinister ends ex. It's the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me.
intuition
noun instinctive knowing,an impression that something might be the case ex. Perhaps an unknown intuition told her that she would never be able to play it like Hans.
vindication
noun justification ex. Hans needed vindication. He needed to know that Max Vandenburg had left his house for good reason.
succession
noun sequence ex. It seemed to resonate with a kind of confidence that life was still nothing but a joke- an endless succession of soccer goals, trickery, and a constant repertoire of meaningless chatter
trepidation
noun. a feeling of alarm or dread or fear or agitation ex. with great trepidation, she opened The Book Thief and turned the pages
deviant/ deviants
noun. a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable ex. "So where are these two deviants you've been bragging about" It's ten past four already"
temerity
noun. audacity, audaciousness, fearless daring ex. Whether they watched this parade with pride, temerity, or shame, nobody came forward to interrupt it.
conglomeration
noun. conglobation, a sum total of many heterogenous things taken together, aggregate ex. All four men were plastered with the gray-and-white conglomeration of dust.
vigilance
noun. continuous attention, alertness ex. How dare she occupy the kitchen with such vigilance.
contentment
noun. happiness with one's situation in life ex. Her bed was soft and warm with contentment.
epitome
noun. image, a standard or typical example ex. The crowd was predominantly women conferred at that point, knowing that Himmel Street was not exactly the epitome of idyllic Molching living.
opaque
noun. impossible to understand, unintelligible or can't be seen through ex. Max was in the room, noiseless and opaque.
hiatus
noun. interruption of the intensity of something ex. Since Max's arrival, there had been a considerable hiatus in the reading practice of Liesel and her papa.
occupant
noun. resident ex.He was even known to paint peoples blinds for half a cigarette, sitting on the front porch of a house, share a smoke with the occupant.
competence
noun. the quality of being adequately or well qualified physically and intellectually ex. The science of Papa's trade brought him an even grater level of respect. It was well and good that he was also more than capable in his occupation. Competence was attractive.
nonchalance
noun. unconcerned, unconcerned ex. After Rudy stood completely erect, feigning nonchalance, tensing himself against tension.
perplex
v baffle, puzzle, mistify ex. It's the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me.
resonate
v. come across ex. It seemed to resonate with a kind of confidence that life was still nothing but a joke
desecrate/desecrated
v. remove the consecration from a person or an object, unhallow, violant the secret character ex. The desecrated pages of Mein Kampf were becoming a series of sketches, page after page, which to him summed up the events that had swapped his former life for another.
debilitate
v. weaken ex. "You never know," he stated, "what our enemies are thinking, or how they will try to debilitate us"
nonplussed
verb. a mystery or bewildering to, puzzled ex. He was the tallest. "You wait," he told the nonplussed wife." "With 200 left he will break away."
harass
verb. annoy continually ex. They keep triggering inside me. They harass my memory.
relinquish
verb. release, free up ex. In his haste, he did not relinquish his grip on the toolboxes he sprinted to the botto of Himmel Street, took a few side roads, and entered the trees.
allocate/ -ed
verb. set apart for a special purpose or distribute according to planex. ex. The allocated space next to the fire was vacant.
accost/-ed
verb. speak to someone boldly ex. Rudy found him and accosted him in the eye