Unbroken: Part IV

by Laura Hillenbrand
Laura Hillenbrand recounts the tumultuous and amazingly true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who, after surviving 40 days adrift at sea, became a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. febrile
    of or relating to or characterized by fever
    Louie drifted into a febrile fog.
  2. stilted
    stiff and strained; lacking natural ease
    What followed was a strange and stilted conversation.
  3. reticence
    the trait of being uncommunicative
    It was camp policy to give diminished and/or spoiled rations to captives suspected of withholding information, and at times the entire camp’s rations were cut to punish one captive’s reticence.
  4. ubiquitous
    being present everywhere at once
    Foodborne parasites and pathogens made diarrhea almost ubiquitous.
  5. commandeer
    take arbitrarily or by force
    They decided to make a run for it, commandeer a plane, and get out of Japan.
  6. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    He walked with his chin high and his chest puffed, his gestures exaggerated and imperious.
  7. ignominious
    deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
    In the fall of 1943, for unknown reasons, Watanabe was transferred to the military’s most ignominious station for NCOs, a POW camp.
  8. commensurate
    corresponding in size or degree or extent
    The work had to be unconnected to the operations of war, and POWs were to be given pay commensurate with their labor.
  9. arduous
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    The Japanese government made contracts with private companies to send enlisted POWs to factories, mines, docks, and railways, where the men were forced into exceptionally arduous war-production or war-transport labor.
  10. impunity
    exemption from punishment or loss
    According to Hatto, some camp employees were offended by Watanabe’s treatment of POWs, but because those acts pleased Sakaba, the Bird was untouchable, even by those who outranked him. In consequence, the Bird flaunted his impunity and virtually ran the camp.
  11. equanimity
    steadiness of mind under stress
    While the Bird had badgered him, he had awaited his fate with equanimity.
  12. stipulation
    a restriction insisted upon as a condition for an agreement
    Metal dog tags were confiscated, in an apparent effort to comply with the stipulation that those executing POWs “not...leave any traces.”
  13. solicitous
    full of anxiety and concern
    The commander went on, becoming strangely solicitous. Speaking as if the POWs were old friends, he voiced his hope that the prisoners would help Japan fight the “Red Menace” — the Soviet Union, which had just seized Japan’s Kuril Islands.
  14. provenance
    where something originated or started
    It was an American flag with a remarkable provenance. In 1941, just before Singapore had fallen to the Japanese, an American missionary woman had given it to a British POW.
  15. garrulous
    full of trivial conversation
    Louie was as upbeat and garrulous as ever.
Created on Mon May 12 22:23:42 EDT 2014 (updated Mon Jul 07 14:05:38 EDT 2025)

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