Night: Pages 47–84

by Elie Wiesel
In this unflinching memoir, Elie Wiesel describes his experience as a young man imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust.

This list covers pages 47–84 in the 2006 Hill and Wang edition.

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
15 words 31008 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. pittance
    an inadequate payment
    “I can arrange it. For a pittance: your shoes. I’ll give you another pair.”
  2. conscientious
    guided by or in accordance with a sense of right and wrong
    On the other hand, the dentist seemed more conscientious: he asked me to open my mouth wide.
  3. cynical
    believing the worst of human nature and motives
    Juliek, a Pole with eyeglasses and a cynical smile in a pale face.
  4. accountable
    responsible for one's actions
    The Kapo launched into a lengthy explanation of the importance of this work, warning us that anyone who proved to be lazy would be held accountable.
  5. evoke
    call to mind
    And so we would sometimes hum melodies evoking the gentle waters of the Jordan River and the majestic sanctity of Jerusalem.
  6. famished
    extremely hungry
    The bread, the soup — those were my entire life. I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less: a famished stomach.
  7. imprudent
    lacking wise self-restraint
    At the depot, nobody knew that I spoke German; it would have aroused suspicion. It was imprudent of me to say those few words to you, but I knew that you would not betray me.
  8. dissipate
    go away, scatter, or disappear
    The last sound of the American plane dissipated in the wind and there we were, in our cemetery.
  9. manacle
    confine or restrain with or as if with handcuffs
    His manacled hands did not tremble.
  10. lament
    express grief verbally
    But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament.
  11. crucible
    a vessel used for high temperature chemical reactions
    All that mattered was to be far from the block, far from the crucible of death, from the center of hell.
  12. infirmary
    a health facility where patients receive treatment
    Around the middle of January, my right foot began to swell from the cold. I could not stand on it. I went to the infirmary.
  13. categorical
    not modified or restricted by reservations
    The doctor, a great Jewish doctor, a prisoner like ourselves, was categorical: “We have to operate! If we wait, the toes and perhaps the leg will have to be amputated.”
  14. inflection
    the modification of pitch, tone, or volume when speaking
    I barely understood what he was telling me, but the inflection of his voice soothed me.
  15. knell
    the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death
    At six o’clock the bell rang. The death knell. The funeral. The procession was beginning its march.
Created on Thu Jan 23 15:23:04 EST 2014 (updated Fri Jun 27 16:50:33 EDT 2025)

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