Dead Cats Society word list

Rahma (United States of America)
This is the word list I'm developing for a children's book I am writing for middle grade readers and up. A blend of fantasy and humor through the unique perspective of cats.
Sentences next to each word are quotes from the book.
53 words 34 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. adversary
    someone who offers opposition
    He lunged towards his adversary.
  2. aristocratic
    belonging to or characteristic of the nobility
    The gray cat was more smooth and polished than the other strays, having an aristocratic manner about him.
  3. artesian
    relating to water that rises due to natural pressure
    When Jeremiah also discovered an artesian aquifer that supplied a continuous flow of cold sweet water, they knew that this was the place where they would end of their year-long journey.
  4. celestial
    relating to or inhabiting a divine heaven
    When the light was right, as it was now, she glowed with the radiance of a celestial being.
  5. cryptic
    having a secret or hidden meaning
    "You speak in such cryptic language. What do you have to hide?"
  6. dapple
    a small contrasting part of something
    As he climbed up, he felt the last warm rays of the sun dapple his fur where it poked through the dense leaves.
  7. deceit
    the quality of being fraudulent
    "His skin is surely lent him, For he's included as is the ravenous wolf. Who cannot steal a shape that means deceit?" Cicero, the old cat, quoting Shakespeare
  8. deceptive
    deliberately designed to mislead
    "Then you are more deceptive than I imagined. How did you change your appearance in this way?"
  9. dervish
    a Muslim monk of an order noted for fast ceremonial dancing
    Electrons, which are the energy in every atom whirling around their nucleus, like dervishes....
  10. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    Marco went upstairs to Grandma Sarah’s bedroom and saw the empty, disheveled bed. He went downstairs and roamed through the library, but he had no desire to read. The house was stripped of life.
  11. dispel
    cause to separate and go in different directions
    If Marco had any doubts about a traitor in his midst, they were dispelled now.
  12. duplicity
    the act of deceiving or acting in bad faith
    They wear a false mask to disguise their duplicity.
  13. eccentric
    conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual
    Bait threw a sideways glance to Marco as if to indicate that Cicero was just an eccentric old cat.
  14. enormity
    the quality of extreme wickedness
    He was not sure that Marco completely grasped the enormity of the situation.
  15. ethereal
    characterized by lightness and insubstantiality
    Alaniah twirled her ethereal sparkliness upwards and sailed around the room as though even the thought of being tethered by the fourth dimension was something to be avoided at all costs.
  16. exotic
    characteristic of another place or part of the world
    Strange and exotic scents filled his nose.
  17. fathom
    a linear unit of measurement for water depth
    "I cannot even fathom what it must be like for you, imprisoned in heavy corporeal bodies, plodding along in a time band."
  18. fervor
    feelings of great warmth and intensity
  19. flashpoint
    the lowest temperature at which the vapor of a combustible liquid can be ignited in air
  20. hideous
    grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror
  21. hodgepodge
    a motley assortment of things
  22. impenetrable
    not admitting of passage into or through
  23. impulsive
    without forethought
  24. incomprehensible
    difficult to understand
  25. intrusion
    entrance by force or without permission or welcome
  26. iridescent
    varying in color when seen in different lights
  27. jockey
    someone employed to ride horses in horse races
  28. luminous
    softly bright or radiant
  29. macrocosm
    everything that exists anywhere
  30. mangy
    affected with a skin disease causing itching and hair loss
  31. mesmerize
    attract strongly, as if with a magnet
    Marco knew the conversation was about him, but he was so mesmerized by the exchange that he did not realize what they meant.
  32. microcosm
    a miniature model of something
  33. mundane
    found in the ordinary course of events
  34. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
  35. obscure
    not clearly understood or expressed
  36. opportunist
    a person who places expediency above principle
  37. opposable
    capable of being placed opposite to something
  38. ottoman
    a low seat or a stool to rest the feet of a seated person
  39. perimeter
    a line enclosing a plane area
  40. predicament
    an unpleasant or difficult situation
  41. pretense
    the act of giving a false appearance
  42. queasy
    causing or able to cause nausea
  43. resounding
    characterized by loud, deep sound
  44. snippet
    a small piece of anything
  45. sophisticated
    having worldly knowledge and refinement
  46. speculation
    continuous contemplation on a subject of a deep nature
  47. subterranean
    being or operating under the surface of the earth
  48. tabloid
    sensationalist newspaper with half-size pages
  49. translucent
    allowing light to pass through diffusely
  50. treachery
    an act of deliberate betrayal
  51. vendetta
    a blood feud between members of opposing parties
  52. vintage
    the oldness of wines
  53. vortex
    a powerful circular current of water
Created on Sat Mar 07 20:59:53 EST 2009 (updated Sun Mar 22 20:23:50 EDT 2009)

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