Life As We Knew It: Chapters 9–16

by Susan Beth Pfeffer
In this first book of The Last Survivors, sixteen-year-old Miranda Evans describes in her journal the struggles of her family in Pennsylvania after an asteroid hits the moon, pushing it closer to Earth and causing disasters.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–8, Chapters 9–16, Chapters 17–21

For more of our lists in this deadly series, click here.
40 words 719 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. funk
    a state of nervous depression
    We’re all in a funk. You would think knowing we actually have food in the house would cheer us up, but nothing seems to.
  2. flustered
    thrown into a state of agitated confusion
    “Why are we staying here?” Jonny asked me this morning. “Everybody else is moving down south.”
    “Everybody else isn’t moving,” I said, mostly because I was flustered by the question.
  3. covet
    wish, long, or crave for
    I covet things, Miranda. Food. I covet food so much sometimes.
  4. resent
    feel bitter or indignant about
    In a world where there’s so little good, she’s good. Sometimes I forget that or resent it.
  5. casserole
    food baked together and served in a deep dish
    We started with fruit salad and then we had tuna noodle casserole and peas.
  6. gluttony
    eating to excess
    The rest of us pigged out—I know I ate at least four cookies, which probably guarantees me a first-class ticket to hell for gluttony.
  7. saute
    fry briefly over high heat
    Tiny tomatoes. Tinier zucchini. We were glad for them, and, sautéed in olive oil, they were a real treat.
  8. static
    crackling or hissing noise caused by electrical interference
    We have three radios with batteries, and she tried all of them. We all tried all of them, because nobody wanted to believe her. But of course she was telling the truth. All any of us got was static.
  9. capacity
    capability to perform or produce
    Matt says even if the most powerful stations had their own generators, those generators have limited capacity.
  10. frazzle
    exhaust physically or emotionally
    I walked to the office, where I saw a woman looking very frazzled and not at all happy.
  11. pantry
    a small storeroom for storing food or beverages
    Mom’s let us know she’d prefer us not to go to the pantry. Whatever food is available for us to eat, she leaves in the kitchen cabinets.
  12. hoard
    save up as for future use
    There was food in the pantry that Mom wasn’t letting us eat and there was chocolate, real chocolate, in the house and Mom was hoarding it because it has no nutritional value and if we’re only eating a little bit every day, we’re better off with spinach.
  13. coherent
    capable of thinking in a clear and consistent manner
    Mom started screaming. I’m not even sure she was coherent.
  14. prodigal
    recklessly wasteful
    Mom fried two potatoes from the garden. She also heated up a can of string beans. For dessert we had a can of fruit salad.
    The prodigal son would have been jealous.
  15. artichoke
    a plant cultivated for its large, edible flower head
    For supper we had artichoke hearts, almost like a salad, and then linguini with white clam sauce.
  16. vigilante
    a person who takes the law into his or her own hands
    They could try to get in by a back road, but there were reports of vigilantes keeping strangers out.
  17. sprawl
    sit or lie with one's limbs spread out
    I ran to the living room and there was Mom sprawled out on the floor.
    “I tripped,” she said.
  18. loiter
    linger, remain, or wait around for no apparent reason
    “No loitering,” he said. “Stand or go.”
  19. elapse
    pass by
    It was so hard to tell how much time had elapsed.
  20. saunter
    walk leisurely and with no apparent aim
    The first guard said something about getting something to eat. He sauntered off, like going for a meal was the most normal thing in the world to do.
  21. provoke
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    I thought about all the fights I’d provoked over the past few months.
  22. emphasize
    give extra weight to
    She looked like a plucked chicken that hadn’t eaten in months. The cut emphasized her cheekbones and you could see how much weight she’d lost.
  23. weary
    physically and mentally fatigued
    It’s not just that he’s thinner. There’s a sadness in his eyes. He seems weary.
  24. mantra
    a commonly repeated word or phrase
    Matt and Jonny are still bringing in firewood (“Better too much than too little” is Matt’s mantra and I can’t argue with him).
  25. delude
    be dishonest with
    Ever since I saw Michelle Schmidt and realized she had never disappeared the way the kids at school thought she had, I feel like things really are better than we’ve been letting ourselves believe. So what if I’m deluding myself? Better to delude myself that things are okay than to delude myself that things are doomed.
  26. lank
    long and thin and often limp
    Her hair hasn’t grown out yet but I’ve gotten used to it, and I hate washing my hair now. It never gets clean and it’s so lank and disgusting. I figured short would be better.
  27. necessarily
    in such a manner as could not be otherwise
    “Megan wanted to die,” I said. “But I don’t think her mother did.”
    “People aren’t necessarily choosing anymore,” Matt said.
  28. theology
    a particular system or school of religious beliefs
    “I’m here about Megan Wayne,” I said. “I was her best friend.”
    “Her best friend on earth,” Reverend Marshall said.
    I didn’t have the energy to argue theology with him so I just nodded.
  29. despicable
    morally reprehensible
    “Your congregation is starving and you’re eating. Do you make them give you their food?”
    “My congregation chooses to bring me food,” he said. “I merely accept what they offer.”
    “You’re despicable,” I said, and I don’t know which one of us was more surprised that I even knew the word.
  30. bashful
    self-consciously timid
    Go through the whole house, attic to cellar. My car has some gas in it, so you can put all my things in it and drive back to your place. Don’t be bashful. I won’t be needing anything and the more you have, the better your chances.
  31. brooch
    a decorative pin
    And even if someone in my family comes back, I want your mother to have my diamond pendant and you to have my ruby brooch.
  32. shrivel
    decrease in size, range, or extent
    I feel myself shriveling along with my world, getting smaller and harder. I’m turning into a rock, and in some ways that’s good, because rocks last forever.
  33. increment
    a process of becoming larger or longer or more numerous
    It’s November and already we’re out of water and the temperature is below zero and there’s no way of getting more food. We’re dying in increments, Matt.
  34. stoke
    (of a fire) stir up or tend
    You won’t be the only one responsible for the fire. We can take turns stoking it.
  35. hobble
    walk unevenly due to pain, injury, or weakness
    Mom hobbled her way (which she probably shouldn’t have done) into the pantry this afternoon.
  36. revitalize
    give new life or vigor to
    I guess the chicken really revitalized Mom, because today she decided we were all wasting our lives and that had to stop.
  37. throttle
    kill by squeezing the throat of so as to cut off the air
    I love her but I could throttle her.
  38. thoroughly
    in an exhaustive manner
    After I’d walked around awhile, I realized what I wanted to do was explore the attic. Maybe that hadn’t been gone through, or at least not as thoroughly.
  39. hallucination
    illusory perception
    There was no one there. (I’m really starting to think that whole Brandon thing was a hallucination.)
  40. hack
    chop or cut away
    I skated around the pond, nothing fancy and incredibly slow. I had to be careful, since there were chunks of ice missing. I guess people have been hacking away at it for water, the way we will once Mrs. Nesbitt’s water runs out.
Created on Tue Sep 10 12:51:23 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Jul 10 14:51:56 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.