The Battle of the Labyrinth: Chapters 4–7

by Rick Riordan
In this fourth book of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, the fourteen-year-old demigod must contend with entering high school and preventing a monstrous army from invading Camp Half-Blood.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–7, Chapters 8–11, Chapters 12–15, Chapters 17–20

Here are links to our lists for the Percy Jackson & the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series.
40 words 321 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. inflict
    impose something unpleasant
    “But a man cares about his son, eh? Displease me, old man, and the next time my guards inflict a punishment, it will be on him!”
  2. briefing
    detailed instructions, as for a military operation
    Chiron and Quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks. Clarisse and Annabeth sat next to each other and led the briefing.
  3. frail
    physically weak
    I thought about the old man I’d seen in my dream. He’d looked so frail, it was hard to believe he’d last another week, much less three thousand years.
  4. sheepishly
    in a manner showing embarrassment or shame
    Travis looked around sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to—”
  5. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    “Come outside,” Clarisse coaxed. “The sunlight will help you.”
  6. delve
    search for something in a receptacle or container
    “I, ah...well, it said, You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze...”
  7. vanguard
    the leading units moving at the head of an army
    Once we have the means to navigate, I will lead the vanguard through myself.
  8. sufficient
    of a quantity that can fulfill a need or requirement
    One more heart shall join our cause, and that will be sufficient.
  9. huffy
    roused to anger
    “I don’t know why you’re so huffy these days. You used to be fun to hang around.”
  10. frothy
    emitting or filled with bubbles
    The grave started to bubble. Frothy brown liquid rose to the top like the whole thing was filling with soda.
  11. treacherous
    dangerously unstable and unpredictable
    “The Labyrinth is treacherous. There is only one thing that saw me through: the love of a mortal girl. The string was only part of the answer. It was the princess who guided me.”
  12. knave
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
    “A soul for a soul,” Nico asked. “Is it true?”
    “I—I must say yes. But the specter—”
    “Just answer the questions, knave!” the ghost said.
  13. specter
    a ghostly appearing figure
    Purple light threw horrible, ghostly shadows on the cabin walls, as if the specters were escaping right out of the fountain.
  14. cleave
    separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
    In desperation I uncapped Riptide and slashed at the fountain, cleaving it in two.
  15. automaton
    a mechanism that can move independently of external control
    Daedalus was the world's greatest inventor. He created the Labyrinth, but much more. Automatons, thinking machines...
  16. bode
    indicate by signs
    “One other thing I do not understand...this talk of a last soul joining their cause. That does not bode well.”
  17. deductive
    relating to reasoning from the general to the particular
    “That way,” she said.
    “How do you know?” I asked.
    “Deductive reasoning.”
    “So...you’re guessing.”
  18. hyperventilate
    breathe excessively hard and fast
    Grover’s hyperventilating was the loudest noise in the maze.
  19. frieze
    an ornament consisting of a horizontal sculptured band
    The whole room was covered in mosaic tiles. The pictures were grimy and faded, but I could still make out the colors—red, blue, green, gold. The frieze showed the Olympian gods at a feast.
  20. shaft
    a long vertical passage sunk into the earth, as for a mine
    She led us to the right, then the left, through a corridor of stainless steel like some kind of air shaft, and we arrived back in the Roman tile room with the fountain.
  21. jut
    extend out or project in space
    What I noticed first were his faces. Both of them. They jutted out from either side of his head, staring over his shoulders, so his head was much wider than it should’ve been, kind of like a hammerhead shark’s.
  22. giddy
    lacking seriousness; given to frivolity
    He laughed giddily. “Such fun!”
  23. muse
    reflect deeply on a subject
    “Because French doors are nice,” the left face mused. “Lots of natural light.”
  24. laden
    filled with a great quantity
    A marble table appeared, laden with platters of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade.
  25. stifle
    smother or suppress
    Tyson stifled a belch.
  26. spat
    a quarrel about petty points
    “Because of that little spat I had with Hercules? Honestly, I got so much bad press because of one disagreement."
  27. petty
    small and of little importance
    They start putting their trust in the wrong things, petty things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish.
  28. perseverance
    persistent determination
    But I’m the goddess of marriage, you see. I’m used to perseverance.
  29. squabble
    argue over petty things
    You have to rise above the squabbling and chaos, and keep believing.
  30. disposal
    the power to use something or someone
    And use all the means at your disposal, however common they may seem.
  31. grungy
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
    The mosaic walls dimmed and turned grungy and faded again.
  32. catwalk
    a narrow pathway high in the air
    Through the bars we could see rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard—at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.
  33. raspy
    unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
    There was another sound, too—a raspy voice muttering something that I couldn’t make out.
  34. fluorescent
    emitting light during exposure to external radiant energy
    The prison was dark, only a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above.
  35. uncanny
    suggesting the operation of supernatural influences
    Like all Cyclopes, Tyson had superhuman hearing and an uncanny ability to mimic voices.
  36. mimic
    imitate, especially for satirical effect
    Tyson faltered when he said that name. I’d never heard him break character when he was mimicking somebody, but he let out a strangled gulp.
  37. unbearable
    incapable of being put up with
    If you thought your first imprisonment was unbearable, you have yet to feel true torment.
  38. brooding
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    Briares's face morphed again—furrowed brow and a pouting mouth. His brooding face, I guess.
  39. diversion
    an attack that draws an enemy's attention away
    “We need a diversion,” Annabeth said.
    Tyson ripped a metal lamppost out of the ground. “I will distract Kampê. You run ahead.”
  40. indiscriminately
    in a random manner
    Tyson was coming through the cellblock, Kampê's swords lashing out behind him, slicing indiscriminately through cell bars and stone walls.
Created on Thu Jul 14 17:41:48 EDT 2016 (updated Fri Aug 25 19:15:27 EDT 2023)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.