The Book Thief: Part Seven–Part Nine

by Markus Zusak
Liesel Meminger is a foster child living in Nazi Germany in 1939. Surrounded by violence, hardship, and war, Liesel is watched over by Death, who narrates her story.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Part Two, Part Three–Part Four, Part Five–Part Six, Part Seven–Part Nine, Part Ten–Epilogue
15 words 3585 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. inevitable
    an unavoidable event
    In the summer of 1942, the town of Molching was preparing for the inevitable.
  2. formidable
    extremely impressive in strength or excellence
    Two other boys had looked formidable, and Liesel had a feeling in her stomach that Rudy could not win this one.
  3. feign
    give a false appearance of
    Even Rudy stood completely erect, feigning nonchalance, tensing himself against the tension.
  4. nonchalance
    the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care
    Even Rudy stood completely erect, feigning nonchalance, tensing himself against the tension.
  5. derision
    the act of treating with contempt
    The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic.
  6. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    The remaining three listened to the radio in the bedroom, oblivious.
  7. intervene
    get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action
    If he’d intervened, it might have changed everything.
  8. opportune
    suitable or advantageous especially for a particular purpose
    The cruelty of fate, however, did not allow Rudy Steiner to enter the kitchen at the opportune moment.
  9. compulsory
    required by rule
    Words like compulsory and duty were beaten into the page.
  10. literal
    limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text
    It was she who introduced her to the library in the first place and gave her the initial, even literal, window of opportunity.
  11. sadistic
    deriving pleasure from inflicting pain on another
    The air was sharp and flat, like the Watschen of a sadistic teacher or nun.
  12. grimace
    a contorted facial expression
    Unable to resist a laugh within the grimace of pain, Hans replied, “It sounds good, Sergeant.”
  13. semblance
    the outward or apparent appearance or form of something
    There was not even the semblance of a hello.
  14. quell
    suppress or crush completely
    For example, the hammers were for smashing windows and the towel was to wrap them up, to quell the sound.
  15. inconsolable
    sad beyond comforting
    But the young man with only a few remaining fingers on his right hand was inconsolable.
Created on Wed Feb 27 10:49:07 EST 2013 (updated Wed Jun 25 14:16:09 EDT 2025)

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